Chrysler LLC Meets with Stakeholders in Support of Federal Bridge Loan for Automakers
actual road trip to
Company’s top executive would drive a fuel-efficient hybrid vehicle to this
week’s Senate and House hearings.
In advance of testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking and the
House Committee on Financial Services, Nardelli and other Chrysler LLC
executives will spend the early part of this week in discussions with a broad
mix of affected stakeholders. The Company is calling the grassroots public
relations push a “Virtual Road Show,” with initiatives spread across seven
states in a three-day period.
The meetings and initiatives are being organized by a number of groups and
organizations to help develop an awareness of the integral role U.S. auto
makers play in the nation’s economy and national security as well as why the
temporary financial assistance provided by a bridge loan is critical to
Chrysler and the industry.
“Chrysler understands that the elected representatives of the American
public are being asked by their constituents: ‘Why do the domestic auto makers
matter to me’?,” said Chrysler LLC Executive Director – Communications Lori
McTavish. “Our goal is to meet with stakeholders to discuss the U.S. auto
industry’s impact on their districts. We’re on the road providing answers to
voters’ questions as well as letting these stakeholders have their voices
heard.”
Chrysler will focus on six key points in its road show: Trade and Export;
Technology; Jobs; Plants and Communities; Dealers; and Suppliers. Chrysler’s
messages on the road include:
1. Trade and Export: Chrysler will show how the auto industry plays a
major role in
irreplaceable economic benefits from coast to coast.
2. Technology: Chrysler will reinforce its commitment to developing the
next phase of technology for its vehicles, and how that work provides
meaningful employment for highly skilled American scientists and engineers.
3. Jobs: Chrysler and the other domestic automakers provide jobs for
hundreds of thousands of Americans and indirectly, millions. As employers,
automakers are committed to providing good benefits, employing a diverse
workforce and investing in ongoing worker training.
4. Plants and Communities: Chrysler will demonstrate the role it plays in
local communities beyond
auto industry touches communities across the country. The Company will
emphasize that “Manufacturing Matters,” demonstrating that manufacturing work
creates millions of additional jobs. Manufacturers and the companies that
support them also provide generous support to local charities and community
organizations.
5. Dealers: Chrysler’s 3,372 dealers nationwide are important businesses
that play highly visible roles in their cities and towns. Dealerships provide
local jobs, training, health care and charitable support. These businesses
have been significantly affected by frozen capital markets. Temporary
financial assistance to the domestic automotive industry is necessary to
reduce the risk to local economies and employment.
6. Suppliers: The health and long-term success of the domestic auto
industry and its suppliers are directly intertwined. Suppliers to the
industry, both direct and indirect, operate in every state of the nation,
providing jobs and benefits to the communities in which they do business.
Virtual Road Show events and activities:
— Chrysler LLC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
share the Company’s plan with his senior management team before heading to
waterfall the plan throughout the company.
— Chrysler LLC President and Vice Chairman
conference organized by the Port of
the auto industry from a trade perspective. Chrysler is the Port of
— Chrysler’s
hosted by U.S. Senator
on the auto industry and proposed financial assistance. Specter is part of a
bipartisan group of Senators supporting loans to the auto industry.
— Chrysler LLC President and Vice Chairman
community town hall event at the Toledo Supplier Park, home of the Jeep
Wrangler. Major suppliers and community representatives will discuss how a
strong and healthy auto industry is vital to the U.S. economy and security,
and why manufacturing is the fabric of this nation.
—
conference that will focus on the benefit that successful auto dealers provide
to their communities, including both direct and indirect employment, a strong
tax base and generous charitable giving.
— Chrysler will conduct a KaBOOM! community playground-building event
with
demonstrating an example of the benefits the Company and its dealers provide
to communities across the U.S.
— Chrysler will also distribute to television broadcasters on Thursday a
videotaped case for the loans. Within the video:
-- Chrysler Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Nardelli lays the
Company's plan out to senior executives Chrysler President and Vice
Chairman Jim Press and a representative of the Baltimore Port
Authority discusses Chrysler's role in international trade
-- Chrysler LLC Executive Vice President -- Product Development Frank
Klegon talks with company engineers about the Company's electric
vehicle programs
-- Chrysler President and Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda, joined by
suppliers and community leaders, addresses a town hall meeting at
the Toledo Supplier Park
-- Jim Press and Tammy Darvish, Vice President, DARCARS Automotive
Group of New Carrollton, Md., Chairman of the Board, Washington
Area New Automobile Dealers Association (WANADA) explain the
importance of automotive retailers
— All of the above listed content, as well as additional comments from
employees, dealers and suppliers will be posted to Chrysler’s public and
media-only blogs (http://blog.chryslerllc.com and www.thefirehouse.biz).
— On
ENVI electric vehicles on Capitol Hill.
Chrysler supports legislation to provide temporary financial assistance to
the domestic auto industry. Emergency conditions in the capital markets are
preventing manufacturers and auto finance companies from getting access to the
credit they require to survive. That lack of credit has also made it difficult
for consumers to purchase new vehicles.
The failure of one or more of the domestic auto makers and their component
suppliers could eliminate as many as five million jobs nationwide. The auto
industry represents nearly four percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and
10 percent of the nation’s industrial production by value.
The auto industry further affects tens of thousands of local businesses
and is intertwined in community activities and charitable organizations across
the country. Providing immediate access to short-term loans would have much
lower associated costs than would addressing the effects of an industry
failure in the midst of the current volatile economic conditions.
Chrysler urges the adoption of legislation that will allow domestic auto
makers to weather the current national crisis and continue to invest in
industry-leading products, technologies and vehicles of the future.
Chrysler’s federal bridge loan plan will be released after it is submitted
to Congress (before
About Chrysler LLC
Chrysler LLC, headquartered in
Jeep(R), Dodge and Mopar(R) brand vehicles and products. Total sales worldwide
in 2007 were 2.7 million vehicles. Sales outside of
highest ever with an increase of 15 percent over 2006. Its product lineup
features some of the world’s most recognizable vehicles, including the
Chrysler 300 and Town Country, Jeep Wrangler and Grand Cherokee and Dodge
Challenger and Ram. The Chrysler Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm,
annually supports hundreds of charitable organizations in
and throughout the world. In 2007, the Foundation gave approximately
million
SOURCE Chrysler LLC
