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- BUSINESS, Page 73Business NotesAUTOMOBILESGM Hits The Brakes
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- Whenever the U.S. economy develops engine trouble, Detroit's
- automakers are among the first to pull over to the side of the
- road. True to that tradition, General Motors acknowledged last
- week that it was likely to report an operating loss for the
- fourth quarter, its first such deficit in four years. The
- world's largest auto company had operating income of $109
- million in the third quarter before a $2.1 billion charge for
- plant closings pushed it into the red. GM attributed its latest
- problems to slack demand that has led the company to reduce its
- fourth-quarter car and truck production in the U.S. and Canada
- by nearly 17% compared with the same period a year ago.
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- Even as GM braked, Toyota shifted into high gear. The
- Japanese firm announced an $800 million expansion that will
- nearly double the capacity of its two-year-old Georgetown, Ky.,
- complex, which now produces 230,000 mid-size Camrys a year.
- Toyota said the expansion will increase the plant's work force
- of 3,450 by more than 40% when the new facility opens in 1993.
- Along with an expansion under way in Fremont, Calif., the move
- will double Toyota's annual U.S. plant capacity to 600,000 cars
- and trucks.
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