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 President Obama took Chrysler and GM into bankruptcy and even sold Chrysler to the Italians. Who will do more for the auto industry? The clear answer is Mitt Romney. ||||| With Ohio’s 18 electoral votes very much in play, the Mitt Romney campaign aims to blunt one of Barack Obama’s key advantages in that state -- his rescue of the auto industry. The carmakers account for about one out of eight jobs there, and many Ohio assembly line workers are backing Obama for a second term. 
 
 
 
 The Romney campaign has produced a controversial ad that argues Romney would be better for the auto industry than Obama. In the ad, an announcer says, "Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt Romney will fight for every American job." Images of cars being crushed accompany those words. 
 
 
 
 The not-so-subtle message is that American workers have suffered from the Chrysler deal. In this fact check, we examine whether the sale of Chrysler came at the cost of American jobs. 
 
 
 
 How Fiat got Chrysler 
 
 
 
 By early 2008, it was clear that GM and Chrysler were teetering. Both firms had huge debts and high costs. The recession had slowed car sales to a trickle. Chrysler’s owner, Cerberus Capital Management, was hunting for a buyer and had been talking to Italian carmaker Fiat. In late 2008, President George W. Bush approved billion dollar loans to the companies to keep them afloat. 
 
 
 
 On Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama took the oath of office, Fiat announced it was interested in buying Chrysler. Obama created an auto task force and in March, the task force told Chrysler to cut a deal with Fiat or be cut off from further government loans. In early April, Chrysler filed for bankruptcy and at the same time, announced an alliance with Fiat. 
 
 
 
 By the end of April, the terms of the deal were complete and by June, it was finalized. Cerberus Capital had lost its stake, and Fiat held 20 percent of the new Chrysler and had full operational control. 
 
 
 
 Steve Rattner, chair of the president’s auto task force, said Fiat was essential to Chrysler’s survival. 
 
 
 
 "If we had been unable to strike this arrangement with Fiat, I believe that we would have allowed Chrysler to liquidate. So it was a great outcome for all concerned," Rattner said. 
 
 
 
 Aaron Bragman, a senior analyst with IHS Automotive, a financial research group, said the government couldn’t sell Chrysler because it never owned it. In fact, the auto industry and Chrysler were in such bad shape, this wasn’t a sale at all in the conventional sense. 
 
 
 
 "Fiat paid nothing for Chrysler," Bragman said, but "they poured MASSIVE resources into the company, such as design help, executive staff and personnel, joint development, engine technology, all sorts of non-cash things that helped Chrysler recover considerably." 
 
 
 
 Chrysler is now profitable. Laid-off union workers have been rehired, and the company is adding new personnel. 
 
 
 
 Fiat, Jeeps, and China 
 
 
 
 When Fiat got Chrysler, it got Jeep. Right before the ad came out, Romney told a crowd in Defiance, Ohio, that plans were afoot to shift the Jeep jobs in Ohio to China. 
 
 
 
 "I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state Jeep — now owned by the Italians — is thinking of moving all production to China," Romney said. 
 
 
 
 Romney had been working off an article from Bloomberg News about Fiat’s discussions to start making Jeeps again in China. The old Chrysler had assembly plants in China, but they had been idle since 2009. 
 
 
 
 Romney’s words drew an immediate and firm denial from Chrysler headquarters. "Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China," the statement said. "A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments." 
 
 
 
 Bragman, the auto analyst, said Romney’s notion that expansion in China comes at a cost to American workers runs counter to the facts. Chrysler’s Toledo plant is running at full capacity, and its Detroit plant is at three shifts. Chrysler is building cars in the United States for sale here. 
 
 The production of cars in China is a sign of Chrysler's growing strength in overseas markets. It would like to build Jeeps in China to sell in China. It is not outsourcing American auto jobs. 
 
 
 
 "I'm astonished that more people aren't thrilled by the fact that an American company on the brink of literal oblivion has come back strong enough to now once again be making and selling its products in the hottest auto market in the world," Bragman said. "It is a phenomenal success story, quite frankly, and one that has sadly been bizarrely twisted out of shape for political expediency." 
 
 
 
 Our ruling 
 
 
 
 The Romney campaign ad says Obama "sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China" at the cost of American jobs. The ad leaves the clear impression that Jeeps built in China come at the expense of American workers. 
 
 
 
 The ad miscasts the government’s role in Fiat’s acquisition of Chrysler, and it misrepresents the outcome. Chrysler’s owners had been trying to sell to Italy-based Fiat before Obama took office. The ad ignores the return of American jobs to Chrysler Jeep plants in the United States, and it presents the manufacture of Jeeps in China as a threat, rather than an opportunity to sell cars made in China to Chinese consumers. It strings together facts in a way that presents an wholly inaccurate picture. 
 
