Dallas-Fort Worth new car, truck sales drop 40%

[rainbow4321]

So much for recent local articles trying to convince us how good our economy is doing down here, how much luckier we are compared to the rest of the country. Looks like the locals have a little more of a pessimistic/realistic outlook.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/121308dnbusdfwcarsales.57bec68a.html

New car and truck sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area plummeted about 40 percent in November, the steepest one-month decline in 20 years.

For months, the area has suffered relatively minor damage from the economic storms rattling most of the rest of the U.S. But in November, a combination of tight credit, falling consumer confidence and bad news on every economic front slammed local new-car sales

It's unusual for North Texas to see a bigger drop than the U.S. as a whole, but it may mean the national recession has hit some segments of the local economy with its full force.

"People are just unwilling to make a long-term commitment on an auto loan," Mr. Campbell said. "Our consumer was paralyzed by $4-a-gallon gas in July and has been just immobilized with what's happening at GM."

-------------

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/121308dnbusgmcuts.26e2ed2.html

The GM Arlington Assembly Plant will be closed two weeks in January and a week in March as the embattled automaker moves to reduce its production by 30 percent because of poor sales.

The Arlington plant, which builds full-size SUVs and is one of GM’s more important plants for revenue, will be closed the weeks of Jan. 5, Jan. 12 and March 2.

“Compared with some of our other plants, Arlington got the lighter side of it,” said Tony Sapienza, spokesman for GM production. “Most will be down for all of January and some will have down time in February, too.”

(snip)
The move affects most of GM's plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. During the shutdowns, employees will be temporarily laid off and receive a portion of their normal pay from the company. They can also apply for state unemployment benefits, Lee said..