AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY PROFILE

As manufacturing momentum shifted toward auto parts suppliers, so too did the share of labor. Since the early 1960s, total employment in the U.S. auto industry has ranged between 700,000 and just over 1 million workers. Up until the mid-1980s, auto assemblers employed the majority of those workers, but from then on the employment share for automotive parts suppliers in the United States has consistently been greater than the share of workers at assembly plants. Between 1987 and 2002, the share of automotive sector employment at assembly plants declined from 44 percent to 36 percent, whereas the share of workers at automotive suppliers increased from 46 percent to 54 percent. Add to this change the influx of mostly non-unionized automotive transplants (foreign suppliers and assemblers), the outsourcing of parts and assembly to foreign nations, and the general sectoral shift away from manufacturing toward the service sector, and it is clear that the 1980s marked a turning point for labor in the U.S. auto industry.

Labor unions that represent autoworkers in the United States have had to weather a myriad of undulations in domestic business cycles since 1935, when the United Auto Workers (UAW) was founded. (Other unions that represent auto workers in the United States include the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers of America, the United Steelworkers of America, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.) Recent changes in the organization of the auto industry and in the ownership of domestic firms, however, present uniquely formidable challenges to union strength. First, the implementation of lean manufacturing techniques and the drive to achieve globally competitive prices, quality, and delivery standards is likely to precipitate job cuts as suppliers strive to increase productivity.

Second, only a few automotive transplants in the United States allow union status—namely, NUMMI (GM-Toyota), Diamond Star (Chrysler-Mitsubishi), and Auto Alliance (Ford-Mazda), all of which are joint ventures with U.S. companies. Yet, total transplant employment is rising: Between 1993 and 2003 employment at transplants in the United States rose from 58,840 to 93,408. The UAW continues to strive to organize labor at transplants and is targeting supplier parks near unionized assemblers in an attempt to maintain locational control.

Third, outsourcing of production in a continuously globalizing industry diminishes the bargaining power of unions not just in the United States, but in Europe as well. Fourth, auto assemblers and suppliers are increasing their utilization of temporary workers. In Germany, BMW has a pool of temporary workers that can be utilized at different factories as needed, and in the United States auto assemblers are increasingly employing contract workers to reduce costs.

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The globalization of the auto industry appears to challenge the status quo for labor in traditional regions of vehicle production. As employment in the industry shifts toward the supplier sector and toward emerging economies, the attempt to maintain good wages at traditional plants is paramount for autoworkers. Total hourly labor cost at GM and Ford for 2005 was estimated at $65.90, with $35.36 in wages and $30.54 in benefits, healthcare, and retirement costs. Other estimates for 2004 show earnings of production workers at assembly plants at $1,217 per week, whereas workers at parts plants earn $872 weekly, and workers in all manufacturing industries make an average of $529 per week. Autoworkers—particularly those who work in assembly plants in developed countries—certainly have a great deal at stake as the industry continues to globalize.

By contrast to labor, the power that dealerships exert on assemblers has historically been minimal. The push system of production meant that dealerships were the repositories for the inventory overruns of auto assemblers. Also, up until the 1960s, dealerships could legally be controlled by automakers. Therefore, auto dealers earn the majority of their profits from aftermarket sales of parts, accessories, supplies, and service, all of which are a small portion of their business. With the movement toward a pull system of production, dealerships could play a more important role in the automotive industry. However, the countervailing threat to dealerships is Internet-based sales, an innovation that stands to mitigate the market power of dealerships vis-à-vis auto assemblers.
(Courtesy of www.encyclopedia.com )

Fuel economy
The American automobile industry became notorious for the manufacture of gas guzzlers during the 1960s and 1970s when fuel prices and consumer awareness concerning fuel economy were at an all-time low. In the 1960s and 1970s, American-made cars took on enormous proportions as consumers placed their emphasis on comfort, power and style. Large sedans from this era came to be known as land yachts, often rivaling today’s largest pick-up trucks in terms of length and width. In 1977, the Lincoln Continental Mark V was reviewed by the Germanautomobile magazine, auto motor und sport and still holds the record for the worst fuel economy of any vehicle ever tested by the magazine with an average of 7 MPG.

Following the 1973 oil crisis; however, smaller vehicles, often imported from Japan, became more and more popular with the American public as these vehicles featured better fuel economy ratings. In the late 1970s, the US government passed minimum fuel economy standards and in the 1980s American automobile manufacturers drastically downsized their cars, only a few vehicles, such as those using the Ford Panther platform retained their over-sized glory. The downsizing did, however, backfire in some cases. After downsizing nearly the entire Cadillac line-up in the late 1980s, General Motors scrambled to save its most prestigious marques.

Many American manufacturers again increased the size of their vehicles in the 1990s, while better technology allowed for better fuel economy ratings among sedans. USDOT MPG statistics differ dramatically from Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) statistics, with the latter being a sales-weighted composite and therefore presenting a more realistic picture of fuel economy in the USA. For example, for 2008, the CAFE composite was 28.2 mpg, substantially larger than the 17.2 mpg compiled by the USDOT.
According to the United States Department of Transportation, the average motor vehicle, including light trucks, in the US had a fuel economy rating of 17.1 MPG or 13.8 liters per 100 kilometers. The average fuel economy for passenger vehicles in the United States has remained stagnant throughout the 1990s and 2000s, peaking in 2001 and 2004. The 90s saw the slowest increase in fuel economy since 1960, with fuel economy increasing from 16.4 MPG in 1990 to 16.9 MPG in 2001. This is in contrast to the 1980s when the average fuel economy improved somewhat more significantly from 13.3 MPG in 1980 to 16.4 MPG in 1990. The increase in fuel economy during the 1990s is largely due to the rising popularity of Sport utility vehicles (SUV), whose status as light trucks gains them exception from the fuel economy restrictions placed on sedans and other cars.

Body style and size
Mainstream mid-size sedans such as the Chevrolet Impala or Ford Taurus are often perceived to be the typical and most common body style in the United States. While mid-size sedans are indeed among the country’s best selling vehicles, pick-up trucks held the top positions until mid-2008, rivaling sedans in the terms of total numbers sold. In the year 2006, the best selling models were the Ford F-Series with 796,039 units sold and the Chevrolet Silverado with 636,069 units sold. The Toyota Camry, Dodge Ram, and Honda Accord held the next three positions as the best selling cars. Rising oil prices stripped pick-up trucks of the “Best selling vehicle type” title in mid-2008. The Toyota Corolla currently holds the title.

Manufacturing
The US was the largest producer of vehicles in the world in 2003, followed by Japan and Germany. While most vehicles sold in the US were manufactured by the Big Three, foreign corporations such as Japan’s Toyota Motor Company have starting manufacturing in the US and are now an integrated part of the US automobile industry. According to many sources, the extended US operations of foreign based companies now rival those of American automobile manufacturers. For example, Toyota Motor Company now operates twelve manufacturing plants in the US, producing 1.55 million vehicles, 61.66% of the roughly 2.5 million vehicles the company sells in the US each year.

A wide variety of vehicles are manufactured in the United States, from compact cars to full-size luxury vehicles.[16] The American automobile industry itself is probably best known for the manufacture of large cars, leading to the common public perception of American cars being larger than those from other countries and making the US well known for the production of so-called land yachts.

Domestic vehicles
While the denotation of domestic vehicle includes all vehicles made in the United States, the term Domestic vehicle in the United States is usually only applied to vehicles made by the “Big Three” and their traditional marques. The term domestic vehicle does not include vehicles sold under marques who used to be headquartered outside the United States and are now owned by the Ford Motor Company or General Motors. Ironically, vehicles made outside the US by the traditional marques of the “Big Three” are considered to be domestic vehicles, while vehicles made inside the US by foreign manufacturers are not considered domestic, but rather import vehicles.

Import vehicles
As with the term, domestic vehicles, there is a legal definition for import vehicles but popular usage of the term, and popular views of what constitutes an “import” vehicle, vary widely.
For the purposes of Federal regulations, such as Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and the American Automobile Labeling Act of 1994 (AALA),[18] vehicles produced in the United States, regardless of brand, are considered “domestic”, while vehicles produced outside the United States are considered “imported”.

