2007 Chrysler Crossfire on 2040-cars

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Chrysler slows minivan production, hasn't built VW Routan this year

Chrysler has slowed production of its Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans this week, Automotive News reports. The Windsor, Ontario plant will cut its three shifts from eight hours each to four hours each in an effort "to align production with market demand," a Chrysler spokesperson told AN. Chrysler also builds the closely related Routan minivan for Volkswagen at its Ontario facility, but has not built a single example thus far in 2013.
Sales of Chrysler's minivans fell 15 percent for the first two months of 2013, and a large part of that has to do with the 26-percent drop of the Grand Caravan alone (the T&C was only down by one percent). According to Automotive News data, as of March 1, Chrysler had an unsold inventory of 24,713 Town and Country models and 18,547 Grand Caravans - a 69- and 43-day supply, respectively.
"No sense running full speed now, then have a lot of vehicles sitting around a few months down the line," Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson told AN. Full production is expected to resume again on March 18.

Marchionne urges industry consolidation, again

Sergio Marchionne isn't just an instigator of mergers – he's also a staunch advocate for their need in the industry. And he seems convinced another big one will happen in the next few years. "I am absolutely certain that before 2018 there will be a merger," said Marchionne. "It's my personal opinion, based on a gut feeling." Though the terms "absolutely certain" and "gut feeling" would seem to convey vastly different degrees of certainty, his chief's statement would seem to suggest some inside knowledge of an impending deal. Marchionne, of course, brokered the consolidation of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles empire over which he now presides, and has been actively seeking another merger to help reduce redundancy and overhead between major automakers in the industry. With which automaker he might be seeking such a merger, however, remains a big question. He was recently reported to have approached Mary Barra regarding a potential merger with General Motors, but was said to have been rebuffed. The Italian-Canadian executive may not be alone in his advocacy for industry consolidation, though. Opel chief Karl-Thomas Neumann said that "In principle, Marchionne is right – the auto industry develops the same things ten times over." Bringing major automakers together would ostensibly reduce that redundancy. Marchionne had been linked to a potential takeover of Opel when GM was shedding brands post-bankruptcy, but in the end the Detroit giant opted to keep its European division in-house.

Chrysler recalling 630k Jeep models worldwide

Despite its refusal to recall 2.7 million Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty models this week over a gas tank fire risk, Chrysler will be recalling 630,000 Jeep Compass (pictured), Patriot and Wrangler vehicles around the globe for a pair of entirely different reasons.
The affected Compass and Patriot models are all from the 2010 to 2012 model years - 254,000 in the United States, 45,400 in Canada and 109,000 elsewhere in the world. In these models, a software error may result in the late deployment of the side airbags and seatbelt tensioners. In the event of a crash, failure of these systems could result in more serious injuries for the vehicle's occupants.
Jeep's go-anywhere Wrangler also faces a separate recall due to power steering fluid lines that can possibly wear a hole in the transmission oil cooler line. According to Chrysler, the vehicles could then leak fluid, possibly damaging the transmissions. Roughly 221,100 Wrangler models are being recalled because of this issue, all of which are fitted with Jeep's 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine. In the US, 181,000 vehicles are affected, with an additional 18,400 in Canada and 21,700 additional units worldwide. A Chrysler spokesperson said that no crashes or injuries have been reported with either case, according to the Associated Press.