By Marcel Michelson
PARIS (Reuters) - Top automakers including General Motors Corp (GM) and Ford warned of tough times as the Paris Auto Show opened on Thursday amid concerns that slowing demand could force production cuts and job losses.
Volkswagen's latest Golf and Toyota's new Avensis saloon for Europe headline the event, which opened under a cloud as makers struggle to attract buyers worried by slowing economies and as a global credit crisis hurts auto leasing.
Ford Motor Co
"2009 is not going to be better than 2008," Mulally told reporters at the show. "We won't see a recovery until 2010," he added, noting markets were down around the globe.
GM's
"Certainly in the first half (of 2009) it's going to be weak," Henderson told reporters at the show, noting weakness in western Europe.
"We're all under some pressure for the next 12 to 24 months," he said.
Mitsuo Kinoshita, senior board member at Japan's Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, said the credit crunch was hurting consumer confidence and could force Toyota to review its global sales targets of 9.5 million vehicles in 2008 and 9.7 million for next year.
A source at Europe's biggest automaker, Volkswagen
"If markets continue to develop in such a dramatic way then we have to consider reining in production," the source told Reuters at the show.
Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn told reporters that VW expects to be able to generate a small gain in unit sales and revenue next year despite turmoil on financial markets, while confirming VW's outlook for 2008.
He also said the company, which plans to start making cars at a U.S. plant in Tennessee, wants to benefit from government aid offered to U.S. makers.
"We will raise our hand when the time comes," Winterkorn said.
U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday signed into law a spending bill which included guarantees of $25 billion in low-interest loans for U.S. automakers Ford, GM and Chrysler LLC.
The aid comes as U.S. demand slumps and makers tool up for production of more fuel efficient and environmentally-friendly vehicles, including electric models.
Major automakers reported a 26-percent plunge in U.S. September sales, including Ford off 34 percent and Toyota down 32 percent, its steepest decline since 1987.
Auto executives said Americans had either walked away from vehicle purchases or been stymied by a lack of financing or requirements for larger down-payments.
Renault SA
Renault outlined a job cuts plan last month.
European rivals Fiat
Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne this week warned of the knock-on effect which the financial crisis threatened to have on manufacturing.
"(It) will have repercussions at an international level if it is not resolved in America. It will have an impact on industry, that is without doubt," Marchionne said.
Peugeot CEO Christian Streiff told reporters at the show that the French maker had achieved 2 billion euros ($2.79 billion) in cost savings in the past 18 months and expected "great progress" in cost reduction in the near future.
The firm is sticking to its 2010 objectives despite the market's tougher climate, Streiff said.
Emmanuel Bulle, a credit analyst at Fitch, told the Reuters Auto Summit on Tuesday that the European market decline was far from over and could go to minus 20 percent.
(Reporting by Gilles Castonguay, Christiaan Hetzner, Jan Schwartz, Helen Massy-Beresford in Paris; Kevin Krolicki in Washington; Writing by Jason Neely; Editing by Sharon Lindores, Greg Mahlich)
