While the American auto industry had opted to stay out of politics throughout the heated 2012 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney recently aired a new campaign ad that made a controversial claim that American car brand Jeep, best known for its contributions to the U.S. military during World War II, will be shifting its production to China, costing the jobs of thousands of Americans.
According to Detroit News, the inaccurate statement made by Mitt Romney and his campaign originated from a misinterpretation of a Bloomberg News article. In fact, what the article really reported was a new Chinese production line for Jeep that is only responsible to meet the growing demands in the China market.
Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne stepped up to address the claims in a company e-mail: "I feel obliged to unamiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China." What's more, Marchionne even announced that Jeep will in fact expand production within the United States, adding thousands of jobs for the American workforce.
"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."
Underscoring Chrysler's commitment to North America is its rapidly climbing growth rate since its bankruptcy in 2008. According to Chrysler's latest 2012 Q3 report, the automaker has earned a netprofit of $381 million dollars after vehicle sales had jumped by 12 percent in the third quarter over its 2011 performance. Moving forward, Chrysler forecasts $1.5 billion of net profit for the year.
Beyond Chrysler, a Romney radio ad attacked GM under similar nonsensical claims as well. In particular, the Romney ad claimed the following: "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 is starting to build cars in, you guessed it, China. Mitt Romney-- he'll stand up for the auto industry. In Ohio, not China."
Answering to Mitt Romney's criticism, GM spokesperson Greg Martin said, "At this stage, we're looking at Hubble telescope-length distances between campaign ads and reality. GM's creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back to this country should be a source of bipartisan pride. We've clearly entered some parallel universe during these last few days. 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."
As the final decision for many voters in the coming election hinge on domestic job growth, both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are fighting tooth and nail to win over the faith of Ohio and auto industry workers.
Countering Romney's criticisms of the auto industry and to the choices made by the current administration, campaign ads from Obama's corner boldly responded: "When the auto industry faced collapse, Mitt Romney turned his back. 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. Mitt Romney and Ohio jobs: wrong then, dishonest now."
As the political parties position their policies ahead of the election, it will be up to Ohio to make the ultimate decision for the nation -- the state voted for every president since 1960.
Check out Republican candidate Mitt Romney's controversial campaign ad against Jeep below:
