Report: Auto industry's heyday is gone

TORONTO, March 2 (UPI) -- A new report said U.S. automobile sales may not recover this year or the next or the next or the next, or perhaps ever.

The CIBC World Markets report says consumers in the United States will buy between 8 million and 9 million cars this year, resulting in the loss of about half of the 51 light vehicle production plants in the country.

With that, another 200,00 jobs will be lost, the report said.

But, "Detroit's biggest problem isn't that it's producing the wrong type of vehicles but rather, that it's producing too many vehicles -- far too many," said CIBC World Markets Chief Economist Jeff Rubin.

"Easy credit is already gone," he said. "The leasing market has all but dried up and the securitization market for car loans isn't far behind."

In addition, five years from now, there will be 25 million fewer cars on the road, the report said.

Rubin said the recession is only half the problem. "It's the recovery that poses even bigger problems," he said.

A recovery means gas prices will escalate to $4 a gallon again, he said.

In effect, "the good times for the auto industry are never coming back," he said.