Chrysler Moving Production to Brampton

Chrysler the maker of Jeep fender flare has recently announced its plan of investing an additional $1.2 billion to move the assembly of its 300 sedan version to Ontario from Australia in an effort to regain financial health.

Around $500 million will be given to the Brampton plant which will build the 300 LX model while the rest of the money will be used in the improvement of the car's design, supplier development, and engineering that is according to spokesman Ed Saenz. Presently, it's the Magna International Inc. that produces the 300 in Graz, Austria.

The sudden move to Brampton was part of the automaker's plan last February 14 that involves the cut in manufacturing and other costs after incurring $680 million loss in 2006.

Mr. Saenz said, "With all of models going through the plant we can now add in different versions of vehicles. The move will also help us save money by not having to retool Magna's Graz facility. Manufacturing flexibility is critical."

The production of the LX model versions of the 300 will commence in 2010 at Brampton where around 4,000 workers are working on three shifts now to produce the 300, Dodge Magnum, and the Dodge Charger. By the way, the Charger and the 300 are the top-selling vehicles of Chrysler in the US for the first half of this year. The Brampton plant will also be adding the two-door Dodge Challenger Coupe in its production schedule next year.

Mr. Saenz has also stressed that the move to Brampton plant would not affect the production of Chrysler 300 C at DaimlerChrysler's plant in Beijing.

Meanwhile, Magna Chief Financial Officer Vince Galifi said, "We continue to have discussions with automakers about other potential vehicle assembly contracts." The Aurora, Ontario-based company had been producing the 300 in Austria since the year 2005.

It can be remembered that Magna has also made an undisclosed bid for Chrysler this year. Chrysler's sale to Cerberus is scheduled to be concluded this quarter.

Saenz has also said that the workers in Brampton were already informed of the additional investment that Chrysler will be pouring in. The news came after Chrysler has announced that it will not be pushing through with the production of the Imperial citing the increasing gasoline prices and changing mileage standards as reasons.

The Imperial was originally scheduled to be produced also in Brampton but due to the changes in Chrysler's plans the Imperial production was scrapped and was replaced by the LX model versions of the 300.