Chrysler Revises Product Line, Workers Protest

Chrysler’s board of directors met on Friday to discuss the company’s new approach in terms of products, in light of this year’s alliance with Italian manufacturer Fiat. Even if sources close to the matter were not willing to talk about the decisions made until the five-year business plan is released in November, some details have emerged.

According to the soon-to-be submitted plan, Chrysler will launch in the following years five new models, including the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the facelifted Chrysler 300. Next generation Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan, Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass, Jeep Patriot and Chrysler PT Cruiser (lately said to be discontinued) will also see daylight in the next few years. As expected, anticipation runs high about the arrival of the Fiat 500 on the American market.

Meanwhile, as the meeting was ongoing, workers at Chrysler’s Sterling Heights, Michigan plant staged a rally to protest against the projected closure of the facility. To remind you, the facility is scheduled for idling by the end of next year.

"This is not the restructuring of the auto industry that the American taxpayer was promised," Bill Parker, president of UAW Local 1700, was quoted as saying by Reuters at the event. He urged the American manufacturer to reconsider its plans and save the jobs of the 1,200 workers Local 1700 represents.

"That is not what the president of the United States promised the American public in terms of restructuring the auto industry and in recognizing the realities of the need for fuel efficiency, the need for energy independence," Parker added.