The 6-percent decline in North American vehicle production in 2001 has perhaps had its most profound impact in Canada, where DaimlerChrysler was forced to close two of its freightliner truck plants; General Motors is closing its Ste.-Therese, Quebec, assembly plant; and all of the Big Three -- in addition to such major suppliers as Delphi -- announcing major cutbacks.

Shedding No Tier
Not all auto suppliers are down in the dumps. Here are just a few bits of good news in the industry:	TRW has renewed a lease on 155,000 sq. ft. (14,400 sq. m.) of office space in Manhattan Beach, Calif., near Los Angeles. Parts maker Dana Corp. has announced it will supply axle components for BMW's North American-made vehicle platforms. "Our goal is to grow our business so that two-thirds of [our revenues] are from outside the U.S.," says Dana spokesman Jeff Cole. Automotive lighting system maker, North American Lighting, which already employs 2,000 people in Illinois, will add a 150,000-sq.-ft. (13,900-sq.-m.) plant in Paris, Ill., that will employ 300 more. From a new plant in Heber Springs, Ark., California-based Superior Industries has begun to ship its aluminum suspension components for the new Cadillac CTS.

      Meanwhile, Magna, which employs 19,000 Canadians, continues to defy the trends. The company reported a rise in sales of 5 percent for the first six months of 2001, to US$5.7 billion, despite the fact that production was slumping all around them. Profits for the period were up 13 percent. Its latest IPO spin-off project is interior maker Intier Inc. And its latest new North American facility is a 450,000-sq.-ft. (41,800-sq.-m.), CA$150 million hydroforming plant in Milton, Ontario, for frame-maker subsidiary Modatek Systems. The company also just announced a major sports car joint venture with BMW in founder Frank Stronach's native Austria.
      Long-time Canadian auto fixture Toyota is moving forward with its $200-million expansion at its Cambridge, Ontario, facility, which will add new paint facilities for production of the Lexus RX300 SUV, which will become the first Lexus product to be made other than Japan in 2003. Toyota leaders have often expressed the company's intention to build cars where they sell the most, and this move is a reiteration of that goal, bringing the total number of models made in the U.S. to nine.
      According to the Cambridge Reporter, growth associated with the area around the Cambridge plant will mean that by 2004, the number of people working there will have more than quadrupled, to almost 10,000.