Chrysler has just announced a month long shut down. They typically have a 2 week shutdown over Christmas, but this is two extra weeks.
There are plenty of Pit and GD threads about who’s fault everything is, so none of that in hear please.
The way I see it it’s probably 50/50 if Chrysler ever comes back up. Friday may be the last cars ever produced by the Chrysler family of vehicles. Having been a car guy all my life,(although I was a Ford guy, not Mopar) I do think this is a semi big moment in American history, considering the all around impact. I feel it deserves a mention.
I think this is just another cost-cutting measure being undertaken in light of the times. It’s likely their dealership inventories are already high, so not making any new cars for a month might give them a chance to clear some of them out.
I believe Chrysler will make it. They own Jeep, which sells decently well, and they pump out minivans and pickup trucks at a pretty good rate.
I don’t see how their situation is really all that different from GM’s.
I just don’t see it. They are still going to lose 3 billion a month until the economy gets better. Which will be late 2009 at the earliest. Somebody’s going to realize that even with a White house cash infusion they’ll still go bankrupt in 4 months. I see it at giving them time to let everybody go home and settle down. Then early January they will just shut the doors and turn off the lights.
Chrysler 300s and PT Cruisers are not exactly rare around here. Couldn’t tell you about their SUVs or minivans as those things all pretty much look alike now - I’d be hard pressed to tell a Chrysler Town and Country from a Toyota Sienna. (I’m looking at the 2009 versions of both of these, and they’re almost identical, aside from the grille and headlights.)
So, are you suggesting that Chrysler stops making Chrysler-branded vehicles? Should they change their name to Jeep/Dodge?
Other than being two weeks longer than usual, a winter shutdown is normal in a lot of “heavy” industry - this is when all of that gigantic machinery is broken down, inspected and maintained. If it turns out that no maintenance work is being done at the plants during this time, that will be the time to panic.
Chrysler has a good product. My roommate has a 300, and its a nice car. Chrysler has a bunch of retro stylings that I like. But I’m an old guy. The young’ens in my area like the Japanese cars with big tires with thin rims and metallic paint. I find it grotesque, but at least the kids are pretty.
I dunno. By doing the shutdown, Chrysler stands to save a little less than two weeks operating expenses. They’ll still be paying some office staff, probably some security folks, some ultility expenses…they ain’t gonna save enough to keep the company afloat this way.
If there is no bailout, they’re gonna have to scale back operations across the board. That probably means massive layoffs, some plant closings, maybe even some kind of corporate restructuring. Let the Chrysler brand take one for the team and go bankrupt while spinning off Jeep and Dodge into “new” entities.
Chrysler has been a funny manufacturer ever since the boys of cerebrus took over. But to ansewer your question , on january 5 , three plants open up , followed by 2 more on the 12 of january. Full operations start up on the 19th.
This is what my place has been told , as I said in the other thread in GD, it probably more has to do with stringing out supplier payouts and lets them have a bit more time to await developments with the bailout money.
We have been told to expect sporadic shutdowns and layoffs for finite terms as all the majors read the tea leaves and adjust output over the next ten months or longer.
My first thought is that this was partially a cost savings measure, and partially an attempt to influence how the bailout plan is going. Shut down all the plants for an additional 2 weeks, get the scary headlines “CHYSYLER TO SHUT ALL PLANTS FOR A MONTH”, and get people talking about how their cousin’s husband’s neighbor, Fred in Detroit, has been laid off by Chrysler. See if they can turn up the heat on Congress.
Their products like the Dodge Charger, minivans, and Chrysler 300 are popular, and where there’s demand there will probably be a supplier to satisfy it.
As mentioned, the 300 is quite popular. I drive a Charger, and just about every aftermarket part I’ve bought has been labeled as both. They’re designed by the same people, and built in the same factories. The different models put on the LX platform are virtually identical chassis, sans bodies.