 
 
 We rate the statement Pants on Fire! ||||| Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has broadened his attack on President Barack Obama’s auto industry restructuring, implying that General Motors used the aid to hire more workers in China than in the U.S. 
 
 “Barack Obama says he saved the auto industry. But for who? Ohio or China?” says the narrator in a radio spot running in Ohio. “Under President Obama, GM cut 15,000 American jobs, but they are planning to double the number of cars built in China, which means 15,000 more jobs for China. And now comes word that Chrysler plans to start making Jeeps in, you guessed it, China.” 
 
 GM quickly defended its performance. 
 
 “We've clearly entered some parallel universe during these last few days,” GM spokesman Greg Martin said. “No amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back to this country.” 
 
 Separately, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne used an e-mail to employees today to refute the implication in a Romney TV ad that Chrysler may move all Jeep production from the U.S. to China. 
 
 “Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China,” Marchionne stated in the e-mail. “The numbers tell the story,” followed by specific investments Chrysler has made at its plants in Detroit, Toledo and Belvidere, Ill. “Those include more than $1.7 billion to produce the successor of the Jeep Liberty and hire about 1,100 workers on a second shift by 2013.” 
 
 Marchionne also said Chrysler has created 2,000 jobs at its Jefferson North assembly plant since June 2009 where it makes the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The automaker has added 2,600 jobs in Belvidere, Ill., where its assembles the Jeep Patriot and Compass, along with the Dodge Dart. 
 
 GM’s total U.S. employment did fall by about 14,000 from the end of 2008 until the end of 2011, according to the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the majority of those occurred in early 2009 in the crisis-driven months leading up to its bankruptcy restructuring. 
 
 Similarly to Chrysler, GM has added jobs at factories that have launched new products. Both companies are very profitable in the U.S. and those profits are offsetting losses GM, or in the case of Chrysler, Fiat, is suffering in Europe. 
 
 Chrysler reported a $381-million third-quarter profit. GM will report its results Wednesday. 
 
 On Monday, Obama’s campaign released an ad attacking Romney for his November 2008 editorial headlined “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” The ad said, "When the auto industry faced collapse, Mitt Romney turned his back,” and pointed out that Chrysler is adding jobs in Ohio. 
 
 Several fact-checking sources, including Politifact and the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, have labeled Romney’s TV spot inaccurate. 
 
 Marchionne confirmed in his e-mail previous statements that Chrysler plans to eventually restart vehicle production in China because the market “would not otherwise be accessible” without making vehicles there. Chinese regulations make it very difficult to import foreign vehicles. 
 
 “This ultimately will help bolster the Jeep brand, and solidify the resilience of U.S. jobs,” Marchionne said. “Jeep is one of our truly global brands with uniquely American roots. This will never change.” 
 
 Contact: Nathan Bomey at 313-223-4743 or nbomey@freepress.com. ||||| Published on 
 
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 Voiceover: 
 
 "When the auto industry faced collapse, Mitt Romney turned his back. Even the conservative Detroit News criticized Romney for his 'wrong-headedness' on the bailout. And now, after Romney's false claim of Jeep outsourcing to China, Chrysler ITSELF has refuted Romney's lie. The truth? Jeep is ADDING jobs in Ohio." 
 
 
 
 Voiceover: 
 
 "Mitt Romney on Ohio jobs? Wrong Then. " 
 
 
 
 Mitt Romney: 
 
 "Let Detroit go bankrupt." 
 
 
 
 Voiceover: 
 
 "Dishonest Now." ||||| Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, in response to comments and an ad from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, categorically said no Jeep production will be moved from the U.S. to China in an e-mail to employees. 
 
 Romney started the controversy last week at a campaign stop in Defiance, Ohio, where he cited an article that Chrysler wants to build Jeeps in China, which it does, as evidence that it would move current Jeep production in Detroit, Toledo and Belvidere, Ill., to China. That is not true. 
 
 Here is Marchionne's e-mail: 
 
 Chrysler Group’s production plans for the Jeep brand have become the focus of public debate. 
 
 I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China. 
 
 North American production is critical to achieving our goal of selling 800,000 Jeep vehicles by 2014. In fact, U.S. production of our Jeep models has nearly tripled (it is expected to be up 185%) since 2009 in order to keep up with global demand. 
 
 We also are investing to improve and expand our entire U.S. operations, including our Jeep facilities. The numbers tell the story: 
 
 • We will invest more than $1.7 billion to develop and produce the next generation Jeep SUV, the successor of the Jeep Liberty -- including $500 million directly to tool and expand our Toledo Assembly Complex and will be adding about 1,100 jobs on a second shift by 2013. 
 
 • At our Jefferson North Assembly Plant, where we build the Jeep Grand Cherokee, we have created 2,000 jobs since June 2009 and have invested more than $1.8 billion. 
 
 • In Belvidere, where we build two Jeep models, we have added two shifts since 2009 resulting in an additional 2,600 jobs. 
 