However, many Americans view a Toyota vehicle made in Kentucky, a Saab built in Ohio, or a Mercedes-Benz vehicle made in Alabama as an “import”, while others view a Pontiac vehicle made in Australia as a “domestic” vehicle. This perception is due to the respective brands’ longstanding association with their parent countries: Toyota with Japan, Mercedes-Benz with Germany and Pontiac with the United States.

The country of origin of any particular vehicle can be easily determined:
The AALA requires that passenger vehicles manufactured after October 1, 1994 must have labels specifying their percentage value of U.S./Canadian parts content, the country of assembly, and countries of origin of the engine and transmission. These are typically part of, or adjacent, to the vehicle’s Monroney sticker.

Each vehicle sold in the United States carries a Vehicle Identification Number, as required by NHTSA regulation — Title 49, Part 565 of the U.S. Code.[19]
The VIN identifies the vehicle’s country of manufacture, and the company responsible for its production. Vehicles manufactured in the United States have VINs beginning with the numbers 1, 4, and 5 — regardless of where the company is based. Thus, a Toyota Camry made in the U.S. will have a 1, 4 or 5 at the start of its VIN, while one imported from Japan will begin with the letter J.

In the year 2000, according to an article in the magazine Motor, BMW attempted to label its “X5” Sport utility vehicle, made in Spartanburg, South Carolina with a VIN beginning with the letter W — indicating the vehicle was made in Germany. A spokesman for the Society of Automotive Engineers, the agency responsible for assigning the three-digit “World Manufacturer Identifier” that begins the VIN label, was quoted as saying “We assign (codes) according to the dirt the plant’s built on, not the headquarters of the company.”

The Big Three
“The Big Three” refers to the three largest automobile manufacturers headquartered in the United States. While there have been roughly 1,800 car manufacturers in the US over the course of the 20th century, only three large corporations with considerable sales numbers were left by the 1980s. The term is applied to General Motors, the Ford Motor Company, and the Chrysler Corporation.

General Motors
General Motors is the largest automobile manufacturer in the United States and was also the world’s largest for 77 years. However, in 2008, GM was passed by Toyota.[21] GM is headquartered at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, employs approximately 202,000 people, sold 9.025 million cars worldwide, and had a US$ 150.276 billion revenue for the year 2011. The corporation sells its vehicles in the United States under the following divisions and subsidiaries:
Buick
Cadillac
Chevrolet
GMC
Hummer, defunct as of 2010
Pontiac defunct as of 2010
Saturn Corporation defunct as of 2010-11
Oldsmobile defunct as of 2005

Ford Motor Company
The Ford Motor Company (FoMoCo) was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford, and is America’s second largest and the world’s third largest vehicle manufacturer according to total sales volume. In 2005, the Ford Motor Company had a total revenue of $178.1 billion. The corporation sells vehicles under the following brand names and subsidiaries:
Lincoln
Mercury defunct as of 2011

Chrysler
Formed in 1925 by Walter Percy Chrysler, the Chrysler Corporation has since been one of the most important American automobile manufacturers, consistently ranking as the third-biggest for most of the post-war period. The company followed GM’s “move up” model, with the Chrysler brand (and the Imperial brand from 1955–1975) being the flagship luxury make.

In 1998, the Chrysler Corporation officially merged with Daimler-Benz of Germany, into a new entity, DaimlerChrysler (DCX), which is headquartered both in Stuttgart, Germany and Auburn Hills, Michigan (where the pre-merger headquarters of DaimlerBenz and Chrysler, respectively, were located). This raised a dispute on whether Chrysler (or, more specifically, the Chrysler Group within DCX, which consists of most former Chrysler Corporation operations and is headquartered in Auburn Hills) can still be seen as a domestic manufacturer. Nevertheless, the term “Big Three” still applied. Chrysler entered into bankruptcy in 2008, and is now owned by the Italian car maker FIAT and the United Auto Workers Union.

In 2005, the Chrysler Group employed 83,130 people and sold 2.83 million vehicles globally, generating $57.4 billion in revenue. Chrysler manufactures and sells vehicles under the following brands:
Chrysler
Desoto defunct 1961
Dodge
Imperial defunct 1975
Jeep
Ram Trucks (formerly Dodge Ram)
Plymouth defunct in 2001
AMC defunct in 1987
Eagle defunct in 1998
SRT as of 2013

BMW
BMW opened its American manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1994, to manufacture the Z3 roadster, later replaced by the Z4model. Since 2000, the plant also manufactures the X3, X5 and X6 SUV. All those models are made exclusively at Spartanburg for both the domestic market and worldwide exports (not counting CKD operations in some countries).

