Autos: Slowdown Time

The first 60 days of auto sales, according to Ford's Group President Lee lacocca, establish the pattern of any model-year. Last week, as that milepost passed, Detroit was gearing down for a slow winter. Over the next three months, automakers plan to assemble 2,580,453 vehicles, 417,453 fewer than they made last December, January and February. Automakers blame most of the slowdown on the fact that the public simply is not in the mood to buy. This week Chrysler plans to shut down three of its seven assembly plants for a week and three more for a day, because its dealers...

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