Good find.

That happens to agree with what people here have been saying. Atleast we know we're not entirely nuts.
And they'd want to get rid of atleast 30% of them, which is also a lot of jobs.

It mentions nothing about selling overlapping assets to Nissan or Toyota, but such things might have an advantage in terms of leverage and some additional capital, not to mention itd be a few more jobs that might be saved. The only problem is in such a merger, would the management and overseers get thinned out enough - or would the overhead drown even this "too big to fail" machine?

 

Here's the points that are missed in the story.

1. In saying that "the Chrysler we know eill soon cease to exist", they seem to lay the belief that Chrysler will die. In fact, Chrysler will continue as a group of partnerships, primarily with Nissan. The Ram is supplying the basis & assembly line of the next large Nissan Pickup. The Dodge Hornet will be made on a Nissan Versa line in Japan. The Sebring replacement will likely be a reskinned US made, Altima based sedan. Dodge might get a vehicle based on the RWD Nissan FM chassis.

2. If GM gets the Dodge Ram, it will become a version of the GMT900 with a gunsight grille as soon as possible.

3. The creative team that developed the Chrysler minivan and has kept it number 1 for over 25 years would be disbanded, and the few that remain will be adsorbed into GM's systems... and we know how well that seems to work.

4. The number of people it would throw out of work I feel is very low. At first, current assembly lines making minivans and Jeeps would continue. But with the number of idle factories GM has right now and the members they still have in job banks, it wouldn't take too much imagination to conclude whose factories GM would close... the ones of a automaker they bought and could dismantle or their own.

 

I just heard on the news this morning the Fenton, MO plant that makes the Chrysler vans will be closing in 2 days. Is this the start of the end?

 

Frankly -- I didn't read thru this thread because I don't have a lot of time......

Let me say this:

THIS is the perfect example of how COMPLEX this business has become. Rest assured that no one on this site is getting the 'full story' -- and you probably never will.........

I know this: The older I become, the more I realize what I DON'T know......

I suggest we sit back -- take a breath - and buckle our seatbelts - because it IS going to be a cold, dark winter here in Detroit.............



One last thing: Did ANYONE guess in August (when we were paying well north of $4.00 for a gallon of gas) -- that we'd pay $2.20 in October?

The answer is 'No' -- so you need to be prepared for more surprises..........

As to me? I've just picked up three more Divisions in my job............

 

I know you had Chevrolet and Hummer... you must now have Buick, Pontiac, and GMC?

 

Could be Caddy, Saturn, SAAB also.

 

Turns out it's Chevy Truck, Cadillac, and SAAB. He let it slip in the bankruptcy thread.

 

That's a real shame. They just did a $113 Million retooling on that plant only 4 years ago!

 

lawlz, could be dodge, chrysler, and jeep too lol.

 

So very true, but at the same time the public is seeing chaos and the end of days.

Touche. The drop in gas prices came as a huge suprise - and the detroit 3 could suprise us just as much in the coming month.

Talk about busy!

Can "keep the faith" apply to Saab?

 

The news has been reporting this wrong all week.

There are 2 Chrysler plants in the St. Louis area. They are actually in Fenton, a suburb of St. Louis. It's one complex with 2 plants. The 2 plants are separated by about 100 feet. The north plant builds the Ram (this is the plant I work at) and the south plant builds the minivan.

The south plant has NOT been closed. It has been IDLED. Per the current contract, it CANNOT be closed. There is a big difference between the two.
Idling suggests it could resume production, either back to the minivans or a new product. Closed is closed.

Chrysler put a butt-load of money into these plants over the last few years. The south plant got the lion's share of that money to make it a flexible manufacturing plant. There is talk that the south plant would like to see the Chrysler electric hybrids come here if they cannot build minivans again.

Just to recap, the St. Louis south plant is not closed, just idled.

 

actually -- I had Chevy Car and Truck until I inherited Hummer two years ago........

Last spring, I lost Hummer and gained Saturn.

Now I have Chevy Car, Chevy Truck, Cadillac, Saab, and Hummer.........


Where once there were a dozen, there are now two of us........

 

Sounds a lot like my job. I am in charge of all the engineering standards and criteria for our gov't agency. My staff is made up of me, myself and I.

 

After reading thru this entire LONG dayum thread, the above is the best bit of information I have gleaned.

That is not because the FbodFather is at the helm of those particular divisions (although that is excellent news IMHO) but the part about there once were many but now there are few.

That gives me a small glimmer of hope that GM just may someday become a smaller, leaner and more responsive organization and may just shift it's mammouth failing culture.

On another track, I am so pleased that I have two superb vehicles in my driveway- a 2006 Chrysler 300 SRT8 and a 2008 Chevy Tahoe Z71. Both are hands-down the best vehicles I have over owned and I would purchase both again in a heartbeat. I am almost physically sick at the notion that either company could be so completely screwed, not just from loyalty but from the thought of what the impact of this would be on thousands of folks.

I am not involved in the auto industry in any way, other than as a consumer and a car-freak. Hell, I am career military (typing this from western Iraq no less) and support domestic companies at every opportunity. I find it sad that it looks like the demise of Chrysler and possibly GM is not from an off-shore threat but from a domestic dog from hell- Cerberus.

They (Cerberus) are at the root of this, and they will be the only winner here, no matter how it all winds up and how many people get screwed.

I know we are talking about a much different time and place, but I wish it was possible for Chrysler to buy themselves- like the employees of Harley-Davidson did in the early 80's (from AMF). I know that is an impossible, romantic notion but hell, I'd contribute if there was a way to get it done!

v/r

Allen

 

He's not in charge of the divisions. He's in charge of shows and exhibits for those divisions.