When the U.S. Supreme Court delayed the sale of Chrysler to Fiat yesterday it put the whole contract in jeopardy, giving the Italian automaker the opportunity to walk away if the sale isn't approved by June 15th. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has, however, confirmed his commitment to the purchase, saying that it would not deter him.
"We would never walk away," he said in an interview with Bloomberg. "Never."
Late Monday afternoon Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delayed the sale but did not make clear the intentions of the court. A group of Indiana pension funds have attempted to block the sale of Chrysler to a Fiat-run group (also comprised of the U.S. and Canadian governments) by alleging that the initial bankruptcy court acted contrary to the law by putting the needs of unsecured lenders ahead of secured ones (some of which include the pension funds).
The bankruptcy court's decision was upheld by an appeals court and now the matter may go before the Supreme Court.
It is not guaranteed that the Supreme Court will hear the case but that is the speculation.
All we do know is that Fiat has an unwavering interest in the Chrysler brand and the U.S. market. This is likely due to Marchionne's belief that in a post-recession auto industry there will be far fewer major players controlling significantly larger shares of the market.
Если кратко, то процесс продажи Крайслера Фиату отложен из-за рассмотрения исков нескольких инвест.фондов в Верховном суде США, несмотря на все усилия Обамы ускорить этот процесс.
А вот ситуация с теми 798 диллерами, которые с 9 июня остались не при делах и распродают свои запасы с 40 % дискаунтом. Всего у них скопилось порядка 44 000 тачек!
Those 789 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers that were cut loose by Chrysler as a part of its bankruptcy and restructuring plan have until June 9th (next Tuesday) to part with their remaining inventory.
Because of the dealership contract that they signed, dealers aren't allowed to sell off the cars once the contract expires. And because Chrysler is in bankruptcy protection, it doesn't have to buy the cars back either.
Chrysler has said that it will help the 789 dealers move their inventory to the remaining Chrysler dealerships, but it won't give any guarantees on the amount of money those dealerships will have to pay for the remaining vehicles. And considering the circumstances, the terminated dealers don't exactly have much faith in their parent company right now.
As a result, dealerships are slashing prices. CNN visited Pohanka Chrysler-Dodge in Leesburg, Virginia, where the dealership has slashed prices on some models by as much as 40 percent. A brand new Dodge Nitro, which lists for $29,170 now has a sticker price of just $17,510.
Owner Ray O'Bryhim even says prices may get lower as the June 9th deadline approaches.
When Chrysler's 789 dealers received noticication that their contracts would not be renewed, they had an inventory of roughly 44,000 cars.