In a statement by Jim Press earlier this year, meant that Chrysler would be taking a long lasting look at it’s offerings of hybrid vehicles.

Turn the clock forward, and as we previously reported, the Aspen and Durango will be outfitted with Hybrid systems. Immediately after, next in line will be the current LX chassis, which is the Chrysler 300, Magnum as well as others amongst that line up.

Chrysler aims to offer all of it’s vehicles in Hybrid forms in the future. That would mean that the current two-mode technology, which is essentially a conventional gas assisted electric car would be outfitted to a front wheel drive configuration. In it’s current form it has only been tried and tested on rear wheel drive configurations by GM, BMW and Daimler (Mercedes).

One has to wonder, which company will offer front wheel drive hybrids in it’s line up the first, as well as how well mannered these hybrids will be.

GM has started offering retirement and buyout packages as a way to lower overall costs. They proposed this offer to just over 18,000 workers, of which about 17,000 took them up on their offer.

It is very interesting that GM has just recently started offering buyout and retirement incentives while this has been a very popular practice over at Ford.

GM is not going to try to replace all of the workers with fresh hires, but according to the company some recently laid off workers, as well as selections from it’s corporate job bank will be hired to replace those leaving.

The highest percentage of those workers who have taken the buyout packages were from the Flint area. I wonder if a second edition of a certain movie is in order depicting the gradual erosion of Flint by the big bad corporate machine.

The Center for Manufacturing Excellence has been established by Toyota at a cost of just over $22 million dollars.

The plant in Tupelo is going to be building the Highlander crossover starting in 2010. Toyota has agreed with the state to invest $1.2 billion into the manufacturing process of the Highlander. It chose it’s location in Tupelo, because two thirds of the population within a 60 mile radius has some sort of manufacturing excellence.

The University of Mississippi will have a 47,000 square foot building at it’s disposal, just about the same time the new plant will open. A full factory shop floor, as well as a full production line are housed in the building.

Toyota plans to build 120,000 units of the new Highlander at its Tupelo facility, with just about 2,000 workers.