Magna "Seriously Considering" purchase of Chrysler for Wholesale Capacity

as long as they keep the dodge charger muscle car on the mercedes suspension which i drove, throw the rest of chrysler out the window for all we care.

LOL I agree. Charger not only drives well, but it looks great. Everyone scoffed when they heard it was a sedan- but it's much better than the number of doors suggests.

The Charger SRT8 is lust-worthy. And to think, I can easily attain one, but won't buy one...

I don't think taking Chrysler out is a good idea. Chrysler is the main company that Dodge & Jeep is under. I also feel that the SRT4/SRT8/SRT10 models are very nice and very much needed for each brand under the Chrysler Group. The 300C SRT8 and the Charger SRT8 are my favorite followed close by the SRT10 RAM. If Magna takes over it will be a disaster for fans of Dodge & Chrysler.

You don't understand. It's the entire Chrysler GROUP that will be sold off- not just the brand. That means Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep will be free from Mercedes. And it will leave MB, Maybach and Smart as Daimler-Benz.

I think people are just inventing rumors now... "This just in, Mercedes rumored to sell Chrysler to TVR!" I would like to hear it straight from the horses mouth next time I read about this subject.

Now that would be interesting!

If the desire is to keep Chrysler ownership in North America (and there has been expression of this from senoir Chrysler officials in recent days) then Magna International looks to be the best suitor.
see http://www.magnaint.com/

Many of you are thinking WHO IS THIS "MAGNA" PARTS COMPANY? A RINKY-DINK CANADIAN COMPANY. NEVER HEARD OF THEM!

Here's a BRIEF INTRO TO MAGNA:
* ranked by Automotive News as the world's fourth largest auto parts supplier on fiscal 2004 global OEM parts revenues.
* had 23 consecutive years of sales increases and a 21 percent compound average growth rate in sales since 1995.
* from their site: "the most diversified automotive supplier in the world. We design, develop and manufacture automotive systems, assemblies, modules and components, and engineer and assemble complete vehicles, primarily for sale to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of cars and light trucks in our three geographic segments - North America, Europe, and Rest of World (primarily Asia, South America and Africa)."

How big are they? As a comparison, Porsche sold about 7 Billion Euros in vehicles last year, or US$10 Billion in sales.
In the same time period, Magna Corp had sales exceeding $24 BILLION US Dollars!

How powerful are they? Frank Stronach started the company eons ago and still controls it. Frank Stronach's daughter Belinda almost became the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada on her 1st attempt at Federal Politics ... the Conservatives now run Canada, meaning that she almost became Prime Minister of the country!

And here's a hint: the day that the Chairman of Daimler Chrysler met with Frank Stronach (Feb. 14th) was the day that DC announced that they were considering selling off the Chrysler division.
Chrysler is one of Magna's largest customers. "Magna already manufactures vehicles on a contract basis for Chrysler, its sister company Mercedes-Benz and other customers." from this article
http://www.rbcinvest.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070226.wmagna27/business/Business/businessBN/rbc-business

The final item is cash. CAN THEY BUY CHRYSLER?
The rumoured price is US$5 Billion.
For a 50% down payment Frank Stronach could likely write a personal check!