Perhaps all of you should read more than just the headline, might keep you from looking like idiots much like Mitt looks right now due to his people doing the same.
News Flash: All 3 US automakers have at least one or more assembly plants in Europe, those plants take little away from the US plants. This whole Jeep thing is much a do about nothing and just something Mitt is using to try and get last minute votes with the old "They are gonna ship your jobs over seas". The jobs are already there, been there for years now but it's very very easy to scare the uninformed.
The heart of this is the Jeep assembly plant in Europe has a limited out put that might not be able to meet the demand for the Chinese market which is on the rise. The heads of Fiat are trying to decide if they should run max production on key Jeep models(Grand Cherokee and Compass sport-utility) for the Chinese market or build an assembly plant in china able to produce all of the current Jeep models which would add the Wrangler, Compass and Patriot to European production.
Here is the bloomburg story from which Mitt's people misquoted, read it and tell me where the quote is, I never saw it.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-demand-climbs
Fiat Says Jeep Output May Return to China as Demand Rises
By Craig Trudell on October 22, 2012
Fiat SpA (F), majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both automakers’ operations in the region.
Fiat is in “very detailed conversations” with its Chinese partner, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. (2238), about making Jeeps in the world’s largest auto market, said Mike Manley, chief operating officer of Fiat and Chrysler in Asia. Chrysler hasn’t built Jeeps there since before Fiat took control in 2009.
“The volume opportunity for us is very significant,” Manley, who is also president of the Jeep brand, said in an interview at Chrysler’s Auburn Hills, Michigan, headquarters. “We’re reviewing the opportunities within existing capacity” as well as “should we be localizing the entire Jeep portfolio or some of the Jeep portfolio.”
Chrysler, which entered an alliance with Turin, Italy-based Fiat as part of its U.S. government-backed bankruptcy, is relying on growth in China to counter weakness in Europe’s auto market. The automaker is targeting 500,000 annual sales outside North America by 2014, more than triple its overseas deliveries in 2009.
Chrysler currently builds all Jeep SUV models at plants in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Manley referred to adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China.
Asia’s Strength
International sales for Chrysler climbed 22 percent to 153,154 this year through September, according to the company. The Jeep brand accounted for more than three of every four of those deliveries, with sales surging 54 percent to 117,189.
“We’ve grown much stronger in Asia to make up or compensate for some of the difficulties in Europe,” Manley said. Europe will be in “very difficult, tough times” through at least 2013, he said.
Boosted by strong demand for the Grand Cherokee and Compass sport-utility vehicles, Jeep sales in China have more than doubled to 33,463 this year through September. The brand topped total deliveries for all of 2011 by July of this year.
Chrysler’s 2014 international sales target is “certainly within reach,” Manley said. The European auto market is on track to plunge in 2012 by the most in 19 years, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
“Given what we see around the world, it is stretching for sure, but it’s not something we’ve given up on,” he said.
Fiat and Guangzhou’s plant in Changsha in central China has initial annual capacity of 140,000 cars and is capable of eventually assembling 500,000 vehicles per year. The automakers will add production of a new vehicle to the factory roughly every 12 months and began building the Fiat Viaggio compact there in June.
To contact the reporters on this story: Craig Trudell in Southfield, Michigan, at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net
There is also this story from the NY Times:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chrysl...202007871.html
Chrysler Profit Rises 80 Percent
By BILL VLASIC | New York Times
DETROIT – Chrysler said its third-quarter profit rose 80 percent on the strength of new models, less debt and steadily growing sales in both American and international markets.
The third-largest Detroit carmaker said Monday that it earned $381 million in net income, up from $212 million in the same period a year ago. Revenue for the quarter was $15.5 billion, an 18 percent increase from $13.1 billion in the same period last year.
The results could be seen as the latest evidence that Chrysler’s improbable comeback from its government bailout and bankruptcy was not only sustainable, but accelerating.
“We’ve changed the conversation at Chrysler Group,” said Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of both Chrysler and its Italian parent, Fiat. “We continue to work feverishly and are pleased to see that our all-consuming aspiration for excellence is translating into results.”
Chrysler’s solid results are propping up the faltering European operations of Fiat, which was scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
Mr. Marchionne may announce new moves to cut losses at Fiat, which is struggling to cope with the steepest decline in sales in Europe in nearly 20 years.
But there’s no need anymore to fix Chrysler, which has repaid its debt to the American taxpayers and totally revamped its product lineup since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009.
The company said its worldwide sales increased 12 percent in the third quarter to 556,000 vehicles. For the first nine months of the year, it sold 1.7 million vehicles, up from 1.4 million in the same period in 2011.
Before its financial collapse, Chrysler relied mostly on its pickups, SUVs and minivans to contribute the bulk of its profit. The company was particularly vulnerable to swings in gas prices, which drove consumers to buy smaller, more fuel-efficient passenger cars from other manufacturers.
With the assistance of Fiat technology and parts, Chrysler has broadened its lineup to include a compact car, the Dodge Dart, which gets 40 miles per gallon of gas. The company is also putting more efficient engines into its bread-and-butter models such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 300.
Mr. Marchionne on Monday reaffirmed Chrysler’s full year targets of $1.5 billion in net income and global shipments of 2.3 million vehicles.
Chrysler’s balance sheet also continues to improve as its business grows. The company said it had $11.9 billion in cash at the end of the third quarter compared to $9.5 billion in the same period a year ago.
The company’s net industrial debt was $693 million at the end of the quarter, considerably lower than the $2.86 billion in debt on its books a year ago.
Chrysler’s two American rivals, General Motors and Ford, are expected to report lower earnings for the third quarter than a year ago, primarily because of growing losses in the troubled European car market. Ford was scheduled to report on Tuesday and G.M. on Wednesday.
