Delphi, Visteon To Lay Off 10,300

Monday, January 22nd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DETROIT (AP) â€” Auto parts suppliers Delphi Automotive Systems Corp. and Visteon Corp. said Monday they will temporarily lay off a combined 10,300 hourly workers this week, given automakers' production cuts amid softened U.S. vehicle sales.

Delphi, the world's largest automotive supplier, said nearly half of the 4,300 workers it will idle for a week beginning Monday at 25 sites are in Ohio, with the remainder in Michigan, Indiana and New York state, spokesman Steve Gaut said.

About 6,000 affected Visteon workers are largely in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, spokeswoman Carly Lamprecht said.

Specific breakdowns of affected workers by plant were not immediately available, though both companies called the layoffs temporary and meant to keep inventories balanced with curbed demand from automakers.

Of Delphi's 72,300 U.S. workers, 53,400 are hourly, Gaut said. Visteon has about 81,000 employees in 23 countries; Lamprecht could not immediately specify how many of those workers were U.S. hourly ones.

Ford Motor Co., which spun off Visteon last summer, as of Monday was idling 12 U.S. plants and one in Mexico for a week under a previously announced plan to trim production throughout January as U.S. vehicle sales sags. Ford, which has said about 36,000 North American workers would be affected its plant shutdowns this week, accounted for about 84 percent of Visteon's business last year.

General Motors Corp., which spun off Delphi in 1999, this week is idling three of its 29 North American plants, affecting about 8,100 hourly workers.

Earlier this month, the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler AG cut its first-quarter production estimate, following steps from GM and Ford to deal with slumping new-vehicle demand. Chrysler Group spokesman Trevor Hale said Monday the automaker has adjusted production as needed this month in hopes of winnowing inventories.

Automakers also seek to avoid pushing sales with higher incentives, believing that the cost of plant shutdowns and the resulting decrease in revenue is cheaper.

In many of the cases, affected U.S. workers covered by the United Auto Workers will receive 95 percent of their regular pay.

Delphi, based in the Detroit suburb of Troy, said last week its fourth-quarter earnings dipped 26 percent to $200 million, an offshoot of ebbing North American auto sales. The results still beat Wall Street's expectations.

Last Friday, Dearborn-based Visteon said it lost $87 million in the fourth quarter after one-time charges, having warned Wall Street the weaker figures would reflect softer U.S. vehicle sales.

Shares of Visteon were down 31.2 cents to $13.69, while shares of Delphi were unchanged at $14 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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On the Net:

http://www.delphiauto.com

http://www.visteon.com