Incomplete list of publicly revealed U.S. automotive related industry shutdowns and layoff announcements made in the Gregorian year of 2014:
Russian steel company Severstal selling off its factories in Deerborn, Michigan, and in Columbus, Mississippi. At least 25-hundred jobs affected! The company was supplying steel for Ford tough trucks, but the new Ford F-150 will be made of aluminum (cans?).
Alabama: After 60 years Graysville Tire Store shutdown.
California: In Sacramento, Harrold Ford car dealer gave state employment administrators a two days notice of laying off 120 employees! The WARN posting says reason “Not known at this time”. In La Mesa, car dealer Drew Ford issued a WARN saying it was shutting down due to its sale to a competitor, 281 jobs in limbo! In Carson, U.S. Auto Parts Network shutdown their distribution center in August, 78 jobs lost. Car dealer California Superstores shutdown three locations across the Golden State, 203 jobs lost by August! In San Diego, Midway Jeep Chrysler Dodge Ram shutdown in August, 96 jobs lost. In San Jose, car dealer Courtesy Chevrolet shutdown in July, 100 jobs lost! In Roseville, caranything.com killed at least 99 jobs. In Chino, automotive parts maker Senior Operations/CAPO killed 131 jobs! Maker of car batteries Exide Technologies killed off 61 jobs at their Los Angeles ops. The battery maker and recycler is also under federal investigation for emissions violations. In San Jose, Capitol Expressway Ford warned they will render 102 people jobless in December!
Florida: It has been confirmed that Bonita Springs based publisher of many automotive magazines (Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Camaro Performers, GM Hi-Tech, Super Chevy, Import Tuner, Honda Tuning, Super Street, etc), Source Interlink, killed more than 5-thousand jobs at the end of May! Those jobs were in California, Florida and Michigan. The parent company, Source Home Entertainment, went chapter 11 bankrupt busted! Officials with the publisher-distributor blame e-books and “the continuing overhang of the economic downturn” creating a “difficult operating environment”. Company officials also admitted that hundreds of each magazine issue has had to be destroyed at additional costs, because nobody is buying them! 20 years ago there were about 400 magazine wholesalers in the U.S., with the demise of Source Interlink there are now only two!
Georgia: In McDonough, the World’s largest maker of small engines Briggs & Stratton shutdown a factory, 270 jobs lost: “We have not been able to get the McDonough plant running at full capacity for several years. That, and market conditions, have made it even more difficult.”-Laura Timm, public affairs
Illinois: In Chicago, it was revealed that 1-hundred Ford employees were fired on Halloween. Ford administrators said they notified the employees via ‘robocall’, yet many employees said they thought the electronic message was somebody’s Halloween joke. Isn’t that kind of chicken shit of Ford, to use a type of messaging service to tell employees they’re fired? Moline based farm vehicle maker Deere (formerly known as John Deere) announced they will kill more than 600 jobs in Illinois, Iowa and Kansas! Some inside reports say it’s more like 1-thousand jobs killed! Company officials blame crashing sales. Peoria based heavy vehicle maker Caterpillar reports their sales crashed by 12% from March through May. It’s all part of the big mining shutdown conspiracy around the World. As a result Caterpillar shutdown four of its Anchor Coupling production and logistics facilities, at least 170 full time jobs lost! Fiat-Chrysler laid off 325 people in Belvidere! It’s blamed on a 37% drop in sales of the new Dodge Dart.
Indiana: In Mishawaka, taxsucker, and maker of the (in)famous Hummer, AM General (formerly part of American Motors Corporation [AMC]) laid off 60 people. However, the company had actually recalled 200 people earlier in the year due to increased demand for the military general utility machine. In Kokomo, General Motors (GM) revealed they laid off an undisclosed number of employees at their computer control module factory. In a surprise announcement, Monaco RV shutdown their towable recreational vehicle factory in Elkhart, 160 jobs lost! It’s blamed on the 2013 takeover by Allied Specialty Vehicles (ASV). Officials with ASV say towable campers are no longer money makers. Truck maker Navistar International announced they’re shutting down their Indianapolis foundry by the summer of 2015, at least 180 jobs lost! Company administrators say the suck-ass economy is forcing them to get their parts from a cheap-o-contractor instead of making them in their own foundry!
Iowa: Farm vehicle maker Deere continues job killing, this time 462 people in Waterloo are now jobless! That’s on top of the previously announced Deere layoffs in Illinois.
Kansas: Farm equipment maker AGCO tried to blame their factory shutdown and killing of at least 111 jobs on the embargo against U.S. farm equipment by Russia, however, ag analysts say it’s really the suck-ass economy: “With depressed crop prices, farmers don’t want to spend money, and large equipment dealers like John Deere, like AGCO, are starting to see the effects, and they’re being proactive.”-John Jenkinson, The Ag Network
Massachusetts: Boston based Hill Holiday advertising laid off employees after losing GM’s Cadillac contract.
