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Posts by author:

Mike Strong

Chrysler employees all get to exhale

February 5, 2008

The delicate interdependency between automakers and suppliers took center stage again yesterday when Chrysler saw five of its plants shut down when one of its suppliers, Plastech, filed bankruptcy last week.
Plastech has long worn the moniker of “troubled supplier” requiring bailouts three times in the last 12 months, and apparently the Dearborn, Michigan-based supplier’s latest [...]

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No Nano in North America

January 29, 2008

GM’s Product Czar Bob Lutz told the media who had surrounded him like overly polite sharks looking at a meal that the likelihood that GM would produce a $2,500 car is highly unlikely.
Tata Motors’ new Nano is basically a step above a moped, which is what many folks in India are carting their families around [...]

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Bullitt-in

November 7, 2007

Ford continues to live up to its pledge to do something interesting with the Mustang every 12 to 18 months with the introduction of the the Bullitt version of the Mustang.
The new version, which will start at just over $31,000 U.S., holds true to the original movie version: understated, but masculinely ominous in hunter green [...]

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Chrysler remaking company

November 2, 2007

Chrysler announced that it plans to cut as many as 12,000 more employees from its hourly and salaried ranks, while cutting four vehicles from his product lineup.
The Dodge Magnum, the convertible version of Chrysler PT Cruiser, Chrysler Pacifica and Chrysler Crossfire all get axed for 2008, although the company is adding the Dodge Journey crossover [...]

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Nardelli impacting Chrysler product

October 31, 2007

New Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli is actively involved in the design of Chrysler vehicles…or at least he’s actively involved in questioning the design of Chrysler vehicles.
“I drive a different car to work everyday,” he said during a recent web cast. He said upon arrival at work in the company’s Auburn Hills, Mich. headquarters, he meets [...]

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Chrysler voting portends tougher time at Ford

October 22, 2007

Chrysler’s rank-and-file are voting against the new contract just as often as they’re voting in favor of it through the weekend polling and the new deal may not get approval. This could make things more complicated with Ford negotiations.
If Chrysler employees vote the deal down, it will represent UAW President Ron Gettelfinger’s first significant setback [...]

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Too many models

October 19, 2007

Chrysler and Cerberus couldn’t provide the UAW with specific product guarantees because they’ve figured out they have too many vehicles that do too little for sales and the bottom line.
The Auburn Hills, MI-based automaker is expected to cut at least five vehicles from its product lineup, including the much ballyhooed, but cannibalizing Jeep Commander. Did [...]

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Mike Strong bio

October 17, 2007

It could be argued it was fate that I would lead me to write about the automotive industry: my first word was Volkswagen…at least that’s what my mother claims. Dad claims it was “automobile,” but you see the general direction my life was headed in at an early age.
Like most people who grow up in [...]

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Will they be around?

October 16, 2007

General Motors and Chrysler are done and Ford and the UAW are saying nice things about each other, but the question remains: will these deals ensure the survival of the Big Three?
Consensus is no.

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