Is Chrysler imminently close to a chapter 11 filing? What affect will there be on the Dodge teams? Will that have a domino affect on those race teams scrambling to align themselves with either a GM or Toyota factory sponsorship?
There are several reports that the bankruptcy filling for Chysler is as close as possibly next week. The New York Times is reporting that the government has started drawing up documents for the Chapter 11 filing. In earlier negotiations, the federal government gave Chrysler until April 30th to devise a restructure plan.
On a similar note, GM has announced that it will shut down many of its North American plants for “several weeks” in the summer. This does not bode well for General Motors. It appears that just possibly GM may be heading down the very same Chapter 11 road!! It appears that GM may be feeling the pressure from many sides, including the federal government to file for reorganization. The U.S. government has given General Motors until May 31st the have its plan ready to go.
It is also been leaked to the presss today, that General Motors will eliminate the Pontiac brand. That announcement looks like will be forth coming as soon as Monday. That would give GM time to talk to their Pontiac dealerships to discuss the future, or lack thereof!
Neither the Chrysler nor the possible GM chapter 11 filing is going to be good for NASCAR. The filing of chapter 11 by Chrysler will be felt to a far lesser degree than a possible chapter 11 filing by General Motors. Nonetheless, in either of these instances, the NASCAR community will be forced to scramble quickly to realign themselves with the surviving auto manufacturers and keep their sponsors intact!
There is an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal today about Fiat’s position in both the bidding war or lack thereof for Chrysler. It also lays out Fiat’s interest in GM’s Opel division. The plot thickens with regards to Chrysler’s future!
Just how is all this going to play out at NASCAR? One would think that both Penske Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports are huddling at their perspective headquarters trying to desperately get a “backup operations plan”!
For Roger Penske, it is reported that he owns the largest Toyota dealerships in the US. So maybe the obvious isn’t so obvious, but it seems logical that quite possibly the Penske organizationhas already gotten some of the wheels greased with Toyota!! You think?
As in the picture above, it just might be that some of these NASCAR race team’s futures are going to go up in SMOKE!
What is your take on the affects of the impending Chrysler collapse?
REMEMBER, I LOOKED IT SO THAT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO!