Latest Chrysler news

I just received the following press release:

Due to the continued lack of consumer credit for the American car buyer and the resulting dramatic impact it has had on overall industry sales in the United States, Chrysler LLC announced that it will make significant adjustments to the production schedules of its manufacturing operations. In doing so, the Company will keep production and dealer inventory aligned with U.S. market demand. In response, the Company confirmed that all Chrysler manufacturing operations will be idled at the end of the shift Friday, Dec. 19, and impacted employees will not return to work any sooner than Monday, Jan. 19, 2009.

Chrysler dealers confirmed to the Company at a recent meeting at its headquarters, that they have many willing buyers for Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles but are unable to close the deals, due to lack of financing. The dealers have stated that they have lost an estimated 20 to 25 percent of their volume because of this credit situation.

The Company will continue to monitor the production schedules of its manufacturing operations moving forward.

Discuss.

WOW. Just wow. i guess everyone got used to 0% financing, with 0 down. Now that the bank wants to see some dollars down, they can't buy.

Ha ha ha!

The Germans are throwing out loans like freaking mad over here!

Yeah, we are wondering how this will affect parts supplies. I bet Lear, Visteon, TRW etc are seriously rethinking anything they have in the pipeline.

I'm waiting for Borg Warner to be hit... I had a chance to have an intership there in my senior year

old news...

got lines idled cause of them.

Jensenman wrote: Yeah, we are wondering how this will affect parts supplies. I bet Lear, Visteon, TRW etc are seriously rethinking anything they have in the pipeline.

well, i can tell you what TRW did to headcount in November....

hey, i'm not complaining one bit. know what i did today? i took my 3-year-old out to the local sledding hill, and we had a ball! since all the bigger kids were in school, we had the hill to ourselves.

i'm working on an invention with a Doctor friend of mine. last week we made two prototypes and a test stand, and collected some data. patent search so far shows nobody else working on this particular idea, so who knows? maybe in a few years i'll build a car for the UTCC instead of the $20xx....

that they have many willing buyers for Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles but are unable to close the deals, due to lack of financing. The dealers have stated that they have lost an estimated 20 to 25 percent of their volume because of this credit situation.

so people with bad credit can't buy Chryslers anymore? Big freakin surprise. Nobody with good credit is interested in their products.

Meanwhile, those of us with good credit are still preapproved to buy non-chryslers. (ie: me, last week)

This is what companies do in hard times. I'm truly blessed to have an employee with a very flexible schedule who will work as much or as little as asked depending on how heavy the workload is. Obviously, I feel horrible for the employees, but cranking out the same supply while demand has dropped significantly is probably another part of the reason the big three are in the shape they're in. Regarding credit/financing, the restrictions SHOULD be tight. Again, this is part of how the BANKS got in such big trouble, lending out huge sums of money to people who had no business being financed.

I drive 80 miles a day in a 20 year old car with 295,000 miles because I can't 'afford' a car payment, and still afford health insurance, a house, food, etc. If you can't afford a new car, no one should be lending you the cash to buy one.

Hang in there guys & gals. I have a feeling none of us are going to starve to death. Just be thankful for what you've got and keep plugging away. (goes back to work.)

Congress is killing the car companies by stringing them along. Nobody's going to buy a car from a company that's on death watch. If congress says "yes, we'll give you what you need to keep going" consumers will have some confidence. If they say "no way", the manufacturers can go chapter 11 and have some chance, albeit slim..., but while in limbo, they hemmorage.

kreb wrote: Congress is killing the car companies by stringing them along. Nobody's going to buy a car from a company that's on death watch. If congress says "yes, we'll give you what you need to keep going" consumers will have some confidence. If they say "no way", the manufacturers can go chapter 11 and have some chance, albeit slim..., but while in limbo, they hemmorage.

will anyone buy a car from a company in chapter 11?

will anyone buy a car from a company that has admitted it can't do anything right and is begging for money?

I don't know the answers.

I heard the Chrysler deal was coming a couple weeks ago...my brother was an engineer at Chrysler for 30 years, up until the day before Thanksgiving when he accepted a buyout.

Most domestic manufacturers idle/shut down during the month of December(have for years). The Mopar employees still receive partial pay during this period.

Most auto manufacturing facilities (and tier-one suppliers) close for two weeks during the holidays, and again around the July 4th holiday for maintenance and model changeovers. (It's written into the UAW contracts, even.) This really "just" an extended shutdown, not something completely new or unexpected.

