Detroit automakers race to keep up with sales

Associated Press

DETROIT

Auto sales are growing so fast that Detroit can barely keep up.

Three years after the U.S. auto industry nearly collapsed, sales of cars and trucks are surging. Sales could exceed 14 million this year, above last year’s 12.8 million.

The result: Carmakers are adding shifts and hiring thousands of workers around the country. Carmakers and parts companies added more than 38,000 jobs last year, reaching a total of 717,000. And automakers have announced plans to add an additional 13,000 this year, mostly on night shifts.

But there’s a downside. The newfound success is straining the factory network of the Detroit automakers as well as the companies that make the thousands of parts that go into each vehicle. This could lead to shortages that drive up prices.

And it also has auto executives in a quandary. They got into trouble in the first place largely because their costs were too high. Now, they fear adding too many workers.

Still, the surge in hiring bolsters the argument of those who supported the federal bailout of General Motors and Chrysler in 2008.

And the hiring is good news for communities around the country that saw hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs disappear.