Chrysler offers buyouts to 13,000 hourly workers
From the article: “Chrysler LLC will offer buyouts to more than 13,000 hourly workers in Michigan, in the latest wave of job-reductions sweeping the hard-hit auto industry.
Chrysler did not disclose a specific reduction target on Friday, but company officials said they wanted to eliminate at least 2,000 jobs, representing the number of idled workers collecting wages in the Chrysler jobs bank.
All automakers are struggling in the U.S. market, which has sunk to its lowest level in more than a decade. But Chrysler has contracted more than any of its major rivals. Its sales through August have fallen 24 percent, or more than double the overall market’s decline.”
Chrysler offers new round of buyouts - detnews.com
September 13th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
http://green.yahoo.com/blog/forecastearth/114/meanwhile-in-europe.html
A look at these interesting European concept cars is in order after nothing that the Detroit News article posted by Site Admin reminds us in its 7th and 8th paragraphs what we all know too well—that the big profits from trucks and SUVs are great when their is a viable market for those vehicles. But that market cannot be sustained once the price of a gallon of gasoline approaches $4.00
September 13th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
All the old timers with 40+ years need to move on and take the buyout and enjoy the rest of their lives. That alone would take care of the numbers in a heartbeat.
I know of several people with 35-40+ years and they can barely walk let alone work on the line.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Tell us something we dont know,DaveS.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
That is a pretty heartless thing to say, George. You must be a corporate man for sure.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
R.I.P.
September 13th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
George, “But for the grace of God, there you go!” Have you no compassion? That was an awful thing to say about another human being. Would your mother be proud of you if she read that kind of comment?
September 14th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Call me heartless but I think it’s ridiculous that people not doing work get paid for it. If they’re hourly workers they should only get paid for work that they’re doing.
September 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
The problem is the product coming down the pipeline for 2010 and 2011 won’t replace the profits lost from declining truck and SUV sales.
The automobile manufacturer’s pushed many of the dealers to upgrade or build new facilities those that did now have high fixed overhead combined with declined sales of profitable trucks and SUV.
In our area the stores that made the commitment to build in the last 5 to 10 years are the ones suffering most.
Again it is an illustration of the lack of vision from the dealers and manufacturers; even new Toyota stores in California are feeling the pinch.
Egos out weighed good common since and those that didn’t due there math are now going to pay the price.
A mass closing of dealerships is predicted to happen in the 4th quarter of 2008 and in the first quarter of 2009.
Hi Anonymous I’m waiting for my call: I got here at 9:00am PDT and already completed two oil change services.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:40 am
You guys knocking me for what i said.Im wasnt disrespecting anyone.Im just saying if a person is all banged up from working in an auto plant for 30-40 years and can barely use their legs anymore would be best off taking this next buyout.
DONT YA THINK! WTF…………………..
September 14th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Don’t hold your breath, Rich. Some people are all talk.
September 14th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
http://info.detnews.com/redesign/blogs/scottburgessblog/index.cfm?category=Dodge
Scott Burgess on the Ram Diesel
in the Sept. 12 Detroit News
September 14th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Rich - Wouldn’t a mass of dealer closing be ultimatly for the better? Chicago Dave made a very valid point a few weeks ago that one of the problems with Chrysler is that there are way too many dealerships, which in his opinion leads to poor service among other problems. A mass wave of closings, getting it down to one dealer in most markets and maybe three in large markets might do them some good…
BTW, any clue when the 09 Patriot will be up on the Chrysler website? My brother is ready to buy one…
September 14th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Someone will be able to pick up some assets for pennies on the dollar and part of the dealer network once Chrysler folds. Too bad Cerberus doesn’t just pull the plug. This death by a thousand cuts is brutal.
September 14th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
“Someone will be able to pick up some assets for pennies on the dollar and part of the dealer network once Chrysler folds. Too bad Cerberus doesn’t just pull the plug. This death by a thousand cuts is brutal.”
Get lost asshole!
September 14th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Get lost asshole!
Buzz off butthole!
September 15th, 2008 at 12:42 am
The thoughts of the so out of touch. Say good bye to Chrysler, John and kiss good buy to the economy think of the ripple effect. Hell maybe your job will be partly affected. And you are an A-hole.
September 15th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Geogre allot of people can’t retire due the fact that they maybe raising grand children or in one case great grand children. College tutitions to pay and kids still at home, You’d be surprised at the numbers of non empty nester I’ve dealt with. Many want to retire but not while still raising children.
