Visteon In New Round Of Lays Offs.

Visteon Corp. laid off more than 350 white-collar workers in early May, bringing to 1,300 the salaried employees handed pink slips over the past month by the auto parts supplier squeezed by slowed vehicle production. Visteon, spun off by Ford Motor Co. last year, plans to eliminate an additional 500 overseas jobs by the end of June, ultimately cutting 1,800 jobs, spokeswoman Liane Smyth said.

The most recent job cuts followed Visteon's elimination of 950 salaried jobs -- or about 12 percent of its white-collared work force -- last month, Smyth said. The layoffs occurred at Visteon's 21 North American plants, including nine in southeast Michigan, Smyth said.

Dearborn-based company announced the job-cutting initiative April 4, saying it hopes to pare overhead costs and bolster customer service amid the profit-squeezing backdrop of production pullbacks by automakers. Last month, Visteon said its first-quarter earnings tumbled 79 percent to $31 million, or 24 cents a share, compared with $147 million, or $1.13 a share, during the same period last year.

"It was a tough quarter following the downturn of last year, but we did finish in the black," Mike Johnston, Visteon's president and chief operating officer, said then. Still, "We're very pleased with our start in the first quarter." Visteon's sales in the January-March period totaled $4.72 billion, down 10 percent from $5.26 billion a year ago.

Visteon blamed its first-quarter earnings drop-off on price reductions and lower North American production volume. Ford, which accounted for 83 percent of Visteon's first-quarter sales, cut its North American output by about 15 percent from January through March compared to last year, with plans to pare production by 10 percent from last month through June.

Visteon's first-quarter sales to Ford and its affiliates slumped 13 percent, from $4.48 billion to $3.91 billion. Visteon said its non-Ford business rose 8 percent to $810 million, up $61 million.

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