Chrysler leases more office space; returns to Fortune 500

Chrysler is growing: to relieve overcrowding at its Auburn Hills headquarters, the company has leased 210,000 square feet of additional office space in a building at 1075 West Entrance formerly occupied by EDS. The new facilities will have enopugh space for about 1,300 workers. The plan is to consolidate information technology staff from the Chrysler Tech Center, Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Mopar’s Centerline distribution center. The space left in the Tech Center building will accommodate engineering staff working on new vehicles. Chrysler is adding 1,000 new engineers to its staff.

Contrast this to General Motors, which may be looking to lay off engineers (not executives) to reduce costs. GM’s first-quarter earnings of $3.2 billion included $1.5 billion in one-time gains from sales of its stakes in Delphi and Ally Financial. The company did make an operating profit of $800 million but those came at a cost of GM’s industry-leading $300 million in incentives spending. GM sales also suffered in Latin America due to the company’s aging product line.

Chrysler is back on the Fortune 500 list. In the latest rankings, Chrysler was No. 59, between Caterpillar and Safeway. General Motors and Ford made it to the top ten; GM at eighth and Ford at tenth.