To Shrink A U.S. Car, Chrysler Goes To Poland

For decades, automakers looking for the secret to small-car success would journey to Toyota City in Japan. Since Fiat effectively took over Chrysler this year, engineers from Detroit have been making monthly pilgrimages here to see something they can only envy: an auto plant that is hiring workers and earning a profit. The mammoth Fiat plant here, which churned out nearly half a million cars last year, may hold some of the answers for Chrysler (as well as Ford Motor and General Motors), as it struggles to regain its footing after its bankruptcy and reduce its dependence on muscle-bound trucks and sport utility vehicles. For those who remember Fiat before its ignominious retreat from the American market — the name was said to stand for ”Fix It Again, Tony” — the Italian automaker may seem an unlikely role model. ”We are lucky there is a crisis,” said the director of the Tychy plant, Zdzislaw Arlet, unable to resist a gibe at the bigger cars and trucks that have traditionally stolen the industry spotlight. That is one reason Tychy is operating around the clock, six days a week, while most other auto plants in Europe and the United States are running at a fraction of capacity, increasing costly nonproductive downtime. (July 15, 2009)