This just in: Automaker to build cars

BRAMPTON, Ont. — Car-parts haulers will be happy to hear that whoever it is that makes Dodge Chargers, Challengers, Chrysler 300s and assorted minivans will be back to making cars again as early as next week.

We’re of course talking about Chrysler but since last year, the company has gone through so much change that it’s hard to tell who in fact owns the company. According to Time Magazine, Chrysler is currently controlled by a “dizzying array” of U.S. private equities, Chrysler executives, the American government, and Fiat.

That said, the Canadian plants, which were idled more than a month ago, are in Brampton, Windsor, and the west end of Toronto.

A handful of American plants will also be re-opened.

The re-start comes at the end of a six-week hiatus in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company emerges from the period a streamlined and restructured manufacturer with a slimmed-down product line and dealership network. (In total, 789 dealerships were cut from the team.)

The shutdown also led to the layoff of about 8,700 assembly plant employees, and it gave the company time to unload unnecessary inventory and participate in what some people have termed a “shotgun” style marriage with the Italian automaker Fiat.

Sales of Chrysler products are off by about 46 percent compared to this time last year.
 


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