Ford and GM plan to ratchet up first-quarter production

Working under the belief that the worst of the auto industry’s economic downturn has passed, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. plan to step up first-quarter production to more normal levels. George Pipas, Ford’s chief sales analyst, said that the auto industry “appears to have stabilized.”

In the first quarter of 2009, Ford built only 349,000 vehicles (its lowest in the decade); however it plans to raise first-quarter production next year 58 percent to 550,000. GM is more optimistic; it aims for first-quarter production to go up 75 percent to 650,000 vehicles from 371,000 in the year-earlier period. GM spokesman Chris Lee said that the company is hoping for things to continue to rebound.
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