Bloomberg reports that if Chrysler fails to secure a deal with Fiat and rapidly exit Chapter 11, some 38,500 jobs could be lost in a liquidation. According to one of Chrysler’s lawyers, anyway. But an Automotive News [sub] story says that, in addition to Chrysler’s plant idling during bankruptcy, no fewer than eight of its factories will be permanently closed by December 2010. The best part? According to Chrysler sources, the proposed Fiat deal would allow ChryCo “to retain substantially all our employees.” Huh? “Any employee displaced by the bankruptcy will be given an opportunity at other Chrysler facilities,” explains spokeswoman Dianna Gutierrez. Not only did Chrysler deny that shutting eight plants would cause the negative impacts (job loss) that government billions were supposed to prevent, it went as far to suggest that the Fiat alliance would add about 5,000 employees to the payroll. In fact, if you believe the Pentastar line, there are only two victims in in the Chrysler plan: Sebring and Avenger.
According to AN, the following plants will be part of “Bad Chrysler” and will be shuttered by 2010 (employee numbers from AP):
- Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, MI (hence the welcome Sebring/Avenger deaths, 1,400 employees)
- Detroit Axle, MI (1,650 employees, already scheduled for closure)
- Conner Avenue Assembly (Detroit), MI (Viper, 115 employees)
- St. Louis North Plant, MO (Ram, 1,200 employees)
- Kenosha Engine, WI (850 employees)
- Twinsburg Stamping Plant, OH (1,250 employees)
- Newark, Del (idled)
- St. Louis South (idled)
And the “Good Chrysler” plants are:
- Toluca, Mexico
- Saltillo, Mexico
- Brampton, Canada
- Windsor, Canada
- Toledo North, OH
- Toledo Supplier Park, OH
- Warren Truck, MI
- Jefferson Avenue, MI
- Belvidere, IL
- Dodge Sprinter facilities in Ladson, SC
..in addition to Chrysler’s plant idling during bankruptcy, no fewer than eight of its factories will be permanantly closed by December 2010.
I don’t get this. What plants does Chrysler have that justify keeping them open for 18 months before shutting them down? Ram? Sebring/Avenger? Durango/Aspen? Why not just make the closures immediate?
Well of course they’ll be given an opportunity to work at the other plants… so long as they relocate themselves and accept whatever reduction in pay and benefits go along with the new role.
Chrysler Management – 1
Employees – 0
I was talking to a buddy that works(worked?)at the Sterling Plant today. He was told that after the 60 day temporary closure, don’t be too suprised not to come back.
Even though the Sebring and Avenger obviously suck, they are 2 of the very few cars Chrysler has to offer that will no longer be available. So what are they going to be selling? Hell, sales to rental companies are still sales, without the Sebring they won’t even have that.
Dodge Sprinter part of the “good’ Chrysler. Huh !! Do they even make money on that vehicle?
How the hell do you add 5,000 more employees when all these plants are going to be closed and sales are in the toilet? Is Fiat going to pull a pizza -er-car out of its cashless hat? None of this makes any rational sense. I thought if you closed plants and had fewer sales then those employees would get a permanent pink slip since they were no longer needed. Not in Chrysler-Fiat land I guess. Just bizarre.
@superbadd75:
It won’t be a big deal because no one buys them.
The year-to-date sales for the Sebring and Avenger only total 16875 units. That only makes up 5% of ChryslerCo’s sales this year.
For perspective, GM has sold 82200 of the Malibu/G6/Aura this year. Toyota sold 25000 units of the Camry in just April. The Camry makes up 20% of ToMoCo sales this year.
They sell as many Sebrings as they do Nitros. It’s shitty and not important to sales- send it to hell.
Closing Sterling Heights is a mistake without a replacement for the Sebring/Avenger. These are not beyond repair but the product, manufacturing, and quality teams need free rein and resources.
The 6-speed auto is the pinnacle of the Ultradrive line without the teething problems of the first gen. It should be standard with all mating engines.
I feel for the Kenosha and Twinsburg folks, they’re good people. Best of luck to everyone.
Well, as a Canadian, I’m pleased to see the Canada plants are staying open for now. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I was an American, though…
Hey Chrysler, can you please sell me a Fiat 500 Abarth and then die, thanks
superbadd75: Chrysler doesn’t do fleet sales.
amadorgmowner: It’s and International Workers Day miracle!
