GM strike costing 760 vehicles per hour-analyst
DETROIT, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The strike at General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will cause U.S. production losses of 760 vehicles per hour and could shut the automaker's facilities in Canada and Mexico within three days, a leading industry analyst said on Monday.

Michael Robinet, an auto industry analyst with CSM Worldwide, said the United Auto Workers strike called Monday could have a cascading effect on GM production elsewhere.

Initially, the shutdown of GM's U.S. plants will cost the automaker production of 12,200 vehicles per day, he said.

If the strike continues for more than 36 hours, that would hurt GM production in Canada and cut production of another 4,000 more vehicles per day, he said.

If the strike were to last more than 72 hours, it would begin to disrupt GM's supply chain and affect the automaker's production in Mexico, Robinet said. That would mean a total production loss of about 18,100 vehicles per day.

"It is our view that this walkout will not be protracted -- past more than one week," Robinet said.

As GM's inventory currently totals more than 80 days of sales for key vehicles such as its full-size pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, the strike will not have much immediate impact on sales, Robinet said.

"It's not as though people are standing on their driveways waiting for these vehicles, but if it goes longer that could start to have an effect," he said.

Robinet said GM would feel any pinch from the strike first on new "crossover" vehicles such as its Buick Enclave and small cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR where it has comparatively lower inventory.

General Motors debt protection costs rise on strike
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The cost to insure the debt of General Motors Corp rose on Monday, after initially tightening as members of the United Auto Workers union went on a nationwide strike against the company.

"The strike is certainly not a token strike," as it has had an impact plants nationwide, said Brad Rubin, auto sector specialist at BNP Paribas in New York.

"It certainly is a little bit more of a near-term bearish outlook as a result," he said.

GM's credit default swap spreads widened to around 552 basis points, or $552,000 per year for five years to insure $10 million in debt, after opening at about 507 basis points. GMAC LLC's swap spreads also widened around 33 basis points to 350 basis points.

Ford Motor Co's swap spreads also widened by around 20 basis points to 605 basis points and Ford Motor Credit Co's swaps are about 25 basis points wider at 397 basis points.]

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The Teamsters union said on Monday it will honor the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors Corp, saying it would not haul vehicles made by the automaker.

"Workers should not solely bear the brunt of decades of bad business decisions by GM management," Teamsters President James Hoffa said in a statement.