Chrysler Closes Minivan, Truck Plant. Denies C11. Again.
The bad news for The D2.8 and workers just keeps coming. The AP reports [via Yahoo! Business] that Chrysler will shutter their St. Louis Southminivan factory indefinitely. ChryCo will also reduce its St. Louis North pickup truck production facility from two shifts to one. Chrysler President Tom LaSorda used the plant close announcement as an opportunity to deny rumors that Chrysler's going Tango Uniform, heading for the boneyard. "Hogwash," LaSorda euphemized (euthanized?). "Absolutely not being considered at all." Not at Chrysler, and not at the press conference. "Absolutely no relevance. I don't even want to entertain those questions." The idea that the Cerberus Brain Trust hasn't even thought about a MTLSAS (man the lifeboats strip and flip) simply sounds silly. When the dust settles, LaSorda will be sitting fat and happy in a well-funded retirement villa, while tens of thousands of blue and white collar employees wonder what hit them.
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Throughout all of these denials of C11, the thing that perplexes me is the implication that the head honchos at Chrysler (and GM, when the time arrives) somehow have a choice in the matter. From the basics I've gathered, the way it works is basically this: you run out of money, you file. So essentially, these statements are basically [s]lying through their teeth by[/s] saying, "No worries, we're on top of, and comfortable with, our cash burn." It's a bit like the full and complete reassurances of confidence in a football manager - sure-fire confirmation that he's gone. It's at the stage now where no-one with half a brain cell believes a word Chrysler (or GM) has to say, but, well, good luck with that. You'll be needing it.
Seeing that the Caravan and the T&C outsell the nearest competitor (Odyssey) 2 to 1, Chrysler is the best positioned of any manufacturer in the minivan market. Additionally, a lot of the falloff for sales of the Caravan are due to the ending of the short wheel base model in leiu of the the new Journey CUV. Sounds like Chrysler is doing the smart thing and idling a plant if one plant can produce enough vehicles in this down market.
You know, after reading that I just thought of something. If (when) Chrysler goes belly up, what happens to Nissan's trucks that were supposed to be built by Chrysler? Would Nissan even care knowing full well that Chrysler is on its last legs? This just gets more and more interesting by the day.
They may end buying the license or whole design and assembly plant for peanuts. Nice business in fact: you get a developed truck and it's plant for little money.