Two stories are competing for the bleakest of fates for North America's two big automakers this week.
First out of the gate yesterday was news Thursday that Moody's investors were thinking in terms of junkers for the Ford brand. With third quarter losses of 1.2 Billion dollars and struggling sales against rising gas prices, Ford found its credit rating downgraded once again by the Investment service.
Moody's feeling that Ford has yet feel more pain despite its recent restructuring, lowered the automakers rating by two levels, placing Ford just three spots away from complete junk bond status.
The only thing that might console the folks at Ford is the latest news Friday from General Motors. From the misery loves company file, GM Executives say that last years job cuts of 30,000 just weren't enough and another round of bloodletting will have to take place. Or as they put it in GM speak "we hope to accelerate the attrition rate in our workforce."
The decisions made in November were supposed to save the auto giant some 7 billion dollars but that apparently is not enough to keep the balance sheets in a good spot, so GM "now has a good line of sight on other initiatives."
Somehow, one gets the feeling that's not going to be a good thing for anyone working in a GM auto plant for the next few years.
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