Chrysler Shuttering Plants for 30 Days

With an auto bailout in limbo, the Big 3’s fortunes are going from bad to worse: Chrysler has announced plans to close down all 30 of its plants for at least a month at the end of the day on Friday. At the earliest, the plants will reopen January 19, Chrysler said in a statement. The most troubled of the Big 3 car companies saw sales plummet 47 percent in November and has pleaded for emergency bridge funding from the government to avoid a total collapse. Ford and GM are also piling on the bad news: Ford will shut down most of its North American assembly plants for the first week of January, and GM is delaying a new engine factory.