The administration has been unable to provide support for the auto bailout (yet), and it appears the industry is showing the signs of weakness many had expected. Check the latest news from Chrysler:
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Chrysler said Wednesday that it will idle all of its manufacturing operations starting this Friday through at least January 19 in an effort to keep inventories more aligned with plunging U.S. demand for new cars and trucks. Due to customers’ inability to obtain financing, Chrysler dealers said that their sales volumes have fallen as much as 25% from a year ago.
Here is my take…
- Chrysler, obviously, does not feel a bailout will be coming from this current administration within the next week, or if a bailout is provided they do not feel the money will be available immediately
- Chrysler truly has little to no money at this point
- The potential impact on dealerships is huge as Christmas historically is a good car sales season
If Chrysler is hutting this much, can we expect some type of announcement going from GM soon?
Update: 9:27 PM 12/17/2008 - turns out Chrysler has 30 plants in the US.
Update: 9:23 AM 12/18/2008 – the closing will hit roughly 46,000 people, and some are wondering if the plans are going to open again.
Related posts:
- Chrysler files bankruptcy court motion to eliminate 789 of its 3,200 US dealerships
- The Big Three (GM, Ford, Chrysler) go begging for a hand out yet again
- Are GM and Chrysler wondering what a “controlled” bankruptcy is? I am.
- Putting the Chrysler 53% sales drop into perspective
- December Auto sales are miserable, and we knew this, but the surprise of the pack was Chrysler