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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Dallas Morning News
Byline: Terry Box
Mar. 27--For two weeks starting Feb. 27, thousands of South Texans rushed to apply for jobs at the new Toyota truck plant in San Antonio, drawn by the promise of high wages and daily overtime.
In mid-March, the 51-year-old General Motors assembly plant in Arlington -- one of GM's most important factories -- closed for two weeks because of slow sales.
The two events weren't directly related, but they clearly illustrate a painful reality these days in the U.S. auto industry: Over the next five years, most of the growth in automaker jobs and production will probably come from so-called transplant companies such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW and Hyundai.
"This is going to be a very difficult year for the traditional companies like GM and Ford," said David Cole, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "We're in a period of very heavy hitting."
Analysts expect new-vehicle sales this year to remain around 17 million cars and trucks nationally. But the transplants are likely to fare far better in the short term than the Big Three -- especially...
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