The layoffs, on the other hand, run much deeper than I'm comfortable with. I truly feel for the folks affected.

While shut down, what will the UAW workers collect ? Seems like 95% of pay rate the been the reported norm. That's good for the workers, but what about execs and salaried personnel? Do they take a hit because of no union back-up? What about suppliers who depend in incoming orders and payment to keep their production lines running?

This all seems like another ploy by a manufacturer to instill panic in a situation that makes a "structured bailout" or bankruptcy seem ever more viable.

The media, as usual, spouts the doom and gloom aspects while never researching and reporting the benefits of a "financially-responsible" and re-worked company.

And why doesn't Cerberus, Chrysler's owner, pump some of it's own money into their own company?

This whole scenario stinks of a company manipulating the ignorance of the public, the media, Congress and even the White House. Why use our money, when we can get yours?

will anyone buy a car from a company that has admitted it can't do anything right and is begging for money?

How is that different than the berkeleying banks? At least the car companys make something tangible.

kreb wrote:

will anyone buy a car from a company that has admitted it can't do anything right and is begging for money?

How is that different than the berkeleying banks? At least the car companys make something tangible.

because bank accounts are insured by the FDIC? I don't know. I do know that both scenarios have a stigma attached to them and how they overcome that will be interesting.

Seems to me this is fairly obvious.

"We are making more cars than we're selling due to circumstances that are totally and utterly beyond our control, so we're going to make fewer cars".

Logical enough.

Doesn't seem like a plot or a power ploy, sounds more like good sense to me.

Our district service rep was offered a buyout a little while back and was told that if he did not accept it he needed to understand that he might not have a job come Dec. 31. So it's been coming for a while. I agree it makes good sense to quit making cars if they aren't selling, I just wonder what this will do to consumer confidence. We have a pretty darn good 'daily' parts order system, of course it depends on having stock at the warehouses and if the suppliers slam the door on the pipeline we here at the dealer level will be screwed.

The local Bosch plant has offered buyouts to all of its employees, saying that a percentage needs to accept the buyouts or they will be forced to start layoffs.

David S. Wallens wrote: ...In doing so, the Company will keep production and dealer inventory aligned with U.S. market demand...

Um - duh?

ignorant wrote:

kreb wrote: Congress is killing the car companies by stringing them along. Nobody's going to buy a car from a company that's on death watch. If congress says "yes, we'll give you what you need to keep going" consumers will have some confidence. If they say "no way", the manufacturers can go chapter 11 and have some chance, albeit slim..., but while in limbo, they hemmorage.

will anyone buy a car from a company in chapter 11? will anyone buy a car from a company that has admitted it can't do anything right and is begging for money? I don't know the answers.

I'm a hell of a lot more likely to buy a car from a company that has made major changes under a restructuring than I am one that stole money from my wallet at the point of a gun. A government bailout pretty much guarantees that I will NEVER buy a new domestic. I'm unlikely to now, but if they steal my money, that seals the deal.

DILYSI Dave wrote: I'm a hell of a lot more likely to buy a car from a company that has made major changes under a restructuring than I am one that stole money from my wallet at the point of a gun. A government bailout pretty much guarantees that I will NEVER buy a new domestic. I'm unlikely to now, but if they steal my money, that seals the deal.

That is similar to the way I feel. However, when I asked a VP of a Marketing and Advertising company she said that the "Bankruptcy" stigma is very hard to overcome in the marketplace. sooo.. who knows.. It's a crapshoot.

GregTivo wrote: that they have many willing buyers for Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles but are unable to close the deals, due to lack of financing. The dealers have stated that they have lost an estimated 20 to 25 percent of their volume because of this credit situation. so people with bad credit can't buy Chryslers anymore? Big freakin surprise. Nobody with good credit is interested in their products. Meanwhile, those of us with good credit are still preapproved to buy non-chryslers. (ie: me, last week)

so folks who like the Challenger, or the Rubicon edition Jeeps automatically have bad credit? Chrysler makes some nice cars, some not so nice but so does everyone else. And I would be pre-approved to buy any make by the way, if I were dumb enough to throw my money away on a new car.....last week.

Our floor plan is completely separate from Chrysler Financial so we are not affected by the Chrysler credit crunch. We sell a lot more Jeeps than anything else, the Sebrings, 300s etc just don't move. The only Chrysler that sells pretty well is the minivan.