Chrysler Closing St. Louis Plant, Denies Bankruptcy Rumors

SUGAR LAND--July 2, 2008--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Chrysler will close its St. Louis South plant, which currently assembles minivans, on October 31, 2008. The St. Louis North plant, which assembles pickup trucks, will not come away unscathed and will cut a shift from September 2, 2008, leaving only a single shift in operation. Although denying rumors of impending bankruptcy, Chrysler has decided to exercise a $2 billion line of credit from their parent company, Cerberus Capital Management LP (New York, New York), and Daimler AG (NYSE:DAI) (Germany), their former owner. The automaker is hoping for strong sales of its newly revamped Ram pickup, hoping that the changes they have initiated will make the vehicle more attractive than the flagship trucks of its competitors, the Chevrolet Silverado manufactured by General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, MI) and the F-150 manufactured by Ford Motor Corporation (NYSE:F) (Dearborn, MI).