Detroit's Big Three automakers aren't all booming — but two out of three ain't bad, right?

General Motors and Chrysler are both having very strong years — enough to make up for Ford's poor performance

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published October 25, 2016 8:59PM (EDT)

 (AP/Paul Sancya)
(AP/Paul Sancya)

Detroit’s Big Three automakers may not all be flourishing… but two out of three are and that's still pretty good news for the Motor City.

Both General Motors and Chrysler had good news for investors when issuing their quarterly reports earlier today. General Motors anticipates that its full-year results will be on the “high end” of its $5.50 to $6.00 a share forecast, and the company increased its share of sales to individual consumers and reduced the cost of discounts during the quarter itself. Similarly, Fiat Chrysler reported a profit of $659 million, an improved net income in three out of four global regions, and earnings of 47 cents per share, well above analyst expectations of 39 cents per share.

Although Ford isn’t releasing its quarterly report until Thursday, the early signs aren’t promising. Last week they announced that they were temporarily shutting down production of their F-150 pickup truck in four plants amid signs that their overall sales had plateaued.

These reports come after the auto industry in America hit sales records in 2015. Last year 17.5 million cars and trucks were sold, far in excess of the 10.4 million that were sold in 2009. That was a landmark year in American automotive history, since President Obama’s bailout of the automobile industry was widely credited with saving them from collapse during the Great Recession.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Auto Industry Detroit Fiat Chrysler Ford Motor Company General Motors