Falling Car Sales And Chrysler Cutbacks Could Signal More Problems For Ford (F)

Most analysts believe that October car sales will be down slightly from a year ago. While units sold by GM (GM) and Toyota (TM) are expected to be relatively flat, Ford (F) is expected to show a decline of over 10%. And, that will mark a string of months of double digit drops for the US car company.

On the heels of a deal with the UAW, Chrysler is about to cut 2,000 white collar and temporary jobs, a sign the the labor deal is not enough to bring costs in line in it North American operations.

And, Chrysler’s sales are not doing as badly as Ford’s.

While Ford may get much of what it wants from its UAW talks and may fund a pool for medical benefits run by the UAW, the company is still likely to find its costs in the US to be too high. That means that the company could chop several thousand more jobs not controlled by the union.

And, that means that Ford is running low on time. It can’t fire everyone.

Douglas A. McIntyre