FIAT
Fiat returned to the United States market after leaving in the 1980s as part of its partial acquisition of Chrysler. As of December 2011, Fiat sold only the 500 model, which is assembled in Mexico but has an engine manufactured in Michigan.

Honda
Honda was the first Japanese automaker to build a factory in the United States. Following the success of the Accord, the company opened a new plant in Marysville, Ohio in 1982 to assemble the model, which went on to become the most popular car in the US in 1989. Honda expanded their operations and the scope of models manufactured in the US, building the Anna engine plant andEast Liberty automobile assembly plant, and in 2001 opening Honda Manufacturing of Alabama in Lincoln. Most models sold under the Honda and Acura brands in North America are currently manufactured in either the U.S. or Canada.

Others, such as the Honda Fit, Honda S2000, Acura TSX, and Acura RL, are imported from Japan. Some vehicles, such as the older CR-V (in the eastern United States) and the Civic SI hatchback, were imported from the UK. Some Accord passenger cars were imported from Mexico and starting from 2008 all CR-V’s sold in the Americas are made in Mexico, in the early 2000s. In 2009, production of 4-door Civic sedans began at a new factory in Greensburg, Indiana.

Hyundai
Hyundai Motor Company started manufacturing in the United States in 2005, when their plant in Montgomery, Alabama started the production of the Sonata sedan. It was joined in 2006 by the new Santa Fe SUV.

Kia
Kia Motor Company, a brother company of Hyundai, has built manufacturing plant in West Point, Georgia, which produces Optima sedan.

Mazda
Ford Motor Company and Mazda Motor Corporation jointly operate an automobile assembly plant in Michigan that currently produces the Mazda6 and the Ford Mustang.

Mercedes-Benz
In 1997, a year before the merger of Damiler-Benz and Chrysler, the former Daimler-Benz followed the steps of their Bavarian competitor and opened a plant in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, to serve as a worldwide production location for the new M-Class. The M-Class has since then been replaced by a new generation and joined by the new R-Class and GL-Class, also manufactured exclusively in Alabama.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation
Mitsubishi Motors entered the American market through a long-standing partnership with Chrysler Corporation, and later this partnership was extended into a 50/50 joint venture manufacturing operation named Diamond-Star Motors (DSM) in Normal, Illinois. In 1991, Mitsubishi took over Chrysler’s share in DSM and in 1995 renamed it Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) Manufacturing Division. The plant has produced a number of Mitsubishi models and their Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth and Eagle derivatives, and currently manufactures vehicles based on the American-designed PS platform – the Galant, Eclipse and Endeavor. Manufacturing of related Chrysler-branded vehicles was taken over by Chrysler Group, and while other related Mitsubishi vehicles are sold worldwide.

Nissan
Nissan opened their first factory in the 1980s in Smyrna, Tennessee, joined in the new millennium by another plant in Canton, Mississippi. Most models sold under the Nissan brand in United States, as well as Infiniti QX56, are currently manufactured there. Unlike Toyota or Honda, the company does not have any manufacturing operation in Canada. However, Nissan maintains manufacturing operations in Mexico, from which its smaller U.S.-market cars like the Sentra are imported. Most North American models are specific to this market, although some models, like the Murano and Quest, are exported to other continents.

Subaru
Subaru teamed up with fellow Japanese manufacturer Isuzu, forming a joint-venture called Subaru Isuzu Automotive to build and operate a manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Indiana. The plant made Subaru cars and Isuzu SUVs mostly for the American market until 2003, when Isuzu, facing faltering sales in America, decided to quit the venture selling their share to Subaru for $1 million. The plant continued to build Isuzu Rodeos under contract until the end of that vehicle’s production run. From then on, the production was limited to Subaru models such as Legacy and its derivatives Outback and Baja, as well as the new B9 Tribeca. The two latter models are only built in Indiana for all markets where they are sold. After Toyota acquired a stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, it shifted some of the Toyota Camry production to the Lafayette plant.

