Chrysler town and country

Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * Tony Faria, co-director of the Office of Automotive Research at the University of Windsor, agreed. “An alliance with Nissan-Renault would be a far better fit and wouldn’t create nearly as many layoffs, plant shutdowns, dealership reductions and vehicle eliminations. “Rather than an outright merger, it would be an alliance similar to the creation of Nissan-Renault,” said Faria.

“All three companies would remain separate while having a significant investment in each other.” In the case of Nissan-Renault, Renault owns 44 per cent of Nissan and Nissan holds a 15 per cent stake in Renault. Cerberus reportedly favours an agreement with GM, said Faria, “because they want to divest themselves entirely of Chrysler.

“But a strategic alliance between Chrysler, Nissan and Renault could achieve economies of scale, eliminate a couple of plants, consolidate vehicle lineups on a smaller scale and perhaps reduce Chrysler’s workforce by 10 per cent instead of by as many as 30 per cent,” said Faria. “That could make Chrysler profitable again, which might be an attractive alternative for Cerberus.

There wouldn’t be the massive layoffs and plant shutdowns which would likely happen as a result of a merger with GM.” But he added that simply joining an alliance wouldn’t be enough to fix all that ails Chrysler. “The company would still have to continue reassessing its dealership network and its vehicle lineup.” Both Faria and Lewenza believe that production partnerships between automotive companies, such as the one between Nissan and Chrysler, will be more prevalent in the future.