In their announcement this week the German-American company stated that, "A proposed new manufacturing facility, incorporating supplier initiatives for Windsor, Ontario, will not be built because of business viability issues."
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| Chrysler Group president and CEO, Dieter Zetsche, stated that the new plant, "will not be built because of business viability issues." (Photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
Dieter Zetsche, Chrysler Chief Executive Director stated that the business environment had changed dramatically since the addition of the plant to Chrysler's Canada-based production was held out as a possibility to the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) in contract talks last fall.
Zetsche said, "The state of the automotive market has created a formidable hurdle, especially for a small, entry-level vehicle such as the one we were considering. Additionally, competitive pricing, ongoing incentives and increasing overcapacity in North America led us to conclude that this is not the time to add new capacity."
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| Buzz Hargrove, CAW chief, stated the new plant was motivation for compromise in labour talks. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
Plans to build the new plant were billed by Buzz Hargrove, CAW chief, as motivation for his union's willingness to compromise in labor talks that concluded last October with a new agreement.
"This is a huge blow. We're going in the wrong direction and we're seeing plants close and production reduced. We thought this would help start to reverse a trend, and this is not going to happen," CAW president Buzz Hargrove stated to Reuters.