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That didn't last long. Just a week ago Chrysler, newly emerged from bankruptcy protection, announced that it would be restarting production at 11 of its manufacturing plants. With new ownership from Fiat and the U.S. and Canadian governments the American automaker was eager to start a new chapter in its long history. There's just one small problem… we're still in the middle of a worldwide recession and no one wants to buy cars. Or pickup trucks.
As a result, Chrysler is idling its Fenton, MO plant (where the Dodge Ram pickup truck is assembled) on July 10th. Oddly, the plant will still reopen on June 29th, only to close two weeks later.
According to the Automotive News report the Fenton plant might not reopen at all as it had previously been scheduled to shut down in the third quarter of 2009 - and with the current supply of Dodge Rams sitting on dealer lots enough to last 115 days its unlikely the facility will ever come back on line.
Cleveland Business News reports that ChryCo will cancel its contract with Cummins for diesel engines slated to power its Ram 1500 line of pickup trucks. This news comes as OEMs are abandoning diesel trucks in droves. Ford and GM have recently backed away from diesel light-duty trucks, while Toyota and Nissan have canceled heavy-duty diesel truck plans. “From a business case, I don’t think anyone can make one right now,” says IHS Global Insight’s Paul Lacy. “We are still negotiating with the new Chrysler group,” retorts Cummins spokesman Mark Land optimistically. “I don’t think they’re forever gone.
When the U.S. Supreme Court delayed the sale of Chrysler to Fiat yesterday it put the whole contract in jeopardy, giving the Italian automaker the opportunity to walk away if the sale isn't approved by June 15th. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has, however, confirmed his commitment to the purchase, saying that it would not deter him.
"We would never walk away," he said in an interview with Bloomberg. "Never."
Late Monday afternoon Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delayed the sale but did not make clear the intentions of the court. A group of Indiana pension funds have attempted to block the sale of Chrysler to a Fiat-run group (also comprised of the U.S. and Canadian governments) by alleging that the initial bankruptcy court acted contrary to the law by putting the needs of unsecured lenders ahead of secured ones (some of which include the pension funds).
The bankruptcy court's decision was upheld by an appeals court and now the matter may go before the Supreme Court.
It is not guaranteed that the Supreme Court will hear the case but that is the speculation.
All we do know is that Fiat has an unwavering interest in the Chrysler brand and the U.S. market. This is likely due to Marchionne's belief that in a post-recession auto industry there will be far fewer major players controlling significantly larger shares of the market.
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