Fiat Says Chrysler, Jeep Production May Move to Italy

[petegz28]

Coming hot on the heels of speculation that some Jeep production may be moved to China comes a bombshell from a Bloomberg report. Fiat is now considering moving Chrysler and Jeep production to Italy.

According to the piece, "To counter the severe slump in European sales, (Fiat CEO Sergio) Marchionne is considering building Chrysler models in Italy, including Jeeps, for export to North America. The Italian government is evaluating tax rebates on export goods to help Fiat. Marchionne may announce details of his plan as soon as Oct. 30, the people said."


So, let's be real clear here, we are talking about vehicles that will be built in Italy and exported to America. The evidence is clear that Fiat is looking at ways to move production of vehicles from the US to elsewhere, whether it be China or Italy, costing American jobs. This is becoming indisputable, despite outcries from certain parties to the contrary.

Mitt Romney has rightfully criticized the Obama Administration for handing over Chrysler to the Italians and now leaving the fate of American workers in the hands of Fiat management. Fiat is not a healthy company and the auto industry is in as great a risk as ever. The insistence that all is well by those with political motivations does not mask the danger. More jobs are at risk of being lost and more taxpayer money may be lost as well.

Let's face it, the auto bailouts were not well thought out. Perhaps General Motors' CEO, Dan Akerson, said it best when he said, "The good thing about our bankruptcy is that it took only 39 days. The bad news is that bankruptcy took only 39 days. If we had been there longer, people would have asked these questions and looked at these things."

The whole auto industry bailout process was rushed through with the wrong primary motivation of protecting the politically powerful UAW's interests. The Obama Administration never considered that giving Chrysler to Fiat was not a great idea and could eventually hurt the same UAW workers it was trying to protect. Manufacturers like Chrysler and GM are at a competitive disadvantage due to UAW obligations that were not properly addressed in the bankruptcy process. The industry is more competitive than ever and the government does not seem to be the best innovators to lead the sector to real health. This truth is very likely to become more apparent when the political season ends.

Mark Modica is an NLPC Associate Fellow.

http://nlpc.org/cached/fiat-says-chr...may-move-italy

[alpha_omega]

Wait, not possible. Rachel maddow said this wasn't true.

[HonestChieffan]

Obama will tax em to death?

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

Wait, not possible. Rachel maddow said this wasn't true.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...lashpoint.html

The Romney ad is also contradicting an assertion from the company: “Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China,” the company said in an Oct. 25 statement on its website.

I suppose Chrysler could backtrack the intent of the their most recent statements, but if a move to Italy was pending as this blogger seems to say, why not wait? It doesn't make good sense.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by VAChief

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...lashpoint.html

The Romney ad is also contradicting an assertion from the company: “Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China,” the company said in an Oct. 25 statement on its website.

I suppose Chrysler could backtrack the intent of the their most recent statements, but if a move to Italy was pending as this blogger seems to say, why not wait? It doesn't make good sense.

If there were a period after the word "America" in that quote, I would feel better.

[petegz28]

So Romney said they were going to China..

Obama says BS..

Jeep says they are going to Italy..

I'd say Romney was more right than wrong

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by petegz28

So Romney said they were going to China..

Obama says BS..

Jeep says they are going to Italy..

I'd say Romney was more right than wrong

And the truth is that they're going to China too, just not for cars they'll export back to the US.

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by petegz28

So Romney said they were going to China..

Obama says BS..

Jeep says they are going to Italy..

I'd say Romney was more right than wrong

The article said they are going to Italy or considering? It would seem odd the company would put out a response to the Romney ad and then announce they were moving to a different country, but stranger things have happened. The Romney ad was deceiving if not an outright lie. Not particularly unusual for either side.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by VAChief

The Romney ad was deceiving if not an outright lie. Not particularly unusual for either side.

I agree. It wasn't a lie, but it was potentially deceiving.