 With the increase in demand for our vehicles, especially Jeep branded vehicles, we have added more than 11,200 U.S. jobs since 2009. Plants producing Jeep branded vehicles alone have seen the number of people invested in the success of the Jeep brand grow to more than 9,300 hourly jobs from 4,700. This will increase by an additional 1,100 as the Liberty successor, which will be produced in Toledo, is introduced for global distribution in the second quarter of 2013. 
 
 Together, we are working to establish a global enterprise and previously announced our intent to return Jeep production to China, the world’s largest auto market, in order to satisfy local market demand, which would not otherwise be accessible. Chrysler Group is interested in expanding the customer base for our award-winning Jeep vehicles, which can only be done by establishing local production. This will ultimately help bolster the Jeep brand, and solidify the resilience of U.S. jobs. 
 
 Jeep is one of our truly global brands with uniquely American roots. This will never change. So much so that we committed that the iconic Wrangler nameplate, currently produced in our Toledo, Ohio plant, will never see full production outside the United States. 
 
 Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand. 
 
 It is inaccurate to suggest anything different. 
 
 Sergio Marchionne ||||| Obama Campaign Slams Romney's Jeep Ad 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption J.D. Pooley/Getty Images J.D. Pooley/Getty Images 
 
 The impact of Superstorm Sandy has become the main focus of both presidential candidates, but what politicking does remain has Toledo, Ohio, at its center. 
 
 That's because last week GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney stated that Chrysler-owned Jeep, which has a big plant in Toledo, is considering moving all its production to China. 
 
 Chrysler and President Obama's re-election team say that's just not true, and the dispute is now being played out on what's become the campaign's center stage: the state of Ohio. 
 
 The auto industry is a touchy subject for Romney — unlike Obama, he opposed lending any public funds to help GM and Chrysler make it through bankruptcy, even though private banks refused to lend them any money. 
 
 As the two men battle to win all-important Ohio, where 1 out of 8 workers is in the auto industry, Romney has generally been on the defensive about opposing a bailout. But last Thursday, Romney went on the offensive in Defiance, Ohio, about an hour's drive from the big Jeep plant in Toledo. 
 
 "I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China," he said. 
 
 The story Romney referred to was a Bloomberg News report. But that story did not say Jeep would be moving all its production to China — rather, Chrysler was considering reviving its presence in China to make Jeeps for that market. 
 
 YouTube 
 
 At a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, Vice President Joe Biden denounced Romney's claim about Jeep, calling it "bizarre." 
 
 "It's an absolutely patently false assertion," Biden said. "It's such an outrageous assertion that one of the few times in my memory, a major American corporation, Chrysler, has felt obliged to go public and say there is no truth [in this]. They said Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China." 
 
 Biden spoke a day after the Romney campaign began airing a new ad in Toledo that says: "Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy, and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China." 
 
 The ad, however, did not repeat Romney's original claim that all of Jeep's jobs may be going to China. 
 
 "He's done some clever wordsmithing, but the intent of the ad is completely dishonest," said Ken Lortz, Ohio director for the United Auto Workers. In a conference call Monday organized by the Obama re-election campaign, Lortz accused Romney of being willing to say or do anything to get elected. 
 
 YouTube 
 
 "Romney's campaign going up with this ad has only angered Ohioans even further," he said. "We knew he wasn't on our side when the economy and the industry were on the brink, but the fact that he would lie to our faces and try to deceive us is just too much." 
 
 It's a fight that Team Obama clearly relishes because it centers on autoworkers and their jobs in Ohio. Before the day was over, the president's campaign was up with a new ad of its own. 
 
 "After Romney's false claim of Jeep outsourcing to China, Chrysler itself has refuted Romney's lie," the ad says. "The truth: Jeep is adding jobs in Ohio." 
 
 Jeep is indeed planning to invest half a billion dollars in expanding its facilities in Toledo, which is expected to add another 1,100 jobs to Ohio's economy. There was no immediate response from the Romney campaign to a request for comment.
– Sandy can't keep all the politicking tamped down. The latest fuss centers around Mitt Romney's recent comments in Ohio—followed by an ad—about Chrysler and China. "I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China," Romney told a rally in Defiance last week. The implication that US jobs—and Ohio ones in particular—were being shifted to China prompted Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne to weigh in, reports the Detroit Free Press. No American jobs are going to China, and "it is inaccurate to suggest anything different,” he said in an email to employees. (He did not mention Romney.) NPR notes that Romney's original comment was based on this Bloomberg story, which does indeed talk of Chrysler's plans to make Jeeps in China, but adds that the plan involves "adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China." The new Romney ad skips any direct assertion that US jobs are moving to China, but states, "Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy, and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt Romney will fight for every American job." PolitiFact says the ad "strings together facts in a way that presents (a) wholly inaccurate picture." The Obama camp, meanwhile, released a rebuttal ad.