Detroit's auto pain hits Japan

[BeatleBoot]

Source: The Detroit News

<snip>

This is Tokyo, where laid-off auto workers are sleeping in parks, financiers are fretting about the impact of a General Motors Corp. bankruptcy on already weak parts makers, and the heads of once-invincible automakers like Toyota Motor Corp. are watching sales decline and losses mount.

The crisis in the U.S. automobile industry has hit Japan like a tsunami. And everyone in the Japanese auto industry -- the engine of the nation's economy -- is worried that it could get much worse if GM or Chrysler LLC fail.

"It is very serious. It is not only a U.S. problem," said Toshihiro Iwatake, executive director of Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Inc. "Your problems have become our problems."

The fear is palpable from here to Hiroshima, prompting many to drop their objections to a U.S. government bailout of GM and Chrysler for the sake of some stability in the auto industry.



Read more: http://www.detnews.com/article/20090409/AUTO01/904090422/Detroit+s+auto+pain+hits+Japan

[PassingFair]

1. Can't be...it's all about mismanagement, unions and pension funds....

NOT about the fact that wages are falling,
or FALLEN and people are too afraid to take
on any more DEBT.

Japan and Germany are going strong.

No, it can't be about JOB LOSS.

Must be union demands and mismanagement.



:sarcasm:

[Romulox]

2. Do you think some additional UAW concession will help the Japanese?

Oh, wait. :rofl: