Need info on plants to be sold by DC

Toyota buys its automatic transmissions from a contractor in Virginia. They are probably one of the most reliable AT's in the business. Out sourcing is how the industry works.

The original poster was not complaining about outsourcing. He quite obviously is a fan of outsourcing - when it comes to a German manufacturer outsourcing it's electronics manufacturing to the US, that is.

Rather the original poster was complaining about the move of jobs from the US to Mexico, which is a valid issue.

In Toyota's case, they buy from the US because the US Government makes it expensive for them to completely manufacture their cars in Japan. If the government wasn't interfering in the auto business and forcing foreign companies to outsource manufacturing here, it's unlikely that any of them, including the "domestic" manufacturers, would be doing any manufacturing in the US at all.

The fundamental problem is that Chrysler is no longer a "domestic" company, and new Chrysler autos are rapidly becoming little different than any other foreign imports.

Ted

Gee, Corporate exec's screwing employees and the nation to raise stock values for a quarter or so and get a bigger bonus, imagine that.

LOL, if you are going to make this argument, at least be realistic about it. DC is not going to do anything that it knows is going to make its cars MORE expensive to build. In Mexico, they pay there employees 30 dollars a day, not an hour like in America. Then you can add the reduced costs of not worrying about any insurance or pollution regulations and even with the added middle man, it will cost a lot less. What they do fail to see is all the people they and others like them lay off become that many less potential customers because they can't afford to buy them anymore.

LOL, do you think that because DC sells off an electronics plant that everyone that runs the company is going to become stupid??? Unless DC decides to stop development and the building of cars for the next 5 to 10 years, how is this even possible???? This makes no sense and looks to me like this argument is just a BS way of discrediting the real argument against doing this.

LOL, I think that you may want to do a little research into the cause and reason for the $100 hammers before bringing that up.

No, AMC died because (with the exception of Jeep) they built a bunch of ugly cars that nobody wanted.

Yes they will and YES THEY DID. They bought Chrysler for its rapid design capabilities and they got them. If the Chrysler division winds up folding, they still got what they wanted most and if they can make it profitable, then that is just extra icing on top of the cake.

If they cannot turn a good profit soon, I would say ALL OF THEM.

I don't think the term "silly" applies to corporate raiders. When the German's get done raping Chryco they will have made quite a profit. Who can blame them, after all, it's the American way.

beekeep

Some Chrysler products have actually gotten better since using German technology and parts, so the union of the two companies in that respect has done Chrysler a favor.. Chrysler has been the poor relation in US auto manufacturing for quite a while.. nobody seemed to care whether Chrysler lived or died at one time.. the way things were, the company was going to fold at some point, and jobs would be lost.. so?.. Daimler Benz joins Chrysler and, in an attempt to save the name and the product, do whatever is necessary.. did anybody notice Ford or GM rushing to save the Chrysler brand and american jobs?.. why should they?.. Chrysler was competition of sorts.. Daimler Benz took a hit too.. their US assembled products lacked the quality and reliability of Euro built products.. same for BMW in this respect..

Re. the movement of plants to outside of the US, this is a worlwide problem where manufacturing has had to find a cheaper base to compete with other makers in the field.. consumers want the best deal available to them.. they don't care if the dash assembly was put together in Huntsville or Tijuana.. as long as the damn thing works and is cheap, do you think that they really care?..

-- History is only the past if we choose to do nothing about it..

Mercedes E class are some of the least reliable cars made. Same with the S and M. (Made a funny.)

German

respect has

Chrysler

joins

Chrysler brand

respect..

them.. they

plant

production

profits.

Pres Clinton only helped other this country lose more jobs by signing the NAFTA bill which made it cheaper to take businesses out of the US and build stuff in other countries.

Clinton plus Republicans in Congress.

signing the

production

components at

dollars a day,

nothing to

assemblies.

Unless DC

looks to me

argument

rapid design

profitable,

I think that you need to get your time lines correct. Chrysler went into the hole and came back strong long before Daimler bought them out.

Actually it was just some fancy accounting to make themselves look good. They reduced the reserve for warranty work and therefore that money became profit. Their second generation LH cars really never did as well as expected and their cars take too long to assemble compared to more profitable makes.

Chrysler

respect..

worlwide

production

components at

nothing to

assemblies.

