[Ferretlover]

Chrysler to Drop Four Models, Cut Up to 10,000 More Plant Jobs
Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Chrysler LLC, the third-largest U.S. automaker, said it will eliminate four vehicles and cut as many as 10,000 additional hourly jobs to reduce expenses.
The Auburn Hills, Michigan-based company made the announcement today in a statement on PR Newswire.
Chrysler said in February it would cut 11,000 hourly and 2,000 salaried jobs in February over three years. That announcement came before it was bought by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP.
10,000 more jobs to be eliminated

[Novus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nero', 'H')ow about a "Green-er" car. It would be nice if their was sign they were moving in that direction. Afterall we aren't going to be replacing our housing stock in the next 10 years.
*sigh*

[whereagles]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IslandCrow', 'I') know that many Europeans have gone to using diesel, but are there any plans by the European car makers to go electric or hybrid?

[lawnchair]

Ah, Chrysler.

My family has been pretty much all Mopar for generations. My whole hometown largely drove Mopars, due to a much nicer dealer.

Fuel economy kills them. If I walked onto a Dodge/Chrysler dealership today, the most fuel efficient car they could sell me (Caliber) would be less fuel efficient than my not-really-tuned-up 11 year old Corolla, and would be about the same as the Aries K-car we had 25 years ago. Meanwhile, a new Corolla gets 10 miles more to the gallon, and the Toyota Avalon, a largish V6, will get about the same as that Caliber.

The problem is, 10 years ago the DCX merger anticipated that they'd be importing SmartCars and Chinese Chery models into the US by now, so there was no in-house engineering done on building a new efficient car. That decision has doomed Chrysler to be the first of the Big Three to disappear completely.

[strider3700]

Oil prices are not the reasoning behind the 4 models being dropped

They are dropping
-PT cruiser convertable (poor sales)
-Pacifica SUV (It's more minivan then SUV and ugly as hell so poor sales)
- crossfire (cost the same as a BMW Z4 so which would you choose...)
- magnum wagon ( I've never seen one on the road so I'm assuming poor sales.

They are adding two new cars to the line up
dodge challenger (pure muscle car so screw fuel economy)
dodge journey ( another crossover SUV...)

of course they also have to throw in the blurb about putting together hybrid versions of the Aspen and durango Two huge gas guzzling SUV's.

If they cared at all about the price of gas and wanted to try competing they would release a hybrid neon to give the prius some form of competition.

[Slowpoke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('whereagles', '
')Companies aren't into full electric vehicle mode, though. Only a few prototype companies are doing it. That I know, no major is on to it.

[whereagles]

Interesting. But it still a heavy vehicle. We should be doing stuff in the vicinity of 500 kg, not 1000 kg.

[Mesuge]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IslandCrow', '
')
I know that many Europeans have gone to using diesel, but are there any plans by the European car makers to go electric or hybrid?

[Slowpoke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('whereagles', 'I')nteresting. But it still a heavy vehicle. We should be doing stuff in the vicinity of 500 kg, not 1000 kg.

[whereagles]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mesuge', 'G')et 3-5kWp solar panels on your roof as well..

[Mesuge]

? This is obviously meant to be as stationary rooftop on your house or garden shack! There is no way you put 4kWp panels on any ordinary passanger car..

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('whereagles', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IslandCrow', 'I') know that many Europeans have gone to using diesel, but are there any plans by the European car makers to go electric or hybrid?

[joe1347]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TommyJefferson', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KevO', 'B')ut is shows the car companies true colours. They have no belief and no intention of EVER going Green so in short sell all your shares i Ford, GM and Daimler/Chrysler coz all them guys are going down the pan!! and good riddance to

[ohanian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joe1347', '
')Americans want cars with high fuel efficiency today and Detroit is not delivering.

[Ferretlover]

5 May 2008--Who needs an 18-cent a gallon gas tax holiday from pandering politicians when you have Chrysler on your side! With gas prices rapidly approaching and exceeding $4 a gallon across the nation, Chrysler is offering up a deal that just might make people averse to the looks of cars like the Chrysler Sebring and Jeep Compass think twice. Between now and June 2, anyone who buys any new Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep vehicle will be able to register for a "Let's Refuel America" card. Once the customer registers a credit card with the program, they will receive a new card that they can use the card at participating gas stations to fuel up their new car or truck. When the card is used, the credit card the owner has on file will be billed $2.99 a gallon for either regular gas, E85 or diesel fuel. Chrysler will pay the difference. The best part is the price is locked in for THREE years. Now that's real savings. There are of course limitations on the deal. Get more details on the deal and Chrysler's full press release after the jump. …
Just in time for those stimulus checks

U.S. automakers see cheap gas as history
30 Aug 2006U.S. automakers, which depend heavily on sales of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, have said the gas prices will remain high, and maybe at 3 to 4 dollars a gallon for the rest of this decade, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
When asked whether gasoline prices had peaked on Monday, Thomas W. LaSorda, Chrysler's chief executive answered: "I would hope so . .. but we're planning internally as if it is 3 to 4 dollars a gallon."
He said Chrysler had prepared a business model based on the assumption that gas prices would remain in that range for the next three to four years. That is about the period of time it takes for an automaker to develop a new vehicle.
"We are looking at it as if it's going to be much higher, rather than hoping it comes down," LaSorda said. He added " hopefully we can fight back." …
Guess they've known for a while

[Denny]

Certainly a desperate move by Chrysler, but for the sake of the new owners, let's hope that Chrysler has locked in this pricing with oil futures. Otherwise, all the new vehicle owners will have to show for their calculations and decisions will be a piece of paper, lowly ranked among many others, in the Chrysler Chapter 11 saga.

[Ivan_M]

oh boy. 3 more years of consume consume consume.

THAT will sure help.

[pup55]

The lesson of this is that gas is still not very expensive in the grand scheme of things.

10,000 miles per year, 20 miles per gallon, that's a fuel consumption of 500 gallons. These jerks can basically give away a year's fuel rather than offer a $1500 rebate, which is pretty common in the new car business when the going gets tough.

They think they have run the calculation, and know what the fuel price is likely to be in three years. They probably hired some consulting firm like CERA to tell them what the oil price will do, and they said "it's going to steadily decline, like the EIA says".

At $10 per gallon, though, it becomes a disaster for them, if it is not already.

[dinopello]

This takes advantage of irrational consumer behavior. The way people feel about fuel prices and their cars they rather have $1500 in gas than $1500 in cash. The blog also states:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his is one hell of a deal, if it doesn't drive Chrysler into bankruptcy, which is a distinct possibility. Because there is no way of knowing what fuel costs will be over the next three years, Chrysler can't estimate the cost. However, Steven Landry, Executive Vice President - North American Sales said the company is doing some hedging to protect themselves.

[seahorse]

I have to say this is pretty tempting to a POiler like myself. $2.99 for 3 years? My only concern is Chrysler may not be here in 3 years and that their gas card and guarantee will eventually be worth as mush as a Sharper Image credit card.