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Fiat's Marchionne ponders Chrysler going public again

Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne says there's a real possibility that its majority-owned Chrysler Group may eventually return to the ranks of publicly traded companies. According to Bloomberg, the Fiat and Chrysler CEO gives that a "50 percent chance" of happening, but he doesn't appear to favor that scenario: "My preference is to be one single company... we belong together."
Marchionne has seemingly been operating under the assumption that Fiat will eventually own all of Chrysler, working to buy up the shares it doesn't own and looking to buy out the retiree trust fund that it shares Chrysler ownership with. Certainly, Chrysler going independent again would be increasingly difficult, as the companies continue to blend products, technologies, facilities and staffing, a trend started immediately after the Italian automaker became custodian of the brand following Chrysler's bankruptcy in 2009.
Marchionne's remarks to the media came at Chrysler's Kokomo, Indiana plant, where he was on hand to announce a major investment at four facilities in the state to build eight- and nine-speed automatic transmissions.

Chrysler recalls 350k vehicles over ignition switches

Chrysler has announced a recall covering 349,442 vehicles due to ignition switches that can either become stuck or move without warning. All of the affected vehicles are from the 2008 model year, and were built before May 12, 2008.
The automaker has learned that ignition keys on some vehicles "may not fully return to the 'ON' position after rotation to the 'START' position during engine-startup," the company said in a statement. Additionally, "an ignition key may not fully return to the 'ON' position after rotation to the 'START' position and may inadvertently move through the 'ON' position to 'ACCESSORY' or 'OFF.'"
Chrysler says it is unaware of any related injuries, and notes that while reduced braking, engine or steering power is possible in such instances, the airbags are not affected. The later stands in contrast to General Motors' recent rash of high-profile recalls, and it's an important distinction that Chrysler (understandably) felt necessary to call out in bold print in its press release.

Chrysler investing $20M in Toledo plant to support 9-speed auto production

In 2011, Chrysler announced a $72-million investment in its Toledo Machining Plant to modernize production of the eight- and nine-speed torque-converters for automatic transmissions made there. That upgrade work won't be finished until Q3 of this year, but Chrysler has already announced a further $19.6-million investment to increase production capacity for the nine-speeders.
The extra units will be necessary because the nine-speed transmission they'll be mated to is going into three popular models: it will debut on the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, then go into the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart. The company predicted that this year alone it would sell 200,000 units equipped with the nine-speed tranny, and it is spending some $374 million in addition to the investment in Toledo to upgrade production capacity for it.
The work attached to this new investment won't begin until Q3 of 2014, and it will be finished by the end of that year. There's a press release below with all the details.