Word: lasorda
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...tiny Fiat 500 is one of the first cars Chrysler hopes to build in North America through its new alliance with Fiat. "It's highly, highly likely that the Fiat 500 will be built in the NAFTA region," said Chrysler vice chairman Tom LaSorda after the deal with Fiat was completed as part of the company's structured bankruptcy. Lasorda added that Fiats will probably begin showing up in American showrooms within the next few months...
...LaSorda says much of the work needed to put Fiat's vehicles in compliance with U.S. emission standards and safety regulations has already been completed since talks between the two automakers actually started in March of 2008. "If you take a look at the (new regulations), the sales pickup opportunity is going to start in about 18 months so we're going to be perfectly timed to take advantage of it," said Jim Press, the former Toyota executive, who is now Chrysler's top salesman...
Chrysler president Thomas LaSorda, himself Canadian born, told a top Parliamentary committee Wednesday night that unless the Canada capitulates, he will move operations to the U.S. and Mexico, a position that has not only infuriated the CAW, but also triggered a public backlash against the teetering automaker. "I'm truly shocked," says analyst Dennis DesRosiers of Richmond Hill, Ont.-based DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. "LaSorda said things I thought I would never hear from an auto executive." The privately owned automaker has not shown the same flash of bravado and temper in dealing with Congress and the United Autoworkers...
...plans to play hardball. "I'm incredibly frustrated," says CAW president Ken Lewenza, adding that his union will not play by a new set of improvised rules. He also challenged LaSorda's assertion that Chrysler's operations in southern Ontario are uncompetitive. "They've always been very profitable, even in the toughest times," says Lewenza. Chrysler recently closed a minivan plant in St. Louis, and last week killed a third shift at its minivan plant in Windsor, Ont., throwing 1,200 people out of work. This suggests that even while minivan sales are sagging with the economy, the company...
...Despite LaSorda's tough talk, questions are being raised about whether the Windsor native, whose father was a CAW representative at one of the plants he's threatening to close, might be playing the biggest bluff of his career. It seems hard to imagine Chrysler turning its back on the billions it has invested in Canada, and more than 9,000 employees. That LaSorda is even discussing it, though, is a measure of how desperate the times are for automakers. "I'm hoping it's a bluff," says the CAW's Lewenza, "but I've seen this company mothball plants...