Plymouth Reliant News

If we did the math and realize that optimistically to build, say, 100,000 cars a year at the Boxwood facility, that is a big jump in economy of scale since it amounts to over 300 cars a day, 6 days a week. While in Finland, he is only making 25 cars per day, the Karma model at an already established plant. Mr. Fisker needs all the help he can get, and that since he is basically an American-based company who just happens to build overseas in Finland. If his plan is to fly, he needs the UAW's help and the plant unionized from the start, since they understand that kind of capacity and can handle it. As a UAW 1183 retiree, I remember the Chrysler 'K' car back in the eighties, the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aires. We built them at the rate of 72 cars an hour. That is, a cars bumper appeared in front of you every 50 seconds, that is around 500 cars per shift and we had day and night shift too. We need jobs and no more layoffs at Boxwood for the sake of Delaware's economy. Tom Porcelli, Wilmington

This article about the inside story of how the Dodge Viper came to be first appeared in the Spring 2010 Edition of Motor Trend Classic .