First Good news from Chrysler in months....

[cococly]

I thought Chrysler Canada and Chrysler USA are going to tumble....... Strange...

Chrysler Canada is Country’s No. 1 Selling Automaker in February

* Chrysler Canada sold more vehicles than any other manufacturer
* Dodge Journey is Canada’s best-selling crossover
* Dodge Grand Caravan up 28 per cent over last month
* Dodge Caliber, Jeep® Patriot, and Jeep Compass “Trio” up 31 per cent over January

Sales Highlights

The versatile and fuel-efficient Dodge Journey was once again the country’s No. 1 crossover, with sales of 949 units. The Dodge Caliber was up four per cent versus February 2008 with unit sales of 1,204, and the Dodge Charger was up 21 per cent with 551 units sold.

Several vehicles saw sales gains compared with the prior month (January 2009). Canada’s No. 1 selling minivan, the Dodge Grand Caravan, continued its sales success with 2,803 units sold in February versus 2,191 last month, an increase of 28 per cent.

The Dodge Caliber, Jeep® Patriot, and Jeep Compass “Trio” were up 31 per cent over January, with combined sales of 2,257. All three vehicles achieve 40 mpg or higher, and are available for under $20,000.

Source: http://www.autonewscast.com/2009/03/...r-in-february/

[Peturbo]

Wierd... if that's Canada's best selling crossover, how come I've never seen or noticed one?

[Gt-R R34]

you live in Vancouver?? and the only crossover we see around are RDX?

[keifun]

I drove this as a rental car..meh nothing special about it..

overall its an alright crossover...what I really want to try is the Toyota Venza.

[asian_XL]

this kinda benchmark is retarded. It doesn't even say some dealerships are selling the cars at almost invoice price.

[Carl Johnson]

Bad news: http://www.dailytech.com/Chrysler+to...ticle14556.htm

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by Carl Johnson

Bad news: http://www.dailytech.com/Chrysler+to...ticle14556.htm

This is what surprises me:

According to Chrysler, it feels that its Windsor and Toronto plants would be sufficient collateral for the massive loan. It says it is willing to accept as high as 6 percent interest and will actively work to repay it.

Freakin' 6% interest on a $2.3 billion loan?

[jigga250]

thats because canadians are cheap and buy lots of caravans/calibers (especially back east)

[Harvey Specter]

Yup, you see tons of domestic cars back East but I don't know if Chrysler can be proud about their sales stats. The cars that are selling have heavy incentives and I don't think selling the cars they're selling will get them out of the red anytime soon. And like I said before, the biggest issue for Chrysler and even GM right now is the lack of leasing because it's hurting their sales big time. No one's going to plunk down cash for a $40,000+ car and no one is stupid enough to take them up on their 84 month finance plans with rates around 7%.

I hope Chrysler gets back on track. I like some of their cars like the 300's, Challengers and Chargers and I guess some good news is they're retooling their LX factory in Brampton for the new 2010 300's so hopefully that'll give Chrysler a shot in the arm and boost some sales.

[slammer111]

My Socials 8 teacher back in tha day taught the class something along these lines.. (good ol' Mr. H )

Borrow $1m, and the bank tells you when the money will be returned.
Borrow $100m, and you tell the bank when the money will be returned.

Replace "bank" with "gov't", and you get the idea.

[Soundy]

We bought a Jeep Patriot last summer, it's a great little SUV - awesome gas mileage and did great with all the snow this winter. I'd get another one, fo' sho'.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

anything 4x4 will get u around in the winter plus winter tires is another bonus

[yvrnycracer]

Aren't they essentially giving cars away?!

[Presto]

Chrysler needs a new K-car or Caravan.

[johny]

OTTAWA, March 11 (Reuters) - Chrysler LLC warned on Wednesday it might close its plants in Canada unless it got sufficient labor concessions, as well as government aid and resolution of a tax dispute.

"Failure to satisfactorily resolve these three factors -- the labor costs, government assistance and of course the transfer tax -- will place our Canadian manufacturing operations at a significant disadvantage relative to our manufacturing operations in North America and may very well impair our ability to continue to produce in Canada," Chrysler President and Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda said.

He told reporters after his testimony to the House of Commons finance committee that his direct tone was needed to lay out the facts in a serious situation.

"Bottom line, we needed to be very, very clear, and ambiguity doesn't help the process. These are the things that Chrysler needs," he said. "I thought when I came up here today the Canadian government wanted to hear what are the true facts."

The biggest sticking point appeared to be the cost of labor. He said Chrysler's labor costs in Canada, all inclusive, were C$75 ($58) an hour, C$20 an hour more than at Canadian transplants such as Toyota and Honda.

He said the labor cost gap was being eliminated in the United States but remained high in Canada, and he said the Canadian Auto Workers agreement reached with General Motors Corp (GM.N) over the weekend would not eliminate even half of Chrysler's labor cost gap.

"The current agreement with GM is unacceptable and we have to break the pattern," LaSorda said.

Some analysts have calculated the agreement with GM as yielding C$6 or C$7 in cost savings.

Complicating Chrysler's situation is a dispute over back taxes related to transfer pricing, with Canada saying it should have paid more Canadian taxes and less in U.S. taxes for the period 1996-99.

LaSorda said Chrysler was asking that no further deposits be required of it until the tax authorities render a final decision but recognized that the government itself could not intervene in that dispute.

On the government aid front, he said Chrysler Canada was seeking $2.3 billion in aid from Canada, representing a quarter of the $9 billion being requested of the United States, and he said the request it made of Canada was denominated in U.S. dollars but the Canadian government had made clear it would be in Canadian dollars -- meaning around C$2.3 billion or $1.8 billion U.S.

Chrysler has 9,400 direct employees in Canada, including its financial operations. Another 25,900 work at Chrysler dealerships. Including suppliers and retirees, it said 100,000 Canadians depended directly or indirectly on Chrysler Canada. Say Bye!

The Canadian operations make half a million vehicles a year, selling 230,000 in the Canadian market. In 2007 it became the highest seller of vehicles in Canada.