Also the fact that unions have protected many workers from job termination, is something we can’t do with out. Do you think its fair that a CEO gets 14 to 250 million dollars in bonuses for keeping a company in the black, by elinimating jobs. How much fun is it to a part time worker making 40 hours a week for 3 years with out a raise or benefits.
Union workers have earned these rights of protection. Most of the auto industry would love nothing better than to replace its aging work force with entry level hourly workers. The savings on benefits, wages, and lack contractual agreements not to mention the profits on products, not passed on to the consumers.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Reflex
Your right it would be a postive move if Chrysler were to lose stores in the over loaded Detroit-Chicago-Midwest-Great Lakes regions, but thats not the case.
Chrysler is losing stores out west in metro markets.
These aren’t the older stand alone franchises they are the nice new Genesis type facilities and five star dealerships that are folding.
The low volume mom & pop operations are better at surviving in tough economic times, in fact many are taking advantage of current market conditions.
The metro stores in the west don’t have to deal with the over crowding problems you see in other regions of the country, it is a pure overhead issue that is causing many of these stores to go out of business.
This month with the start of the NFL the stores were very quiet the past 2 weekends and sales numbers are reflecting this trend.
June was a very bad month, but September is going to be much worse then June.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Rich - Well I know of at least five mega stores here in the Seattle area, and they ALL suck bad for service as I’ve stated before. What would it take for their salesmen to treat customers better in your opinion then? I don’t want to hear anything about product quality and such BS, thats besides the point, my brother is shopping for an 09 Patriot, he’s already made up his mind, we just want someone who will treat us human, what would it take to make that a reality in this market in your opinion?
Lurch - Unfortunatly the playing field is not level. Toyota pays its people an average of $14/hour and they are all non-union. There is no way the Big 3 can compete with that. Either the unions need to force themselves into the non-union plants, or they need to acknowledge that they have to be wage competitive with them. Its not really an option here, the playing field needs to be leveled.
September 15th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Reflex the service departments at the mega stores in the Sacramento area also suck!
I’m driving two to three customer vehicles a week from Sacramento to my dealership which is 60 miles North to service their vehicles.
It is the nature of the beast.
Due to the lack of income Chrysler stores don’t attract quality sales help.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:46 am
I was under the impression that salesmen are commission based. In other words, if the sales help isn’t quality then they are shooting themselves in the foot.
Too bad service is that bad everywhere though. I really feel that is a larger detriment than the percieved product issues. My brother is getting increasingly frustrated that he is ready to put down $23k and no one seems to want to earn his business. Its not like he’s a difficult customer, he already knows exactly what he wants.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Reflex
Is he offering enough to purchase his vehicle of choose or is he low balling the dealers expecting them to lay down and take a lose on a 2009 Patriot.
Although $23k is a lot of money it doesn’t buy you a much of a 2009 Patriot.
The dealers are motivated to sell their 2008 inventory and Chrysler has most of their incentives on the 2008 inventory. If your brother can wait he’ll have a better chance at a deal in the coming months on a 2009.
Your right about most sales staffs are on commission, but if your selling your product for 50% off how much profit is left to pay your sales staff?
Used car sales people are the ones that make the money in a new car dealership.
Sales people are motivated by money, if I’m not making a living selling new cars then why do I care about selling new cars.
In fact new car sales are an after thought in our dealership, I put rock bottom pricing on the units, place them on the internet and sell just enough to keep Chrysler off my back.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Rich - He’s on the friends/family plan, so the dealership is getting fixed compensation. That said we haven’t mentioned that till the end since mentioning it up front seems to get us treated like complete crap.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
In most stores the fleet department handles friends/family plan deals.
Reflex have your brother call the stores fleet department. Tell them you have a friends/family plan, if they still treat you like crap then I’d say you have a gripe.
Again when your not up front with your intensions your part of the problem not part of the solution.
It was just like today I had a customer ask me for my rock bottom price on a used 300. I asked if he had a trade as part of the deal, he said no.
After I gave him the price, he springs his trade on me.
The customers are just as bad as the dealers, I throw him out and mother f’d him all the way to his trade. If you choose to lie with me be prepared to pay the price.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Well keep in mind that we aren’t pretending otherwise, its just mentioned later on because we have been told to flat out get losts when mentioning it up front. One dealership told me I better be prepared to produce a marriage license and my soon-to-be father in law before they’d honor it, regardless of what Chrysler says. Its been strange, two and a half years ago I had no issue using this plan to buy my Liberty CRD, I don’t know why they are behaving so badly now(I wish my dealership still existed).
