CAW President Buzz Hargrove Outraged
It was only a little over a month ago that the enterprise minister of Ontario, Jim Flaherty, announced his confidence in the new DaimlerChrysler plant to be built in Windsor. Since then, the confidence level has dropped, drastically.
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| Canada's most popular vehicle, Chrysler's minivans, are currently produced at the existing Windsor assembly plant. Pictured here, the 5 millionth minivan rolls off the line. . (Photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
Late on Wednesday the Chrysler sector of DaimlerChrysler AG axed their plans to build a new $1.6 billion (USD$1.2 billion) assembly plant in Canada. The cancellation could ultimately lead to issues between the automaker and the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW).
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| The proposed plant initially was said to be for a new small-sized pickup based on the Dodge M80 concept vehicle. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
Windsor, right across the U.S. border from Detroit, is where DaimlerChrysler currently builds its Caravan and Town & Country minivans as well as the new Pacifica crossover SUV. The proposed plant initially was said to be for a new small-sized pickup based on the Dodge M80 concept vehicle, but the U.S. market that would purchase the majority of the facility's production is currently in the dumps due to never having fully gained momentum after 9/11, and more recently the war in Iraq and SARS.