According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, Ford Motor Co.’s U.S. auto sales fell by nearly 41 percent in March. Ford sold 131,102 cars and light trucks last month, compared with 221,642 in March 2008. The automaker who is fighting bankruptcy reported that sales of its Focus compact car fell 42 percent, and sales of its top seller, the F-series pickups fell 40 percent and Ford Expedition sales plummeted 73 percent a huge blow for the iconic company.
As consumer confidence descends to levels not seen since the 1980’s automakers such as Ford are barely escaping bankruptcy. Sales drops on this level will inevitably create either bankruptcy or massive job losses–or both. This level of revenue loss simply cannot be sustained by any business; but especially automakers who were already struggling before the crisis began. Job losses may be in this automaker’s future. If Ford begins another round of job losses or other “cost-saving” measures it could prompt other businesses dependent on the automaker to take precautions by implementing their own job losses in an effort to stave off massive revenue losses. The best thing for workers to do is to be prepared for the worst.