Bailed-out Chrysler builds Jeeps... in China (Updated)

Via the National Legal and Policy Center:

American taxpayers should prepare themselves for another slap in the face, courtesy of the much-ballyhooed Obama auto bailouts. After spending about $85 billion to bail out Chrysler, General Motors and Ally Financial (formerly known as GMAC), taxpayers are being rewarded by Chrysler's parent company, Fiat, announcing that it is preparing to build its Jeep brand vehicles in China. In addition, according to a Bloomberg report, Fiat may end up building all of its vehicles in China, threatening the loss of more manufacturing jobs should the decision be carried out to move Chrysler manufacturing out of America.

Italian automaker, Fiat, was gifted an ownership interest in Chrysler during the Obama-orchestrated bankruptcy process. Fiat paid nothing for the ownership stake, other than agreeing to transfer some of its technology. The Italian company later purchased an additional stake, giving it majority ownership and officially making Chrysler a foreign-owned company. It now seems that American jobs will be lost as a result as Fiat appears to be trying to maximize profits by transferring Chrysler's manufacturing operations to China.

This is not the first instance of China benefiting from the auto bailouts.GM has also made a commitment to expand production in China, even moving its electric vehicle manufacturing platform to that country.

Update -- October 26, 2012

Chrysler says the original Bloomberg report has been misinterpreted and responded in kind:

Despite clear and accurate reporting, the take has given birth to a number of stories making readers believe that Chrysler plans to shift all Jeep production to China from North America, and therefore idle assembly lines and U.S. workforce. It is a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats.

Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation. A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments.