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The CAW has set a close Chrysler strike deadline of midnight on October 15, after having quickly resolved issues with GM and Ford. The CAW split off from the UAW relatively recently to protect Canadian jobs, which is the focus of current talks with Chrysler. The CAW has released a statement that they expect Chrysler to follow the "pattern settlement" (follow GM and Ford's terms), and to resolve job security at the newly-expanded Pillette Road plant. This plant currently makes slow-selling full-sized vans, but was to gear up for production of new vehicles - probably full-size SUVs - before Chrysler was acquired by Daimler-Benz. DCX has all but committed to closing the plant, and moving production of Dodge-labelled, Mercedes-designed vans to the Southern United States in order to avoid unions (despite having overall higher costs due to the move). Some have criticized the Canadian government for not bribing DCX with tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to keep the plant open, noting that Southern cities and states are in a bidding war for auto factories. DCX could well get over half a billion dollars to build a new plant in a Southern city.
Two new Dodge Ram ads have tested as having ground-breaking performance in impact, getting the message of Dodge Ram "toughness" and power across to test audiences. Watch for them on your TV.
"Mr. Source," who is usually accurate, has predicted a Dodge version of the Pacifica. Based on recent trends, we'd expect it to be have a different instrument panel and the corporate Dodge front clip (which was standardized on the 2003 models), along with other sheet metal and interior differences to differentiate it more from the Chrysler Pacifica.
Chrysler Group and the United Auto Workers announced a third shift of production at the Warren truck assembly plant, adding 1,000 jobs when the plant's capacity increases next summer. Chrysler is investing $35 million to raise the Warren plant's capacity by 60,000 units per year, so it will eventually produce 338,000 Rams and Dakotas per year. (A redesigned Dakota is also expected in a year or two.)
"Mr. NASCAR" wrote: "Dodge officials have a big announcement concerning Penske. This announcement will occur on Sunday October 13, at 9 am. This announcement will be that Penske South will be switching to Dodge for the 2003 season."
GM and Chrysler have both announced more incentives on new cars, including extensions of interest-free loans. Meanwhile, NHTSA has decided that there is no defect in Ford police cruisers, even though there have been a number of fatal fires following accidents, and several civil organizations have sued Ford to make modifications for safety. Ford itself has been investigating fuel bladders, but instead chose to retrofit its "Interceptors" with a fuel tank shield.
Bill Cawthon wrote: "While they couldn't catch up to the Explorer, the Jeep Liberty and Jeep Grand Cherokee each outsold all 17 of GM's SUVs in September as well as every import. In year-to-date sales, the Grand Cherokee is third out of more than sixty SUVs sold in the U.S. Only the Explorer and TrailBlazer have done better.
"Chrysler still has 41% of the minivan market (counting the PT Cruiser as a minivan), but the Honda Odyssey was only 323 sales behind the Dodge Caravan in September. Honda has apparently resolved some production issues and a lead change could be in the offing."
Possibly due to GM's temporary abandonment of incentives early in September, the company's United States sales dropped by 13 percent, overall. September's total sales were 312,276, with truck sales down 8 percent and car sales down 18 percent.
Bill Cawthon also noted that "MSNBC is reporting that Ford sales rose 1.6%, excluding foreign brands. I have no idea where they got that number except possibly playing with day-rate sales (there were two more selling day last year). Overall, Ford sales are down 5% for the month, 6.4% for the year, as I stated earlier." He noted Ford's announcement: "Overall, U.S. customers purchased or leased 280,319 cars and trucks from Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo, and Land Rover dealers in September, down five percent compared with the same period a year ago."
By comparison, Chrysler reported sales of 165,397 for the month of September 2002 - a bit more than half of GM's sales. Hyundai's sales, which increased 15 percent year to date, were 30,257 in September - still less than a fifth of Chrysler (though, we believe, with better sales outside of North America).
Earlier, we saw what did well; now, let's look at what did not do so well. The Chrysler Sebring Coupe was down (year to date) 19 percent, or about 2,400 units, while the Dodge version fell 7 percent, or 1,200 units. These are Mitsubishi imports, and have been touched up for the 2003 model year, which may increase sales. Neither has done well, with about 25,000 sales so far this year - compared with, say, 117,000 sales for the Sebring and Stratus sedans, and 38,000 for the convertible (which is based on the sedan). Sebring/Stratus sales are not bad, albeit nowhere near Accord and Camry.
While most LH cars rose, the LHS dropped by over 7,200 units, not surprising since it is no longer made. About 3,400 of those sales can be considered swallowed up by the Concorde, which took over the LHS body.
The Voyager is down, now running about 31,700 units - which we believe is below the Plymouth sales, and is certainly down from last year. Town & Country has also fallen a little, 5,000 sales, but is still nearly 100,000 units so far this year - and it should have a good profit margin, too. (The PT Cruiser managed to outsell it, at 112,000 units, but the PT has no Dodge version.)
The Liberty has finally managed to outsell combined Liberty/Cherokee sales from last year...it seems to be gaining acceptance, or the factory is able to produce more of them, or both.
Neon year to date sales have supposedly increased, but since last year Plymouth was factored in, this is hard to guess. Chrysler-Plymouth car has gone down 15 percent, or by about 28,000 units. We'd guess most of that is Neon sales. The Dodge Neon has gone up by about 14,000, so there are probably some lost sales hidden in the cracks. Perhaps a redesigned Civic and Corolla would have robbed those sales in any case.
Durango sales continue to be lower, down 15 percent from last year to about 83,700 units (last year, 99,000 by this time), still quite respectable for a truck going up against a redesigned Explorer and the new TrailBlazer. Ram van and wagon falls are meaningless given the small number produced and the fact that just about everyone knows they're being discontinued.
Overall, year to date, Dodge Truck is up 3 percent (16,000 units), Dodge car is up 7 percent (16,000 units), Jeep is up 3 percent (8,400 units), Chrysler car is up 2 percent (2,400 units), Plymouth is gone, and Chrysler truck (minivans, that is) is down ever so slightly (0 percent, or 1,500 units).
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