DETROIT – Well, we’re not exactly signing “Happy Days Are Here Again” but we might be humming a few bars in the near future. A number of automakers are boosting car production, hiring back workers, and adding overtime to the production schedule. Ford, Chrysler and Toyota are cranking-up the assembly lines to provide dealers with more inventory. A lot of that has to do with the cash-for-clunkers program which left automakers with extremely low levels of inventory on compact cars.
A proposal to change the cash-for-clunkers program to allow customers to receive a voucher if a car isn�??t on the dealer lot is being opposed by foreign automakers, specifically Toyota and Honda. According to the AP, they argue that it will cause confusion and add more complexity to the program. Of course, they have the inventory to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program, while GM and Chrysler, which shut down during bankruptcy, do not. Lawmakers pushing the proposal argue that the program has caused a scarcity of fuel-efficient vehicles and that low production levels has made it hard to replenish inventories.
While Japanese automakers have an intense interest in American public policy and the American car market, the American automakers could not care less about what�??s happening in Japan. General Motors, for example, is growing and investing in most markets around the world. But here�??s what GM�??s CEO Fritz Henderson told me about Japan. Even though Japan is the largest automobile manufacturer in the world, it�??s pretty much a closed market. Not one foreign automaker has an assembly plant in Japan and almost no foreign suppliers do.
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