Chrysler to hold two week shutdown

John Miller, a professor of economics at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, told Al Jazeera the move to temporarily suspend operations was a sign the US economy has entered a recession.

 

Chrysler has been attempting to restructure since private investment firm Cerberus Capital Management bought almost 80 per cent of the company last year.

 

The US auto market has slumped by a wider margin than most analysts had anticipated last summer, with sales down 13 per cent in the first two months of this year.

 

Chrysler announced last week that it was shutting a design studio outside San Diego it had maintained since the early 1980s.

 

 

The move increases the auto industry’s traditional manufacturing shutdowns in July.

 

Chrysler, General Motors and Ford typically close US plants in early July for vacations and shut individual manufacturing operations at various times to develop new tools when they make car and truck model changes.

 

Dan Flores, a General Motors spokesman, said the car maker planned to shut its US plants during the first two weeks of July this year as it has in the past.

 

Ford is also planning a similar two-week shutdown of its North American assembly plants in July, Angie Kozleski, a spokeswoman, said.