Z28x

Mitsubishi?
Izuzu? (finally)
Suzuki?
Subaru?
Lotus?
Land Rover?

How many of these little guys can stay around? How is Hyundai doing?

YARDofSTUF

Isuzu is firing all part time and temp employees.

jg95z28

Niche manufacturers like Lotus and Land Rover should survive. I wouldn't be surpised though if some of the smaller imports merged to combine forces or got bought out by bigger companies.

99SilverSS

Hyundai/Kia are doing fine as they were lean and mean already. They have cheap vehicles that get good gas mileage and have reasonable quality. But from a good friend who works there they have made mistakes in timing like the large SUV Borrego and the Genesis coupe and sedan arn't likely to hit the numbers the company wanted them to hit because of the American economy.

slt

Mitsubishi cant be doing well

jpolz

Seems like we've been hearing about their demise for the past few years, yet they're still here.

V8 Slayer

Mitsu makes a hell of a lot more than just cars. I once even had a Mitsubishi cell phone, about 6-7 years ago..

Adam4356

You have the domestic jobs in "foreign" automakers plus alot of overlap in parts which directly is tied to the whole industry.

I'm not sure on the financial situation of most of the import brands. I'd say the big dogs like Honda and Toyota can survive with some pain.

Brands like Isuzu should and probably will go away. Hyundai i think has gotten to the point where they could make it. They make good cars now and have been improving year after year.


I don't know. Maybe they can all make it. Smaller companys if without excessive debt but have sufficient credit probably can survive the economy.

Silverado C-10

Isuzu was leaving the US market anyway:

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/30/c...ng-u-s-market/

The official "leaving or closing" date is Jan 31, 2009.

JakeRobb

Most of those companies are relatively small subsidiaries of HUGE conglomerates. Subaru is part of Fuji Heavy Industries, and Land Rover is part of Tata Group. Mitsubishi, as mentioned, makes a lot more than just cars (under the same name). Same for Hyundai. Their automotive divisions might shut down, but the parent companies would continue on.

Why not mention Toyota or Honda? Both of them get a much larger portion of their income from their automotive businesses (although neither is exclusively in the auto business), which means that a crash of the automotive industry would be much more likely to take them out.

Isuzu might be in danger (especially if Mitsubishi and Toyota get taken out, as those two companies have a large stake in Isuzu).

Lotus is a low-volume shop building enthusiast cars -- I doubt that they would be affected, except that if Toyota gets taken out, they'd have to go elsewhere for their engines.

Suzuki might shut down their US car business, but I suspect that their ATV, motorcycle, and PWC businesses would continue.

Eric77TA

And don't forget that Toyota bought the stake in Subaru that GM divested itself of a while back.

SCNGENNFTHGEN

Hopefully all of em'!