If they become profitable within 5 years of this reorganization, I will eat my hat…
Story doesn’t make any sense. There must be some other side to this.
Instead of selling Fiats in the US does Fiat hope to sell Dodge PUs and Jeeps at that outlets in other parts of the world?
You know, I don’t know about anyone else, but I never thought the Sebring convertible was particularly ugly, just the sedan.
Well after the way the bondholders were trashed by the President, why would anybody in their right minds invest in this? I’m damned if I’ll buy another Crysler. What happens when nobody buys their cars? Hello? They scare me.
Sounds like Obama and the PTFOA have created the worlds largest jobs bank. Of course, most people still capable of critical thinking and reason know that this was primary goal of this whole exercise in the first place – to see that no Obama voters are harmed in any way. The Constitution, bankruptcy law, and the overall health and integrity of a free market economy be damned!
What other plants are flex other than Toluca?
The Sebring/Avenger twins while horrible, still plug a gap. Unless Fiat is planning to plug that gap with their own product. I honestly think that Chrysler’s products are not damned to hell. The bean counters went to town on most of their products. With input and smart design these cars could gain some sales ground.
Yet another proof that Bolsheviks have taken over Washington…
“Any employee displaced by the bankruptcy will be given an opportunity at other Chrysler facilities”
And they’ll get jobs there! Well, if they meet two conditions: (a) they speak fluent Spanish; and (b) Mexico will grant them immigrant work permits.
Probability of condition (a): less than 5%.
Probability of condition (b): less than .000005%
Sterling stamping in there? Place has one of the worst drug trades in the industry. I have heard nightmare stories from SH cops about the shiat that goes down there…plus I have seen numerous asshats chug a pint and/or 40 ouncer at the Grapevine’s parking lot on lunch break.
Compare the 1996 Sebrings to the 2006 (and up) Sebrings and it becomes obvious how brand management (and mis-management) is vital to the success of a product.
It is beyond any rational understanding how Chrysler got it so wrong.
Less production, less facilities…but an increase in employees. It’s neither capitalism or socialism…it’s some sort of magic I’m thinkin’
When a country stops growing corn, because of an abundancy of cheaper import, it actually doesn`t destroy the fabric of her ability to grow foods, for a simple reason that growing corn is not a complex industry and can be restarted once a necessity kicks in. On the other hand( left one), once a complex industry like car manufacturing is maimed or killed, it is very challenging or almost imposssible to restart it after imports have taken over. Why? Because every generation of cars gets more complex and more complex, meaning that in order to catch up with the existing imports you will need more engineering man-hours, talent and money. If Ford T had to be duplicated, it would demand not so many talented engineers in order to compete, while after det3 companies are killed, it will be almost impossible to gather together engineers from a clean sheet to engineer a competitor ,for say, Nissan Gt-R. It is called a hereditary expertize which should be guarded more than your president. My point is taht, don`t even hope for a fast recovery of United States, for a simple reason there is no way of quickly building backa crippled industry and manufacturing, for a simple reason, prior to creating a manufacturing company you need many educated, and talented people and a lot of money resources, for every next generation of a manufactured item is more expensive and more complex, thus actually demanding more and more sophisticated engineers.The problem is also that Washington Dc doesn`t understand that even firing 8000 people at Chrysler means a lot of cascading downsizings, including local mess hall, local barber, janitor. Those 8K workers will not buy new cars, will not use new Good Year tyres, won`t buy Starbucks coffee, etc. What do you think?
The government has a solution to this.
Everyone will form a large circle and chant, “Yes we can” repeatedly. Comrades that don’t participate will be thrown in the Gulag.
@ Neb – “Well, as a Canadian, I’m pleased to see the Canada plants are staying open for now. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I was an American, though…”
Canadian ChryCo assembly plants shut down Friday afternoon. A parts plant in Etobicoke is still up, but only for another 10 days.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/01/chrysler-factories.html
My wife’s employer laid off 15% of its workforce, across the board, on Thursday. She was fortunate not to be among them, but many of her friends weren’t so lucky. People came up to her desk in tears all day. Ex-employees were escorted out of the building by hired security.
