TRAVERSE CITY -- It's an old saying: When Detroit sneezes, Michigan catches cold.
There isn't a maxim about what happens when the Motor City comes down with pneumonia. But chills from the Big Three automakers' meltdown combined with the global credit crisis reverberate throughout northern Michigan.
Major auto plants like Tower Automotive in Garfield Township and Dura Automotive in Mancelona are closing, throwing hundreds of area residents out of work.
Meanwhile, other smaller parts providers gear down operations and worry about their futures if one or more of Michigan's major car companies vanish.
"We're all nervous," said Tom Crandall, president of Great Lakes Trim in Williamsburg, a business that sells about 70 percent of its interior auto parts to General Motors Corp.
Local auto dealers also are concerned about their vehicle providers. At the same time, they struggle with a sales downturn created by an increasingly shaky economy and a national credit crunch.
"This market, this year, it's been something," said Jamie Marsh, co-owner of Bill Marsh Automotive Group of Traverse City. Marsh said his family's two-generation dealership experienced sales declines before, but not coupled with other factors like the staggered auto companies and the sour economy.
"These are unique times for us, as well as everybody else," he said.
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner warned members of Congress last week that the failure of the U.S. auto industry could lead to a loss of three million jobs within the first year and ripple throughout communities around the country. GM, along with Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, are seeking at least $25 billion in emergency cash from federal lawmakers.
"This is all about a lot more than just Detroit. It's about saving the U.S. economy from a catastrophic collapse," Wagoner said.
Local suppliers are feeling plenty of pain. Crandall said his company's daily "releases" from the auto companies -- production reports that show how many vehicles the auto makers will be producing -- have fallen sharply in the past month. That means fewer parts that Great Lakes Trim will need to provide.
"You can see there's a huge drop pretty much since October," Crandall said.
The company's workforce has dwindled to just under 40 employees, down from around 65 workers in the fall of 2007. Layoffs extended to a salaried position for the first time in the company's eight-year history, he said. Great Lakes normally closes for a week around the holidays, but this year the small plant will be idled for three weeks, possibly longer.
Marsh said his dealership has avoided layoffs so far, although some positions have been eliminated through attrition. About half the dealership's sales are used cars that remain in demand, and the company also generates business at a body and automotive shop to soften the blow.
Marsh said new car sales were down about 3 percent for the year through October, although November sales slipped further and he anticipates that trend to continue in the near term.
"We expect the next few months to be tough," Marsh said.
Crandall admits being torn on the proposed automakers' bailout, a topic that's stirring strong debate from the halls of Congress to coffee and barber shops throughout the country. A failure of GM or Ford could be a major blow for his company. But like many Americans, he questions how much of the auto industry's woes are self-inflicted.
"Why did they allow themselves to get into this predicament before they started to change things?" Crandall said, noting there won't be any federal bailout money available for smaller parts suppliers.
"What's the difference between small companies like us and the big guys?" he said.
Crandall, who owns the company with his brother Jeff, said the two are brainstorming on how to diversify their client base. They're looking into government procurement contracts and other non-auto manufacturing.
"We've been so automotive all our lives," Crandall said. "It's tough to shift gears, but you've got to do what you've got to do."
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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