Tesla Motors
Tesla is a Silicon Valley-based company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components. Tesla Motors gained widespread attention by producing the Tesla Roadster, the first fully electric sports car, followed by the Model S, a fully electric luxury sedan. Tesla also markets electric powertrain components, including lithium-ion battery packs, to other automakers, including Daimler and Toyota.

Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota’s first foray into automobile manufacturing in the United States was NUMMI, a joint venture with General Motors based on the latter’s production facility in California, which started in 1984 and has been manufacturing Toyota models and their versions branded as Geo, Chevrolet and Pontiac until GM withdrew in August 2009 and Toyota shut the doors in March 2010. Toyota went on to establish a number of wholly owned plants in states such as Kentucky, Indiana, California, West Virginia and Alabama. More than half of Toyota-branded vehicles sold in the United States come from American plants. Conversely, all Scions are imported from Japan. Lexus-branded models are imported from Japan or Canada (RX only).

Volkswagen
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat is a mid-sized sedan which replaces the previous-generation Passat B6 in the North American market.The model is also shipped overseas to South Korea. The Passat NMS was officially announced in January 2011 at the Detroit Auto Show. Built at the Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant, the new Passat allows building and shipping costs to be reduced significantly over its predecessor making it more competitive to offerings from competitors at the $20K mark.

Sales
In the year 2009, in a largest decline during economic crisis, less than 6 million new passenger cars were sold in the United States, and the total number of new sold and leased cars and light trucks dropped to just above 13 million from a normal pre-crisis level above 20 million (more than 22 million in 2000) according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. This figure “Includes domestic and imported vehicles.” (Department of Transportation) The number of cars sold in the US was decreasing at a gradual yet continuous rate since 2000, when 9 million passenger cars were sold in the US. Looking back at history however, reveals that such decline is only part of normal market trends and most likely only a temporary problem, and after 2009 a strong recovery nearly restored sales and leasing to pre-crisis level in 2013. Overall, 1985 was a record year with cars sales totaling just over eleven million., while light truck represent nearly a half of new vehicle at present (2013), and in 2006 sales and new-vehicle leases for light trucks exceeded the number for cars by 6% (sales only exceeded by almost 12%).

While imports have been gaining ground in terms of units sold during the 2000s and have regained roughly the same market share they held in 1992, the sales of domestic vehicles are still more than double those of imported vehicles. It should be noted, however that the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics “Includes cars produced in Canada and Mexico” as domestic vehicles as both countries are part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), thus including many cars by Asian and European manufacturers – many Volkswagens are made in Mexico,Toyotas in Canada, also. In 2006 the sales of vehicles made in NAFTA states totaled 5.5 million, while the sale of imported vehicles totaled 2.2 million. 923,000 vehicles were imported from Japan, making it the greatest exporter of vehicles to the US. Germany was the second largest exporter of vehicles to the US, with 534,000 units exported to the US in 2006. Imports from all other nations, except Germany and Japan, totaled 729,000.

Pricing
In July 2004, Edmunds.com published a report stating that the average sticker price on a vehicle sold in the United States was $29,746. However, in the US, passenger vehicles are commonly sold at considerable discounts and customers rarely pay the sticker price or MSRP(Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price). The discount is commonly determined by the company’s marketing strategies and tends to be larger the slower selling a vehicle is. Due to what many American consumers have perceived as a declining quality among the automobiles manufactured by the “Big Three” and large fixed labor and capital costs, discounts tend to be larger on domestic vehicles. In 2003 the average discount on a domestic vehicle was 20.6% below MSRP. For Japanese and Korean vehicles the average discount was 10% and 12.8%. The lowest discounts were given on vehicles from European manufacturers, where the average discount was 7.7% below MSRP.

Overall, the average discount in July 2004 was $4,982 (16.8%), meaning that while the average MSRP was almost $30,000, the average buyer of a new car paid only $24,764. Dr. Jane Liu, the Vice President of Data Analysis for Edmunds.com further stated that, “New models are being introduced at higher price points, but the competitiveness of the market is dramatically pushing down net prices, resulting in a record average discount.” The lowest discounts among all car segments were given on luxury SUVs, where buyers received an average 10% discount, resulting in a $43,725 net price, versus the sticker price of $48,586.