Burdened by high health care and pension costs and overreliant on sales of pickup trucks and big SUVs, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have been losing market share to Japan's Honda and Toyota as well as to smaller upstarts like South Korea's Hyundai.
GM and Ford have eliminated tens of thousands of hourly and management positions in the past year, and Chrysler is expected to follow suit.
Here is a look at some of the milestones as the automakers have tried to reverse course.","","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "125", "100", "", "", "", "", ""); CarIndustryTurmoilFeb07[i++] = new Array("","General Motors","CEO Rick Wagoner","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070213/wagoner.htease.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "", "AFP - Getty", "110", "76", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); CarIndustryTurmoilFeb07[i-1].body = "Nov. 21, 2005: The nation’s biggest automaker announces plans to cut 30,000 jobs and close nine North American plants by 2008 to reverse losses of more than $4 billion in less than a year.
Jan. 26, 2006: GM says it lost $4.8 billion in the fourth quarter and $8.6 billion in all of 2005, dragged down in part by restructuring costs.
March 22: In one of the largest buyout programs ever, more than 125,000 hourly workers of GM and its bankrupt supplier Delphi Corp. are offered buyouts worth up $140,000 aimed at further cutting their work forces.
March 23: GM raises $9 billion by selling a majority stake in the commercial mortgage division of its financing arm.
June 30: Dissident GM shareholder Kirk Kerkorian urges the automaker to consider an alliance with France’s Renault and Japan’s Nissan, which are run by a single chief executive, Carlos Ghosn.
July 14: Kerkorian and Ghosn meet to discuss the potential alliance.
Oct. 4: GM, Renault and Nissan announce they have terminated discussions about a three-way, three-continent alliance after GM sought compensatory payment.
Oct. 6: Kerkorian aide Jerome York resigns from the GM board of directors.
November: Kerkorian sells his 9.9 percent stake in GM, worth more than $1.6 billion.
Nov. 14: President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney meet with the leaders of GM, Ford and Chrysler in the Oval Office. Bush tells the executives they have “tough choices” to make their companies more competitive in a difficult global environment. The executives say they are not seeking a federal bailout.
December: Toyota is likely to become the world’s biggest automaker in 2007, producing more vehicles than General Motors, according to several reports.
Jan. 25, 2007: GM says it will delay announcing its fourth-quarter and year-end financial results and that it plans to restate prior earnings, primarily due to pre-2002 tax accounting adjustments.
";
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CarIndustryTurmoilFeb07[i-1].body = "Jan. 23, 2006: The nation’s No. 2 automaker says it will cut up to 30,000 jobs and close 14 facilities by 2012 as part of a restructuring dubbed the Way Forward aimed at reducing annual costs by aimed at saving $6 billion a year. The cuts represent more than 20 percent of the company’s North American work force.
April 21: Ford says it lost $1.2 billion in the first quarter, its worst performance in more than four years, as revenues fell it began its costly restructuring effort.
July 13: Ford cuts quarterly dividend in half, to 5 cents a share. Directors agree to take a 50 percent reduction in compensation.
Aug. 2: Ford says it lost more than $250 million in the second quarter, double its previously announced figure, because of higher-than-expected pension costs.
Sept. 5: Ford names Alan Mulally, head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, as chief executive. Mulally takes over from Bill Ford, Henry Ford's great-grandson, who remains executive chairman.
Sept. 15: Ford announces a plan to dramatically speed up its restructuring, including the elimination of 10,000 additional white-collar jobs and a buyout offer for all of its 75,000 hourly workers. The new cuts would reduce Ford’s total North American work force by 29 percent, from about 130,000 now to about 92,000 by the end of 2008. The company also plans to shutter two more plants.
Oct. 23: Ford says it lost $5.8 billion in the third quarter, the worst result in 14 years, largely because of the costs of its massive restructuring plan.
Nov. 14: President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney meet with the leaders of GM, Ford and Chrysler in the Oval Office. Bush tells the executives they have “tough choices” to make their companies more competitive in a difficult global environment. The executives say they are not seeking a federal bailout.
Nov. 29: Ford says 38,000 of its 83,000 unionized workers have accepted early-retirement offers.
Dec. 21: Ford is expected to slip to the world’s No. 3 automaker in 2007, behind both GM and Toyota, according to an independent sales forecast.
Jan. 25, 2007: Ford says it lost a staggering $12.7 billion in 2006 — an average of $1,925 for every car and truck it sold and the worst loss in the company’s 103-year-history.
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CarIndustryTurmoilFeb07[i-1].body = "Jan. 24, 2006: German parent DaimlerChrysler says it will cut 6,000 administrative jobs in an aim to save some $1.2 billion a year and make the company more competitive and profitable.
Oct. 25: DaimlerChrysler says its U.S. division lost $1.5 billion in the third quarter as sales fell 26 percent.
Nov. 14: President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney meet with the leaders of GM, Ford and Chrysler in the Oval Office. Bush tells the executives they have “tough choices” to make their companies more competitive in a difficult global environment. The executives say they are not seeking a federal bailout.
Feb. 14, 2007: Chrysler announces plans to cut 13,000 North American jobs over three years. German parent DaimlerChrysler says no option is off the table as it considers how to fix its troubled U.S. division."; // END editorial data