Tuesday June 30, 2009
Brampton Assembly Order Condition
Yesterdays build: 437
Target
Actual
Day Shift
212
240
Afternoon
212
197
Total
425
437
The current order condition is 23.6 Days
Quote of the Day
“Do you know the difference between education and
experience? Education is when you read the fine
print; experience is what you get when you don't.”
Pete Seeger
Chrysler's PT keeps cruising
The Chrysler PT Cruiser should be history. But the
new Chrysler Group LLC has given the retro-styled
car a last-minute reprieve. Chrysler Group chief
spokesman Gualberto Ranieri confirmed Monday
that Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who also is
CEO of Fiat SpA, said the company will keep
building the PT Cruiser. Chrysler had announced
earlier this year that it would discontinue it this
summer. Now, the assembly plant in Toluca, Mexico,
will keep churning them out.
Jim Hall, an auto analyst at 2953 Analytics in
Birmingham, said continuing the PT Cruiser makes
sense, even with its poor overall sales performance.
The company sold 50,910 last year.
Sales peaked in 2001 at 144,717.
Analysts said the decision to keep building it was a
good one. "The PT Cruiser is a car that is selling
even without marketing," Hall said. "The labor costs
are cheap and the tooling is paid off." Karl Brauer,
editor and chief of the automotive research Web site
Edmunds.com, added, "Every PT Cruiser Chrysler
sells ... is pure profit." The car will likely stay in
production through 2011, Hall said, until Fiat vehicles
are ready for production in North America. Chrysler
planned to end production of the PT Cruiser because
redesigning it would cost too much, Hall said.
Additionally, retro-themed cars are extremely difficult
to redesign. Brauer said the change of heart came
after Chrysler entered bankruptcy and emerged in a
partnership with Fiat, the Italian automaker that has
management control of the company. "Chrysler is in
bridge mode," Brauer said. "Fiat can't do anything
immediately, and in the meantime, this car will make
Chrysler money."
GM learns from Chrysler bankruptcy
It can tinker with strategies on its way through
court; hearing on assets sale begins today
Efforts by General Motors Corp. to emerge from
bankruptcy smaller but financially stronger hinge on
a hearing that begins today in New York to approve
the sale of the automaker's best assets to create a
new GM that will be majority owned by the federal
government. The courtroom and overflow spaces in
the U.S. Bankruptcy Court building are likely to be
packed for the hearing, which could take the bulk of
the week if similar proceedings a month ago
involving Chrysler LLC's asset sale to Italy's Fiat SpA
are any indication.
Chrysler's 40-day trip through bankruptcy is not a
cookie cutter for GM's experience, but lessons were
learned that have affected the strategies the Detroit
automaker is taking as it winds its way through court.
Some creditors and others who oppose the asset
sale also are learning from Chrysler objectors'
mistakes "Chrysler was the test case," said Brad
Coulter, director at O'Keefe & Associates in
Bloomfield Hills.
GM's case should go as smoothly, he said, with the
"same amount of high-level government oversight
and finances pushing it." GM already has benefited
from watching the Chrysler case. The Detroit
automaker completed its first-day motions earlier this
month in two hours with few objections. Chrysler
spent three fractious days on issues such as seeking
an immediate sale hearing date and other
procedures, which added time to its case and risked
it missing a deadline it needed to complete a deal
with Fiat or face liquidation. Objectors also have
benefited. Pressure from more than a dozen state
attorneys general led to GM's decision this weekend
to assume responsibility for product liability claims
filed during and after bankruptcy, a reversal of its
original position. Chrysler, by contrast, left those
liability claims among the bad assets in court.
"Attorney generals didn't organize well against
Chrysler," said Joel Appelbaum, partner with Clark
Hill PLC in Birmingham.
But the states came out strong against GM to protect
the rights of dealers and consumers with product
liability claims. The backdrop for both automakers is
the same. Each sought government aid or it faced
closure. And each worked closely with the White
House's auto task force to rewrite reorganization
plans before being forced into bankruptcy.
President Barack Obama announced both
bankruptcy filings: Chrysler on April 30 and GM on
June 1. He also provided the timelines for
emergence of the new companies: 30 to 60 days for
Chrysler, 60 to 90 days for GM. The extra time for
GM has been beneficial to varying degrees for all
parties. "It cuts both ways. If (Chrysler) was a dress
rehearsal for GM, it was also one for the states and
dealers and others," Appelbaum said. Objectors to
the sale "learned how to galvanize to better oppose
what was pushed through in Chrysler," he said, and
change their litigation strategies based on the
Chrysler decisions.
For example, Chrysler filed motions listing contracts
with suppliers and dealers it wanted to keep, cutting
the rest loose with a brutal speed that created a
public cry. GM has tried to keep its decisions private
and defuse issues out of court. GM gave dealers 18
months' notice that their agreements will not be
renewed and is allowing appeals and providing
funding for some dealers to wind down operations.
Suppliers have been notified individually about their
status and arranging to pay amounts due. "We
learned from Chrysler we need to communicate what
is going on with the relative stakeholders," GM Chief
Financial Officer Ray Young said earlier this month.
Both automakers used Section 363 of the Chapter
11 bankruptcy code that allows for assets to be
divided into the good ones that will be assumed by a
new automaker and the bad that are deemed of little
value and will remain in court to be liquidated. But
GM's case will be more complex because of the
company's size. There were almost 350 legal
objections and more than 3,000 legal documents
filed in the Chrysler case. GM already has more than
2,700 filings and a longer list of high-profile
objectors, with almost every state involved. The
speed of the Chrysler proceedings, Young said, gave
"us more confidence we can move through our own
process."
Ford to boost output as sales beat forecasts
Dearborn -- Citing better-than-expected sales and traffic
at dealerships, Ford Motor Co. said Monday it plans to
increase third-quarter production by 25,000 units, marking
the second production hike in recent weeks. Ford
spokesman Mark Truby said that will bring total quarterly
production to 485,000 units, a year-over-year increase of
16 percent or 67,000 units. Last month, the company said
it would raise third-quarter production by 42,000 units.
The boost affects Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles,
with more emphasis being placed on Mustangs, pickups
and the Ford Focus, Truby said.
VW takes most awards in auto quality survey
Volkswagen took the most awards in a California
research company's annual U.S. automobile quality
survey, but Ford 's Focus took its small-car category.
Volkswagen of America, which includes Audi, topped
six of the 17 market segments in the results released
Monday by San Diego-based Strategic Vision
Inc.General Motors Corp. vehicles won four
categories and Nissan models took three.
Meanwhile, the new Honda Insight got a tepid review
in Consumer Reports ' August issue. The hybrid car
was rated 21st out of 22 of small hatchbacks and
wagons, followed by the Dodge Caliber.
Chevy Volt to be built and sold in China, too
General Motors Corp. will build the Chevrolet Volt
extended-range electric car in China beginning in
2011 as part of the automaker’s plan to roll out its
revolutionary technology in a wide variety of vehicles
around the world, the newsletter AutoBeat Asia
reported.
All Volts built in China are to be sold there, the
publication said. The first Volt will be built in GM’s
Detroit/Hamtramck assembly plant beginning in
2010, the paper said. GM will initially export some
U.S.-built Volts, but it plans to produce the car, and
others using the Volt’s powertrain, around the world,
when demand outstrips the Detroit plant’s capacity,
the story said. (Detroit Free Press)