If Chrysler had been as strong as you like to think they were, DB would not have been able to get a foothold.. Chrysler products are subject to numerous recalls, and many do not trust their products to be anything close to reliable.. they are not out of the hole yet.. crash testing has not served Chrysler too well in the past either.. I have a '94 Chrysler Jeep Grand Cherokee that I am pleased with.. it has not let me down badly yet, certainly not as bad as some have reported.. it is my hope that DC make it.. I would much sooner have a Chrysler/DC product than Ford or GM, and would like to stay with a North American make on the basis that it would be easier to get it fixed.. so who cares if the CEO is not an all-american kid.. it is not in DC's interest to wind down the whole of Chrysler, but they do have to make it profitable.. if that means the closure of some plants, so be it.. of course that is tough on the people that work them, but maybe, just maybe, Chrysler will come out above Ford and GM one day.. at that point, people here will be whining about closure of Ford and GM plant closures no doubt, and they won't be able to blame Germans directly for it..

-- History is only the past if we choose to do nothing about it..

If it was as weak as you claim, Daimler would not have had to lie and claim it as a merger of equals. Chrysler was bought out due to weak leadership and typical American greed. Did Chrysler do any of this crap when they bought AMC, no.

Yet more BS. GM has far more recalls than Chrysler ever did. Then lets not forget about the Pinto.

No, they are fallign back into it.

The same could be said for ALL American makes at the time.

What are you talking about?

You had better get something straight, it is now a German make. Most Hondas are now built right here in the US.

There is much more to it than that. The technology that creates those cars and the profits from it are also not American any more. Hell, the whole damn company is no longer an American one.

While true, their primary reason for buying Chrysler was not to take over the production lines.

And this will help the people that lost their jobs or the US economy how????????

Ford and GM are already closing plants.

Brings up this point: Why did Daimler merge/buy Chrysler? Certainly not to have an additional car line to sell in Europe (Daimler execs repeatedly "dodge" the question as to why they have little or no interest in marketing Chrysler vehicles in Europe - let alone Germany).

Just what manufacturing capacity does Daimler/Merc have in the US anyways?

The Chrysler Neon was marketed in the UK, but has not been sucessful.. also the Chrysler Voyager, which after crash testing was written off as junk..

-- History is >

During 1/2 dozen business trips to Germany / NL in the past 2-3 years I see very very very few American cars in parking lots and on the road. I remember specifically seeing a handful of 300M's (and I smiled each time I saw one). Saw a PT Cruiser in Berlin late last year.

I don't think that the larger vehicles made in the US (vans, mini-vans, pickup trucks) are right for the EU market, but certainly the sedans (of all sizes except for stuff like a crown-vic) would not be out-of-place there. I think there's a reluctance on Daimler's part to sell Mopar cars in Germany/EU for reasons that anyone has yet to voice. I think there's an internal struggle within Daimler to give Chrysler vehicles more exposure in EU, which will get worse as the US dollar sinks vs the Euro and Daimler continues to throws away the profit potential of selling Chrysler in EU.

Gee, that's funny...the last two times I've visited Europe, there have been '89 and later Chrysler Voyagers *all over* the place. The common rail turbodiesel/5-speed combo (not available in North America) is particularly popular.

DS

Because they saw Chrysler repeatedly bring concept cars to market in record time and figured that by assimilating Chrysler, they could speed up their own frozen-molasses speed of innovation. Unfortunately for them, virtually every last bit of the engineering and design talent that powered Chrysler jumped ship at or shortly after the takeover.

It's interesting to note the similarities between Daimler-Benz and the Borg.

M-klasse SUVs are made in America.

DS

And that explains why they swept the year-2000 Hemi-C concept under the rug never to be seen again? And the Charger concept also shown at the 2000 Detroit auto show?

While that sounds romantic, and it might be true, and there is even reason to believe it is true, can anyone point to any exodus of design or styling talent from Chrysler? Anything published by any automotive rag along those lines?

Yea well like I said you're not seeing Chryslers turning up in Europe because of this merger. If there was an assimilation, it's hard to understand what Daimler intended to happen with Chrysler's physical-plant, engineers, market share, etc.

Nonsequitur. Read what I wrote again, more carefully this time.

Yep. Bob Lutz is one of a *great* many.

"Automotive News", yes, but I don't expect you read industry publications

-- you strike me as more of a "Consumer Reports" guy, or maybe "Car and Driver"...someone who likes magazines that do his thinking for him.

Another nonsequitur.

..."if"?

DS