The rest of the economy — the non-bailout sector — continues to bleed jobs like a hemophiliac in a razor-blade factory. How tone-deaf can Chrysler be?
The government has a solution to this.
Everyone will form a large circle and chant, “Yes we can” repeatedly. Comrades that don’t participate will be thrown in the Gulag.
Before they’re thrown in the Gulag, first they’ll be called ‘racists’. Can’t leave that out.
The government has a solution to this.
Everyone will form a large circle and chant, “Yes we can” repeatedly. Comrades that don’t participate will be thrown in the Gulag.
If you honestly think that ol’ Johnny McCain and the secessionist helicopter-hunting hockey “mam” would do a far superior job of handling one of the worst recessions in the history of this country, then I don’t even know what to tell you. Obama has a plan of some sort at least; I don’t see McCain or any other republicans coming up with anything useful, other than drooling on themselves, fighting each other, and yelling incoherently about tax cuts and how “them damn unions” are responsible for everything that’s wrong with the car industry
No republicans coming up with anything useful? Well , don`t forget there is still Ron Paul- the gold standard in politics and honesty.God bless him!I wish I was half as good as him.
I don’t see McCain or any other republicans coming up with anything useful, other than drooling on themselves, fighting each other, and yelling incoherently about tax cuts and how “them damn unions” are responsible for everything that’s wrong with the car industry
Can’t speak for McCain, but real Republicans would let the market sort out the auto manufacturing overcapacity problem within existing laws. Insolvent car companies GM and Chrysler go to court under existing bankruptcy law and either restructure or liquidate. Considering the state of the financial markets, Republicans might even support government backstopping of private loans. If GM or Chrysler go out of business, the PBGC gets involved in restructuring of the underfunded pension and bond holders get pennies on the dollar when assets are sold at auction. The good parts of GM and Chrysler get to live and gangrenous parts get cut out.
Regarding the economy, real Republicans would let the housing hangover sort itself out in a shorter, deeper recession. Some businesses fail, but others take their place. Life goes on.
Part of the current economic mess is Congress and both Presidents Obama and Bush have been changing the law, freezing investment decisions. Sell at a loss now or wait for a bailout? If I buy an asset cheap and earn a huge “windfall” profit, will Congress tax it away? Will the government force a “cram down” on my contract, wiping out profits? Lots of money is sitting on the sidelines while the new rules get sorted out.
George B said “Lots of money is sitting on the sidelines while the new rules get sorted out.”
Yes. True, that. Much of it will never come back into this country for investment, because it is actually far safer to place your chips in Communist China or Capitalist India than Fascist Amerika.
I never thought I would live to see the day.
As for McPain, well, f8, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Your commentary about McPain is humorous to me because you assume that he was actually a real Republican, i.e. conservative, constitutionally minded, etc. – there hasn’t been such a thing in the major parts of that party for decades. McPain was just a RINO. There was almost no difference between his stances on things and Barry’s, if you step back and really look with an honest eye.
Ron Paul 2012.
As for the huge, most-valuable-spot-in-American-auto-sales (Camcord class) that the Sebring and Avenger will leave once it dies, Chrysler cannot possibly get a Fiat product in it’s place in anything less than 2 years. Far too long.
Perhaps if Chrysler pays cash money up front, Mitsubishi, and ex-“partner” (i.e. ex-abused spouse) could be convinced to provide badged Galants for sale. Attention President Goodwrench; bonus points!!! Galants are built in “your” home state of Illinois!!! (Deep sarcasm alert for those not paying attention).
The Galants are actually far better cars than are the Sebring/Avenger, even if they are not really up to the competition of even the Malibu/Aura.
Hey, Mitsubishi? DEMAND CASH UP FRONT FOR EVERY CAR….
Alternately with Fiat being GIVEN a portion of Chrysler (on OUR DIME, i.e. the US Taxpayers) and with Fiat trying to pull a similar fast-on and snagging OPEL, perhaps Fiat could convince President Goodwrench to have GM temporarily build rebadged Saturn Aura (Opel based) cars as Chryslers and Dodges.
An ex-Saturn Aura rebadged as a Chrysler Crown?(named after the chapeau of desire of Prez Goodwrench?). Sorry, my sarcasm-meter just pegged again.