Minus an automaker: A tough adjustment

DETROIT, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A U.S. economy lacking one of the Big Three automakers would require an adjustment period of at least a year, an industry economist said.

If U.S. consumers had to rely more on foreign cars, the supply lines that feed U.S. car manufacturing would have to adjust, Sean McAlinden, chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research told The New York Times.

Foreign companies with plants in the United States "would have to rely on imported vehicles while they scramble to reorganize the supply system," McAlinden said. "That would take them about a year."

Industry leaders, union officials, politicians and economists are contemplating the effects of a collapse at General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC or Ford Motor Co.

Currently, the companies employ 240,000, while their suppliers employ 2.3 million -- a total amounting to 2 percent of the U.S. workforce, the Times reported.

The industry makes up about 2.3 percent of the country's economic output and about 20 percent of its manufacturing base, the Times said.

"(President-elect) Barack Obama has made it clear he understands the importance of the industry. The question is, do we get that far?" Ron Gettelfinger, head of the United Auto Workers, told the Times.