Harbour Report Goes Private This Year

The Harbour Report, Which Gaugesthe productivity of North American assembly, stamping and powertrain plants, will be kept private this year following a vote by participating auto makers.

“We've had success with the European and South American reports being private, so we made the decision to make (North America) private,” spokeswoman Michelle Hill tells Ward's.

“We've discussed the possibility (of making the report private) for several years and went back and forth. Some OEMs with good rankings wanted to go public, others private. This year, the majority wanted private.”

Another factor behind the decision to keep the report private is the unprecedented hardships facing the industry, which has resulted in numerous plant closures and extended shutdowns.

North American light-vehicle production totaled 12.9 million units in 2008, a 16.2% plunge from 2007.

Hill says participating auto makers will be free to release information concerning their own companies but can't disclose data referring to competitors.

However, Oliver Wyman, publisher of the Harbour Report, is considering whether to release the top-4 performers, but no decision has been made yet.

“We've sent out a request to see if there is a limited amount of data (auto makers) want to share with the media,” Hills says.

The decision to make future reports public will be revisited, and Wyman also is considering making changes to the format, Hill says.