Chrysler Sale To Fiat Gives The Company A New Lease On Life

Due to today's sale to Fiat, Chrysler Corporation once again has a new lease on life. While the UAW, the American and Canadian governments will remain the main shareholders in Chrysler for at least some short term time, the new deal does put a company with a proven record in the auto business in the driver's seat at Chrysler.

Without a true auto company such as Daimler in charge at Chrysler, the company suffered in many ways after the sale as a private company and without public stock offerings. But with a true auto brand in charge at Chrysler, there should be a number of existing Fiat models that might be quickly brought up to American safety and air pollution standards available for sale re-branded as Chrysler products within months. A new version of the Fiat 500 might even some appeal similar to the BMW revival of the Mini Cooper concept.

There will continue to be a system of checks and balances on the bankruptcy process though, where the old Chrysler will undoubtedly be brought into court many times by many parties who feel shortchanged. But since the Supreme Court cleared one major legal hurdle for Chrysler on Tuesday, at least one legal roadblock was removed. Conservative conspiracy theorists may continue to believe that the Obama Administration somehow overstepped the bounds of executive branch authority in it's handling of the Chrysler situation, however no court has proven that so far. And further, today more hearings will be held in front of Senate Banking Committee, chaired by Senator Christopher Dodd, in which the Obama Administration will have to continue to satisfy any concerns of the public, dealers or others concerned about the Chrysler matter.

In it's brief review statement by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court ruled that the three pensions failed to present the "burden" of proof required to invalidate or holdup the sale, knocking down any claims that the sale was somehow not legal. A further legal blow came on Tuesday when U.S. bankruptcy Arthur Gonzales approved the termination of 789 Chrysler dealers, as the company seeks to consolidate down all dealers into handling all Chrysler products, including Jeep and Dodge.

The fact of the matter is that Chrysler is moving ahead with plans to survive as a company. And showrooms should begin to see some new Fiat products sometime in the near future as well. The road back for Chrysler still remains a difficult one. But at least Chrysler is moving forward.