BRAMPTON, Ont. - Chrysler wants to repay Canadian and U.S. governments this year for loans that helped the troubled automaker survive the recession, its top executive said Friday at a product launch in Brampton, Ont.
CEO Sergio Marchionne, who was visiting the automaker's plant northwest of Toronto, said help from the Canadian and Ontario governments, along with the U.S. government, was key to the company's survival.
"I'd like to pay them off in 2011, if I could," he told reporters after the launch. "I would like to get it done as quickly as I could."
Chrysler restructured under bankruptcy protection in mid-2009 after it nearly collapsed during the recession.
"The assistance of the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario gave us the opportunity to create a future," he said.
"Chrysler Group owes a deep debt of gratitude to taxpayers in Canada and the U.S. for the loans that enabled a vibrant, restructured company to emerge in June 2009."
The federal and Ontario governments gave Chrysler C$250 million at the end of March 2009 so it could meet payroll and other immediate obligations. When the automaker filed for bankruptcy protection in the spring, the governments gave it approximately $3 billion to support its restructuring process.
Marchionne said Chrysler is paying more than $1 billion a year in interest to Canadian and U.S. taxpayers. He wants to refinance a portion of the $6.9 billion it owes to the U.S. and Canadian governments, which would create savings in long-term interest.
"From an investment standpoint, from a Canadian government standpoint, once it gets repaid it was the best investment it ever made," he said.
Meanwhile, the company said it has invested more than US$1 billion since 2008 for the launch of the new Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Charger as well as the updated Dodge Challenger.
Marchionne said Friday's launch of the revamped vehicles underlines the company's resurgence since emerging from bankruptcy protection nearly two years ago.
"The launch of the all-new 2011 Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger demonstrates how far this company has come in 18 months," he said.
The vehicles that began rolling off the line Friday are three of the 16 new or significantly remodelled products the company debuted last year.
The Brampton plant employs nearly 2,900 people on two shifts, with an additional 800 employees currently on layoff.
Overall, Chrysler Canada has about 7,500 people at assembly plants in Brampton and Windsor, Ont., as well as a casting plant in Toronto.
The Brampton plant has been the source of much speculation ever since Chrysler LLC emerged from U.S. bankruptcy protection with the help of its new partner, Italian automaker Fiat.
Rumour has it the plant will begin building a small number of Fiat's Lancia-brand luxury vehicles beginning in 2012.
Marchionne took the reins at Chrysler last year after the Italian automaker assumed a controlling stake in the struggling company.
The original agreement aimed to provide Chrysler with the small- vehicle technology it lacked, while Fiat would get access to the North American marketplace through Chrysler's distribution system.
Marchionne has said he hopes that the combined Chrysler-Fiat would be building six million cars annually by 2014, with revenues of US$86.3 billion.
He has also indicated that he wants the company to relist on public stock exchanges by 2012.
With files from the Associated Press
