Not really, wanna know why?
The move had already been planned as far back as January 2017 and it was still going to happen, tax cut or no tax cut.
Hey, let's all admit that it would be foolhardy for FCA CEO to ignore Trump's tax cut, okay?
Of COURSE he's going to say he's grateful and that it helps. And it does help, and the CEO should mention that it helps.
But the fact is, they were still going to do the move, because they have to.
The Saltillo MX plant has a long history of doing some things well, and some things terribly.
It is something of a "problem child" for Chrysler and always has been,
in some areas.
For instance, all of the famous Chrysler HEMI V8's have been made there for years, and they do a great job of it.
But when Saltillo started making the new Pentastar V6, Chrysler had to act fast and move Pentastar production to Trenton MI in order to save the project.
The move worked, and the Pentastar quickly became acknowledged as the best engine Chrysler has ever made in its entire history.
In fact, it is rated as one of the top 10 V6 engines ever made PERIOD.
Maserati uses a version of the Pentastar V6 in the Maserati Ghibli, slapping twin turbos on it to squeeze out 430 HP instead of the stock naturally aspirated rating of 289 HP.
HEMI engines are BONE SIMPLE to make, hemispherical heads, a big single lumpy as hell camshaft, big honking pushrods, big honking hemispherical pistons, big honking valves, big honking intakes, big honking crankshaft. They're basically truck engines on steroids.
Brilliant design but still bone simple.
That's one reason the Chrysler HEMI was nicknamed "The Elephant Engine" decades ago.
The Pentastar is an aluminium (die-cast cylinder block) dual overhead cam 24-valve V-6 the engine design of which also allows the use of E85 or 87 octane fuel, supports cylinder deactivation, and features dual variable valve timing. It is incredibly complex and very sophisticated. It's also bulletproof, because it is overbuilt, that is, made to put out way more power than it normally does. It is balanced and blueprinted at the factory, something most common older American engines never were.
Saltillo also could not handle the increased demand for the heavy truck production that is moving to Warren Michigan. The Saltillo plant is set up for maximum flexibility, but not necessarily set up for accommodating explosive demand.
It's not that Trump's fans are necessarily gullible, it's that they are being played like a whorehouse piano.