Michigan: Detroit based General Motors (GM) announced they are cutting back on car production in Russia, due to crashing sales. In Lansing, GM revealed that 450 people at its Grand River Assembly Plant could become jobless in early 2015! It’s blamed on crashing sales of upscale Cadillacs. GM also killing off at least 160 jobs at its Buick and Chevy Orion Assembly Plant by the end of 2015 (they hope production will go up when they introduce the new Camaro)! Five Suski’s used car lots across two counties shutdown! Plastic parts maker for the automotive industry Flint Hills Resources shutting down their Marysville plant by mid-2015, at least 75 jobs lost. Company administrators said that despite their best efforts the factory could not “remain competitive”.
Minnesota: In Minneapolis, Borton Volvo shutdown. They were the last new car dealer in the city. The owner blames city officials for changing zoning laws, now he’s building a mega dealership outside city limits (less tax revenue for the dumb city officials). However, U.S. Volvo dealers might have a hard time getting new cars to sell as Sweden based Volvo said they lost so much money at the end of 2013 that they had to kill 4,400 jobs around the world in 2014! And that’s on top of the previous 2-thousand job cuts announced at the end of 2013! After five years of selling Italian motorcycles, Ducati Motors shutdown in the Lyn-Lake area: “We are closing because we are unable to be profitable.”-Merrill Ferguson
Missouri: In Saint Joseph, car battery maker Johnson Controls laid off 29 employees. They blame “technology advances”.
Nevada: Reports say construction on one of two secret Tesla Motors Gigafactories in Reno was stopped. No reason given, Tesla officials refused coment. The Gigafactories supposedly will make lithium-ion batteries for electric cars.
New Hampshire: In Newport, after 80 years City Auto RV Superstore announced they will shutdown sometime in 2015. The current owner says she’s going back to being a nurse.
New York: Manhattan Ford Lincoln shutdown in September, 245 jobs lost! In several cities across the state Long Island Automotive Group-Land Rover dealers shutdown, 243 jobs lost! General Motors (GM) shutdown their Treasury Operations in September, 46 jobs lost. In Owego, France based automotive electronics maker Asteelflash laid off 34 U.S. employees, blaming the bad economy. In Newburgh, after 65 years Dabrusin Auto Parts shutdown. The owner said the automotive market is so bad that he talked his daughter out of taking over the business!
North Dakota: Reports that Case-International Harvester eliminated 40 farm vehicle making jobs in Fargo.
Ohio: After 118 years (surviving the Great Depression and numerous recessions) E.T. Paul Tire Company shutdown, ironically by the state Department of Transportation to make way for a new road! Japan based YSK laid off 19 people at its Chillicothe car parts factory. Company administrators were surprised by their crashing sales: “While a difficult decision and an unprecedented one in its 25 year history, YSK’s Management Team felt that it was necessary for the long term health of the company.”
Oklahoma: Auto parts maker Federal Mogul revealed they will shutdown their recently acquired Oklahoma City factory in 2015, at least 165 jobs lost! Federal Mogul took over the factory from Affina Group in June 2014.
Pennsylvania: In Shady Grove, heavy construction vehicle maker Manitowoc Cranes, killed 250 jobs! Company officials blame it on crashing orders, which represent crashing building construction. Only four years after Swedish vehicle maker Volvo set up shop in Shippensburg, Volvo administrators revealed they will shutdown specific heavy construction vehicle production, not only in the U.S. but in Poland and Brazil, killing off at least 1-thousand jobs into 2015!
South Carolina: In Spartanburg County, after only four years France based car parts maker Faurecia shutdown, 150 jobs lost! Heavy vehicle maker Caterpillar shutdown its Fountain Inn factory, 510 jobs lost!
Tennessee: Custom transmission company Keisler Engineering went chapter 7 bankrupt busted. Company officials blame competitors for spreading rumors that the company was shutting down, but yet at the same time they confirmed the company is shutting down: “The order cancellations created a cash flow problem for KE, and placed new customer orders at risk. I took the initiative to refund all new order deposits going back to Thursday January 9 2014 once I realized the company was at risk of closure…”-Shafi Keisler
Vermont: Plasan Carbon Composites shutdown their Bennington operations in May, consolidating to Michigan, 143 jobs lost! The company makes carbon parts for the Dodge Viper and Chevy Corvette. However, company officials say they might figure out a way to use the factory to make armor plate made from carbon. White River Junction based turbo engineering company, Concepts NREC, laid off employees across several New England states.
Virginia: Roanoke based Advanced Auto Parts announced the shutdown of 100 stores across the U.S.! And that’s just the beginning, officials calling it their “first round” of store closings! Thousands of jobs will be lost! It’s the result of their takeover of rival Carquest-General Parts in 2013 (company officials say there are just far too many auto parts stores in the U.S., and they need to be culled). But wait, there’s more! Advanced Auto was awarded $17.4-million USD in taxpayer incentives, if they created 600 new jobs in Virginia! One news report said many of those ‘new’ jobs will actually be former Carquest employees simply re-hired by Advanced Auto.
Wisconsin: Tax sucking military truck maker Oshkosh laid off as many as 1,130 people in 2014! Company administrators proudly stated that despite the reduction in sales “We’re still the number one global manufacturer of tactical wheeled vehicles for the military”. Oshkosh killed at least 900 jobs in 2013! In Oshkosh, taxsucking AxleTech laid off 65 people. Company administrators blamed “a sharp decline in demand for military-grade axles and components”.
