Chrysler Ready to Grab Plastech Toolings and Run
Chrysler's standing by. At 4pm EST, a federal judge will rule whether or not the American automaker owns the tooling that makes the plastic parts they need to build cars. Should the court rule against bankrupt parts supplier Plastech and green light a Chrysler reclamation, a fleet of trucks are ready to swoop in, grab the tooling and whisk it off to other suppliers. According to Automotive News [sub], Chrysler has already signed letters of intent to relocate production with three of their other suppliers, with more sub-contractors "angling" for a piece of the Plastech pie. Wherever the toolings end up, ALL Mopar assembly lines will shut down while they're installing the equipment in its new homes– which could take as long as a week. Or… a year if Plastech's testimony to the judge is accurate. Which would kill Chrysler dead. If you're going with the former scenario, a shutdown could be a blessing in disguise; Chrysler's inventory levels are too high as it is.
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Let me ask a question of those that are more informed in this matter than I am-- How could this be a Cerberus problem if they've only owned 80% of the corporation for 6 months? If Chrysler was so late, so often as to shut-down it's largest plastics manufacturer-- logic tells me it's because Father Benz was too busy syphoning off money for Mercedes' restructuring and just wasn't leaving enough in Ma Mopar's purse for her day-to-day to happen.
Heh... "Plastech"... How fitting.
So, what happened in the courts - did Chrysler get the tooling?
Edward Niedermeyer's Plastech post just went up. Sorry for the delay.