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How fracking is causing Chrysler minivans to sit on Detroit's riverfront

It's fascinating the way that one change to a complex system can have all sorts of unintended consequences. For instance, there are hundreds of new Chrysler Town and County and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans built in Windsor, Ontario, sitting in lots on the Detroit waterfront because of the energy boom in the Bakken oil field in the northern US and parts of Canada.
The huge amount of crude oil coming from these sites mostly use freight trains for transport, and that supply boom has resulted in a shortage of railcars to carry other goods. According to The Windsor Star, North American crude oil transport by train has gone from 9,500 carloads in 2008 to 434,032 carloads in 2013. Making matters worse, some North American rail infrastructure is still damaged because of this year's harsh winter, and that's slowing things down even further.
Chrysler admits to The Star that it has had some delivery delays due to the freight train shortage. In the meantime, it's using more trucks to deliver its vehicles. Trucking is a far less economical solution, partially because a train can carry so many more units at one time, but alternatives are slim. The Windsor plant alone has a deal for 33 trucks to distribute the minivans around Canada and the Midwestern US.

Volkswagen is not cool with a Fiat Chrysler merger

Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller shot down Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's overtures for a merger in blunt fashion this week. Mueller told Reuters at the Geneva Motor Show, "We are not ready for talks about anything ... we have other problems. I haven't seen Marchionne for months." The unusually candid – and icy – response from one chief executive to another comes after Marchionne similarly pursued General Motors (again) this week. The FCA boss suggested GM might be looking for a new European partner as it prepares to unload its troubled Opel and Vauxhall divisions to PSA. A GM spokesman told USA Today that the company is not interested. Marchionne has been openly suggesting a GM merger since at least 2015, despite GM never reciprocating interest. VW's "other problems," as Mueller notes, include legal proceedings, fines, recalls, and other issues related to its long-running diesel scandal. Marchionne has long sought industry consolidation, arguing that automakers don't get a proper return on their investments in technologies, some of which are relatively similar. He's suggested sharing chassis and powertrain components could be a benefit to the collective auto sector. Skeptics argue FCA, which is smaller than GM, VW, Toyota, and others, needs a partner to survive, while its rivals already have the necessary scale to remain competitive. Related Video:

Chrysler museum to open one last time on June 8

Due to a lack of funding, Chrysler closed the doors to its Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, MI back in December, but it sounds like the facility will be open next month for one last hurrah. According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, the Chrysler Museum will be open to the public one last time on June 8 for the annual Chrysler Employee Motorsport Association car show.
While the car show will take place in the museum's parking lot from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM on June 8 with a theme dedicated to muscle cars past and present, all attendees will be able to be among the last people to tour the museum - with free admission. The museum is known for housing some of the more important production and concept cars from Chrysler's history. Check out the car show's flyer for more information.