Toyota and Honda finished the month of May with sales up by an incredible 88.9 and 46 percent, respectively. Chrysler Group also finishes up May with an improvement of over 30 percent from May 2011. General Motors posted a solid 10.9 percent bump and Ford performed likewise at 12.6 percent. Things are looking quite optimistic across the board but, for some reason, analysts are still concerned.
This time last year, Japan faced epic devastation after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck the island followed by threatening tsunamis as well as a critical nuclear event at the Fukushima power plant. Suffering a halt to operations and a shortage of parts and supplies, industry analysts believed that anything would look pretty outstanding compared to 2011's unrelenting nosedive. 2011 sales for Toyota had fallen by 32 percent while Honda fell 22.4. Considering the damage, analysts are complaining that 2012 recovery numbers just aren't great enough to cover the losses.
Just earlier this week, analysts were posting yearly sales estimates nearing 14.4 million units. Now, preliminary results have caused analysts to adjust these initial estimates and settle for a more modest 13.8 million unit sales for 2012 instead.
A premature end to initial industry excitment, the buzzkill doesn't stop there. According to the Toronto Sun, General Motors announced the end to one of the lines at its Oshawa, Ontario plant, which is currently responsible for building the Chevrolet Equinox and outgoing Impala. Effectively putting 2,000 employees out of work, GM has yet to make an official announcment to its Canadian employees or to the worker union.
Mazda is sharing similar news as well. According to Automotive News Europe, Mazda continues to struggle with losses stretching for four years. Both slow sales and a strengthening yen are partially to blame. Succumbing to the financial stress, the Japanese automaker is set to cut 250 jobs in both United States and Europe. Originating from reports by Nikkei, these job cuts represent 25 percent of the company's staff in both markets and are necessary sacrifices in the company's reorganization efforts.
What's more, Mazda will also trim the workforce at its Germany subsidiary by 200 employees, while sales staff in California and Michigan will drop to around 550 employees as well. Not to mention, all these cuts are coming after the recent buyout that caused 107 U.S. employees to leave voluntarily.
While some members in the industry deal with pressuring job cuts and a slow recovery, apparently Hyundai didn't receive the memo. Less than a month ago, Hyundai announced an expansion to its Alabama assembly plant, opening 877 additional jobs for its line. According to the Detroit Free Press, the applicant roster exceeded all expections in a matter of days - more than 18,500 applicants answered to Hyundai's call of duty.
In fact, Hyundai's HR is so flooded with applications, the processing shut down as of May 18th, informing job seekers that only 6,000-7,000 applications will be reviewed.
Displaying quite a divergence of fortunes, only time can tell whether the auto industry will boom.
