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Perspective...
Nov. 7th, 2008 01:19 pmFor anyone who doesn't know already... I work in the auto-industry*. During our benefit rollout, the president of our company put the situation for the auto industry in perspective for us with this statement**:
The amount the industry (as a whole) is down, is equal to the number of all vehicles Chrysler and GM sold last year.
To me, that's pretty damned sobering. Even Toyota*** is down--by eighteen percent!
He said some other things... the balancesheet for our company is still positive (others are bleeding) in large part because we don't have a lot of debt and also because the bonuses and raises we didn't get last year (that everyone was mad about) were put into t-bills and are stockpiled. We're currently positive, and have the shelter to weather a storm for a while... luckily, Toyota also has a very nice balancesheet, and a lot of our business is done with them. We're also still (god knows how) gaining business, which is always good... and if we can get in when times are bad, we should be in an even better position when times bounce back.
And he said they will bounce back. It may be a very different landscape---there may be Indian cars or Chinese cars that we're catering toward, or we may stride farther into the insurance or inspection branches of the industry.
On the other hand, he also said he's been through a few up/downs... and he's never seen it 'get so bad so fast'. I bet that sentiment has been echoed through a BUNCH of industries.
*(Or, maybe I work in the transportation industry, but deal only with auto-stuff... either way, same deal.) (My husband definately works in the auto industry, no two ways about it.)
**with the projection that November and December are approximately the same as September and October's numbers.
***For Toyota to be down, especially doubledigit down, is really unheard of.
The amount the industry (as a whole) is down, is equal to the number of all vehicles Chrysler and GM sold last year.
To me, that's pretty damned sobering. Even Toyota*** is down--by eighteen percent!
He said some other things... the balancesheet for our company is still positive (others are bleeding) in large part because we don't have a lot of debt and also because the bonuses and raises we didn't get last year (that everyone was mad about) were put into t-bills and are stockpiled. We're currently positive, and have the shelter to weather a storm for a while... luckily, Toyota also has a very nice balancesheet, and a lot of our business is done with them. We're also still (god knows how) gaining business, which is always good... and if we can get in when times are bad, we should be in an even better position when times bounce back.
And he said they will bounce back. It may be a very different landscape---there may be Indian cars or Chinese cars that we're catering toward, or we may stride farther into the insurance or inspection branches of the industry.
On the other hand, he also said he's been through a few up/downs... and he's never seen it 'get so bad so fast'. I bet that sentiment has been echoed through a BUNCH of industries.
*(Or, maybe I work in the transportation industry, but deal only with auto-stuff... either way, same deal.) (My husband definately works in the auto industry, no two ways about it.)
**with the projection that November and December are approximately the same as September and October's numbers.
***For Toyota to be down, especially doubledigit down, is really unheard of.