Never knew they had a seperate fleet sales, I’ll have to try asking about it.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Rich, you you thought chrysler would sell under 90,000 units last month.You were wrong.How many do you think theyll sell this month?
Bet youll be wrong again! I think 105,000 this month and higher next with the new ram!
September 17th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Adam I only predict retail sales and Chrysler only retailed 82,524 units in August.
Keep in mind that they closed the month on September 2nd, so August sales were based on a 33 day sales cycle.
September will be limited to a 28 day sales cycle and as of September 17th Chrysler has just 25,043 retail units for the month.
You do the math and let me know how they are doing.
Reflex your situation is another example of why Chryslers relations with their dealers are so poor.
All the manufacturer’s keep expanding their friends/family programs to the point that to much of the population has access to the programs.
It used to be a priviledge and now it is the norm.
Dealers have grown weary of the manufacturers need to be a part of the sales process verse just managing their end of the business.
If the manufacturers want to handle the sales end of the business then they need to buy back the franchises and open factory outlets.
If you don’t like the service your receiving from your local dealer just think about how well you’d be treated at a factory outlet store.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:11 am
GRAND RAPIDS — The chairman of the private equity firm that owns most of Chrysler says a commitment to making better products and working more closely with dealers will be key factors in the struggling automaker’s turnaround.
John Snow of Cerberus Capital Management LP said Monday after delivering a speech to representatives of the metal-forming industry that he is confident the seven new models Chrysler plans to offer by 2010 will appeal to consumers.
Chrysler LLC Vice Chairman Jim Press announced the new models last week, saying only that they will include the previously announced revision of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and a subcompact car jointly produced with Nissan Motor Co.
Snow declined to disclose particulars about the new vehicles, saying that information should come from Chrysler executives.
“I know there’s a deep commitment here to putting out better products,” he said at the International Council of Sheet Metal Presswork Associations’ International Congress, held every three years.
He also said Chrysler is working in concert with its dealers to make sure it is building cars that people will want to buy.
“In the end, this comes down to producing cars that people want at attractive prices and having your dealers in concert with the manufacturer,” Snow said. “I think we’re going to get that right. I really do.”
Chrysler’s U.S. sales are off 24 percent so far this year, while the overall market is down 11 percent.
In August 2007, New York-based Cerberus obtained an 80.1 percent stake in Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler AG in a $7.4 billion deal, ending a stormy nine-year partnership. The German automaker retained a 19.9 percent interest in the new privately held company, Chrysler LLC.
Snow, who served as secretary of the treasury under President Bush from 2003 to 2006, said during his speech in Grand Rapids that he expects the nation’s economy to continue going through a “painful” but “absolutely essential” adjustment period for the next 12 to 18 months to offset years of Wall Street excesses.
The news Monday that Bank of America had acquired financially troubled Merrill Lynch for $50 billion and Lehman Brothers had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection “underscores the depth of the financial market’s problems that the United States and the world are going through,” Snow said.
September 17th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
To Rich’s point last month at this time we sold 29 new Chrysler vehicles and now we are at 6 new vehicles sold.
This pattern is the same with other stores in our area.
Chrysler will NOT sell as many vehicles in September as they did in August.
Adam–not enough 2009 Ram’s will be in dealer stock in September or October to make a difference in total sales.
The new truck is great…..but we have no sold orders for the Truck which is rare and not good news for a new launch. The truck will sell well—-but it won’t sell in big numbers until January–February–March.
Don’t forget Chrysler Financial’s new terms will directly result in substantially less new vehicles sales as we go forward.
I don’t think Chrysler will see more than 100,000 retail sales for a long time, certainly not in September!
Housing starts and new car sales are directly related. Last month was the lowest month of housing starts in 17 years. Until this changes vehicle sales will be depressed.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
The ripple effect? Study your history dude! It’s survival of the fittest. Always has been, always will be. Like it or not, the market eliminates those inefficienct companies.
One only needs to study the impact of the industrial revolution on labor. Workers will need to be retrained for work in new fields - greener industries. If c is not efficient, then it will fail and the more efficient auto companies will take their share. Their employees will need to find work with another auto company or they will need to go to work in another industry that is growing. It’s just that simple.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Reflex one big note on the $14 an hour at the transplants from over seas, that are non union. NO PAY RAISES IN 10 YEARS. The Mercedes Plant in Alabama bring your sick kid to work we had a company doctor right here, and a day care. Think long on the possibiles of that. Also don’t report any injuries and you can keep your job.
But in all situations there is room for abuse where people and greed work hand in hand, on both sides and I see it all.
What ever happened to INTEGRITY