U.S. car production is scheduled to dropby 10.4 pct to about 1.47 mln in the third quarter from last
year's 1.63 mln as domestic automakers react to a drop in sales
from last year's record levels, trade paper Automotive News
said.
    Automotive News said General Motors Corp &lt;GM> has slashed
its planned car production by 12.6 pct from last year's third
quarter totals while Ford Motor Co &lt;F> is scheduling its plants
to build 5.4 pct fewer cars and Chrysler Corp &lt;C> will be off
18.4 pct.
    But the paper quoted analysts as saying the production
should be cut by at least 200,000 more units to avoid excessive
inventory build-up in view of a relatively soft market for new
cars.
    Through June 20, sales of new domestic-built cars are off
11.9 pct from last year's levels. Only Ford among the Detroit
Big Three is enjoying a sales gain.
    GM and Ford may be working to stockpile cars despite the
market conditions because of the prospect of a strike in
September by the United Automobile Workers union, analysts said.
 Reuter
