A Fernley maker of fiberglass tops for pickups will lay off 99 employees -- nearly four-fifths of its staff -- by year's end largely because of steep fuel prices pulling down vehicle sales nationwide.
This week, officials of Ohio-based A.R.E. Inc., which opened the plant in 2002, said manufacturing will be suspended in late December and 28 employees will remain to operate a distribution center in Fernley about 30 miles east of Sparks.
The privately owned company's other two manufacturing sites in Ohio will remain in operation, said Chuck Monson, vice president of operations for Nevada.
Monson wouldn't disclose details of possible severance pay for the affected Fernley workers, saying only, "We've provided 60 days notice and will help them find other work."
He blamed the nation's depressed automobile industry.
"We're really tied to truck sales, and it's had a huge impact," Monson said, adding that soaring oil costs, which propelled gasoline and diesel prices well over the $3 per-gallon mark across the West this fall, "definitely" had an impact.
"The hurricanes didn't help us," he added, referring to hurricanes Katrina and Rita which caused billions in damages to the Gulf Coast and its vast off-shore oil production industry.
Chuck Alvey, president/CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, said the layoffs have more to do with A.R.E.'s industry conditions than the economy of Northern Nevada.
"That's more specific to their industry and the geography of their location," Alvey said. "We are not seeing that as any kind of trend. In fact, given the tight labor market, those people will be picked up very, very quickly."
For the July-September period, General Motors North America reported a loss of $1.6 billion compared with a loss of $88 million a year ago. The company cited, among other reasons, a shift in vehicle sales away from full-sized sport utility vehicles.
No. 2 Ford's automotive operations reported a third-quarter pre-tax loss of $1.2 billion, a decline of $685 million from a $481 million pre-tax loss a year ago.
A.R.E. Inc. was created in Massillon, Ohio, in 1969 and named with the first letters of the names of three of co-founder Sal Gatti's children.
The company has annual sales in the $100 million range, Monson said.
A.R.E. opened in Fernley in April 2002 with 70 employees and four months later announced a doubling of staff with the addition of a third shift.
In the Fernley plant's first year of operation, the 187,000-square-foot facility manufactured about 35 to 40 camper tops a day from an inventory of 300 molds for 300 different truck tops for commercial and domestic trucks.
Each truck top is created with a mold and then formed, spray painted, baked and detailed before it is delivered.
The Fernley plant, chosen over California and Utah sites, was launched to serve A.R.E.'s market from the Rockies to the West Coast, a region that endured the nation's highest gasoline and diesel prices this fall.
According to AAA Nevada, the nation's average price for unleaded regular gas peaked at $3.05 per gallon in early September and $3.24 for diesel. But those have since fallen back to $2.35 and $2.85.
The per-gallon average in Reno peaked at $3.14 for gas and $3.36 for diesel before falling to $2.69 and $3 this week.