Ford Motor Co’s finance unit will eliminate 20 percent of its workforce, or about 1,200 workers, as part of a cost-cutting move as the U.S. auto sales rate falls to the lowest since 1982.
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Italian automaker Fiat announced today that it is giving more than half of its workers extended holidays that will see 14 of its 20 home country factories shut down for two or four-week periods until mid-January. Fiat will temporarily lay off 48,000 of its 80,000 Italian workers in order to cope with a drastic drop off in new car demand across the globe.

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The U.S. division of Mercedes-Benz has announced last week that it is offering all 4,000 of it’s workers at it’s Alabama assembly plant buyout packages. This comes amidst of a global slow-down of vehicle sales, as well a weak outlook for the next 2 years in the automotive industry.

The plant in Alabama builds GL class SUV’s for North America and M class and R class crossovers for worldwide distribution.

Mercedes has already implemented a 4 day workweek beginning in October, and has communicated to temporary employees they would no longer be needed after Dec. 31st.

Bill Taylor, President of Mercedes U.S. International has assured employees, that the changes in Alabama do not affect all 4,000 workers and Mercedes still plans on continuing manufacturing operations within the state. This was positive news as Mercedes has announced the closure of 14 assembly factories in Germany.

From the sounds of it, the Alabama plant will have a single production line removed and the possibility of another vehicle added on.

The buyout is in the sum of $45,000 lump sum payment, plus $1,000 for every year with the company. Medical and re-training options are a part of the package, but were not discussed.