Time to create a made in Canada auto industry. But not one that means co-opting workers through unionization without the right to strike.
Domestic auto sales up in Canada
Detroit's Big Three automakers did something in October they haven't been able to do in 10 long years - they outsold their overseas rivals in Canada by a wide margin.
Chrysler axes 1100 jobs at Brampton plant
By John mccrank TORONTO (Reuters) - Chrysler is cutting around 1100 jobs at its Brampton, Ontario, assembly plant as part of wider layoffs planned by the automaker, the head of the Canadian Auto Workers union said on Thursday.
Brampton's muscle-car party is overTwo years ago this month, Canadian Auto Workers union President Buzz Hargrove joined other car industry big shots on a stage at Chrysler LLC's Brampton assembly plant northwest of Toronto to celebrate what was then the hottest car on the road and one of Chrysler's most popular products ever: The beefy Chrysler 300.
This week, he took a call from Chrysler brass informing him that sales of the 300 and its two sister cars built at Brampton -- the Dodge Charger and the Magnum wagon -- had slipped enough in North America to warrant a major cutback in production. The unbridled optimism in 2005 among the CAW and Chrysler executives that the car would stand the test of time has now hit a cold wall of realism suggesting it may not. And in a flash, Brampton's muscle car party is over.
Blaming a slowing U.S. market, Chrysler announced yesterday it will discontinue the Magnum and cut the third shift at Brampton in February, putting 1,100 factory workers on layoff. It's part of a wider and deeper cutback effort under new owners Cerberus Capital Management that will see the automaker dump four models and cut an additional 10,000 hourly, 1,000 salaried and 1,000 contract jobs as it aims to steer the company back to profitability. Chrysler lost US$2-billion in the first quarter this year before splitting from Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG.
Chrysler bows to price pressure
Chrysler Canada is boosting cash incentives on its vehicles to address consumer concerns that they're paying more for cars and trucks here than in the United States -- the biggest automaker to date to adjust prices to the rising Canadian dollar.
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Funny I mentioned something like this before during the discussion about the previous sale of Chrysler. But still, why can't these guys ever get the message?? So nobody wants those ugly 300s. What else is new? Just like we don't need V-10 engines aka the "Viper". A truck sized engine in a car with less space than VW Rabbit is really bright ain't it? The same bullshit happened in the sixties and seventies when seven litre mills were shoehorned into vehicles designed for a slant-six. Back then Ioccoca had to go cap-in-hand to the State. Cerberus has laid off thousands because that's their idea of efficiency. Once again I say why doesn't big labour use it's muscle to organize a buyout? Of course Hargrove the borne-again Liberal is about as likely to move on that idea as I am to fly to the moon,etc..
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