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SRT Viper plant idled over slow sales [UPDATE]

The SRT Viper is taking an extended production break later this spring while the factory copes with low demand and gears up for the 2015 model year. Chrysler will idle the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant from April 14 to June 23, and 91 employees there will be laid off during that time. Sales have been slow so far this year, with just 91 Vipers sold in the first two months of 2014 (591 were sold all last year), according to The Detroit News. According to Chrysler, this is all part of the plan for the Viper. The automaker says that the Connor Avenue factory was meant to fluctuate in this way because it only builds one vehicle, and the sports coupe was never meant to be a mass-production vehicle. The company claims that idling the plant will allow it to manage showroom inventories. "Customer and dealer demand for the SRT Viper continues at expected levels," said Chrysler spokesperson Dianna Gutierrez to The Detroit News. SRT hasn't revealed what changes are planned for the 2015 model. This isn't the first time we've heard of the Viper's weak demand. As of October 2013, SRT had hoped to build around 2,000 examples, but only about 1,000 had been made. At that point, officials then revealed production would likely be scaled back. We've contacted the Chrysler for further information, and we'll update this post if and when we hear back. UPDATE: Chrysler has passed along this official statement regarding the plant idling: Chrysler Group confirms that its Conner Avenue Assembly Plant will be down, beginning the week of April 14. Production will resume the week of June 23. Ninety-one UAW-represented employees will be laid off during this time. The SRT Viper is a hand-crafted American exotic car that is designed for a specific consumer that values performance, style and exclusivity. It has never been intended to be a mass-production vehicle as less than 29,000 vehicles have been produced in the past 20 years. The ability to increase and decrease production at the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant allows the company to continue to meet our customers' desire to keep these special cars exclusive. We will be able to take advantage of this transition to manage dealer inventories.

CEO Sergio Marchionne curses FCA spokesman for emissions cheating denial

WASHINGTON — Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne reprimanded the company's top U.S. spokesman for issuing press releases about Fiat's vehicle emissions practices days after Volkswagen's disclosure in September 2015 that the German automaker had used illegal software to evade emissions tests, documents released Monday show. Lawyers suing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in a securities case filed excerpts of an email from Marchionne to Gualberto Ranieri, then the company's U.S. spokesman, in a filing in federal court in New York criticizing him for saying that the company does not use defeat devices. "Are you out of your goddam mind?" Marchionne wrote in an email on Sept. 22, 2015, adding that Ranieri should be fired and calling his actions "utterly stupid and unconscionable." The company said in a statement on Monday it was "understandable that our CEO would have a forceful response to any employee who would opine on such a significant and complex matter, without the matter having been fully reviewed through its appropriate channels." The statement added that Ranieri's comments came just days after VW's emissions issue became public "and before a comprehensive internal review and discussions with component suppliers was possible." Fiat Chrysler was sued in 2015 along with Marchionne and other executives over claims it defrauded shareholders by overstating its ability to comply with vehicle safety laws. An amended version of the complaint filed in 2017 added claims about its compliance with emissions laws. The shareholders accused the defendants of inflating Fiat Chrysler's share price by hundreds of millions of dollars from October 2014 to October 2015 by downplaying safety concerns. They said the shortcomings materialized in 2015 when the automaker was fined $175 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and took a roughly $670 million charge for recalls. Plaintiffs filed the excerpts seeking approval to take up to 40 additional depositions, including Marchionne's. The U.S. Justice Department sued Fiat Chrysler in May 2017, accusing it of illegally using software to bypass emission controls in 104,000 diesel vehicles sold since 2014. Fiat Chrysler has held numerous rounds of settlement talks with the Justice Department and California Air Resources Board to settle the civil suit, including talks as recently as earlier this month. It faces a separate criminal probe into the matter.

Watch as U.S. auto industry springs back to life after lockdown

WARREN, Michigan — The Detroit Three automakers and their suppliers began restarting assembly lines on Monday after a two-month coronavirus lockdown in a slow revival of a sector that employs nearly 1 million people in the United States. On a chilly and damp Monday morning, hundreds of workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobile's (FCA) truck plant in Warren, Michigan, began lining up before 4 a.m. to start the 5 a.m. shift. Signs overhead read: "Let's restart." "I'm a little nervous," said Larry Smith, 53, of New Baltimore, who works on wheel alignment away from the assembly line. "They made all the precautions (and) they've done everything they can to prepare us ... I'm trusting in God." Detroit automakers on Monday said there were no issues with absenteeism as the plants opened. FCA reopened four U.S. assembly plants on Monday, including Warren Truck, on a single shift, as well as four parts plants. The reopening of car plants will be a closely watched test of whether workers across a range of U.S. industries can return to factories in large numbers without a resurgence of infections. General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and FCA have all been preparing for weeks to reopen their North American factories in a push to restart work in an industry that accounts for about 6% of U.S. economic activity. Investors welcomed the gradual restart, sending GM's shares up more than 9% on Monday. FCA shares rose 7.3%, while Ford's were up 6.7%. Auto companies have redesigned assembly lines and retrained workers in an effort to avoid coronavirus outbreaks that could derail production again. Workers entering factories on Monday were checked by temperature monitors. Face masks or shields are standard protective equipment. Jobs such as installing seat belts that used to require two or more workers to get close together inside a vehicle have been redesigned to keep people a safe distance apart. Plastic screens have been installed along assembly lines to separate workers leaning in to the engine compartments of vehicles. Break areas have been reconfigured to keep workers six feet apart. The Detroit automakers have collaborated with each other and with the United Auto Workers to develop common coronavirus safety practices. Other automakers in the United States are adopting similar safety measures.