Posted by Doc on Friday, December 29, 2000 at 1:44PM :
In Reply to: new powerwagon posted by J Rasmuss on Friday, December 29, 2000 at 5:23AM :
I work at the New Castle machine and tool plant in Indiana. We make all suspension parts for Chrysler vehicles. My dept.is the lower control arms and knuckles for the Durango and Dakota. Since the Germans have taken over the north american operations we have seen a big change in the new lines changing over. So far the biggest halt and wait has been on the new 6cyl hybrid that was supposed to be launched this fall for the durango. Now it is set for 2004! That way we can be the last to have one in a SUV instead of first.??? All new launches set for 2002 are on hold. When Lutz left so did the future of kool design prototype/production launches.
The new design of the big truck was to launch this summer also. Now that to is on hold. Shrimpp is taking the 9.2 billion dollars we had and leaving us with a 5 year old line up.
Each platform costs 2 billion to launch. You can have several cars/trucks from one platform. The large van is going to die off next year. So, who knows what could happen now. Layoffs are coming this next few weeks because of slow sales. Talk of selling off chrysler into 3 divisions will begin in April at the annual board meeting. The germans have until the end of this contract to decide how they will divide us. Congress ok'd the merger with the promise they will wait until 10-03 to sell of name plates and keep what they want....like JEEP and the big trucks.
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