A Look at the High Cost of Building Cars

There are a couple ways to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the Detroit Three since the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse. On one hand, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler Group are posting modest profits from the relative strength of the North American auto market, dragged down by European operations.

A $.4-billion loss from its troubled Opel/Vauxhall European operations offset GM North America’s $2.0 billion earnings before income tax (EBIT), which was down from $2.2 billion in the second quarter of ’11. GM’s global net revenues fell 41 percent against a 4.6-percent drop in net revenues, and the automaker blamed the revenue decline on the strength of the U.S. dollar versus the euro.