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The Pillette Road plant in Windsor, Ontario, where B-vans are currently made, will see a new product after all. Thanks to a tough stance by the Canadian Auto Workers, the plant will not be shuttered. With 25 minutes left before a strike, DaimlerChrysler gave in and agreed to produce a new vehicle in the plant in 2005, which will actually increase the number of employees.
just-auto.com reported that, in their 1999 contract talks, DaimlerChrysler had agreed to produce a new model in the plant after the current vans ended in 2003, but later reneged on the deal. The on-line news publication suggested that, though current vehicles were not threatened by a brief strike, the Pacifica might be delayed further.
General Motors earned nearly $700 million in profits over the last quarter, excluding special items and Hughes. Including special items and Hughes, GM lost $804 million. "Special items" includes a write-down of over $1 billion to cover declines in the value of Fiat, as well as smaller amounts for issues such as moving commercial truck production to Flint, Michigan (home of Michael Moore) from Wisconsin.
Ford's version of the Viper, the GT40 (designed by a team which includes some original Viper design team members), will cost between $100,000 and $150,000, and will feature a 500 horsepower engine as well as 1970s-sports-car styling. Cars will be allocated to dealers first according to sales and customer satisfaction, and then by lottery; about 1,000 per year will be produced. The GT40 will be powered by a mid-engined 5.4 liter V8, while the Viper is powered by an 8-liter V-10, the Corvette remains V8 powered, and an unspecified new Cadillac will have a V12 producing roughly the same power.
General Motors is soon to produce 13,000 diesel-electric buses, which the company claimed would save as much fuel as 500,000 small hybrid-electric cars. According to The Car Connection, GM is also still on track to produce hybrid versions of its Silverado pickups, with a 12 percent increase in fuel economy, in 2004 - including a portable generator in the package, a feature borrowed from the Dodge PowerBox concept. Dodge has announced that it will not be introducing a 2003 Dakota hybrid, as previously announced, but may have hybrid Rams in 2004.
In the 1990s, Chrysler was invariably over-represented in J.D. Power's APEAL surveys, designed to measure "Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout." In 2002, though Chrysler tried to put a good face on the matter (noting four top three placements), DaimlerChrysler (including Mercedes and Mitsubishi but not Hyundai) did not come out on top of a single category. Toyota grabbed two, Honda three, Ford five, GM three, and Hyundai, Audi, and BMW (Mini) each got one. To be fair, the survey results are questionable, and in some cases seem biased in favor of cars with more buzz - e.g. the Ford Thunderbird, Mini, Audi TT, and Acura RSX. We have to wonder whether the Crown Victoria is really the best executed/performing large car, and why the Avalon is considered mid-size. Still, Chrysler has done better in the past. The Ram was eclipsed by the Cadillac Escalade, the PT Cruiser displaced by the Mini Cooper, the Caravan by that Honda. The Thunderbird won as a luxury car.
Jamie McMurray defied astronomical odds to win the UAW-GM Quality 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. McMurray, a 26-year-old from Joplin, Mo., filling in for injured Sterling Marlin, held off former series champion Bobby Labonte for the final 31 laps and scored his first Winston Cup victory in only his second start in NASCAR's premiere series. The No. 40 Dodge was the only Intrepid finishing in the top 10 on Sunday in the rain-delayed race at LMS, but two Penske drivers also placed in the top ten. Penske has signed to race Dodges next year.
The Canadian Auto Workers have suspended talks with DaimlerChrysler, with a Tuesday strike deadline looming. Buzz Hargrove, president of the union, said no progress had been made. There are 12,800 Chrysler employees in Canada, but 1,100 of them - nearly 10 percent - are soon to be laid off as DaimlerChrysler shuts down the Windsor Road plant which currently makes commercial vans. (Dodge will instead sell Mercedes vans made in Germany and assembled in a Southern Freightliner plant.) While Chrysler has offered a wage increase matching GM and Ford, they have not offered any job protections - both GM and Ford have - and are demanding changes in work rules such as job postings, overtime, and work schedules.
As "Mr. NASCAR" predicted in the Allpar forums, Penske has signed with Dodge to race Intrepids at NASCAR. Wallace and Newman will be driving the Intrepid R/T lookalikes, powered by Chrysler engines.
Even as Chrysler de-features the Mercedes six-speed automatic for use in its cars, General Motors and Ford are working on a next-generation six-speed automatic which promises substantial increases in efficiency over existing transmissions (many of which, like current Chrysler automatics, tend to waste power). It will also have a high torque capacity to handle output from increasingly powerful engines.
GM had worked with Chrysler in the past to design and build manual transmissions.
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