Chrysler is currently in talks with Tata motors of India to see if they would be interested in distributing it’s Jeep Wrangler SUV. In India the Wrangler would be up against the like of several Mahindra makes, which is the leading manufacturer of small trucks and SUV’s in the region. Mahindra plans to enter the United States in the coming years with a nice broad selection of diesel fuel efficient small trucks and SUV’s.

Chrysler is also in talks with Fiat, planning on leasing out some of it’s current production capacity in North America for Fiat models. Chrysler is also entertaining the idea of distributing the vehicles for Fiat through it’s vast network of dealers.

In a not so suprising move, Wells Fargo and Chase Bank announced they would pull out of the leasing of cars and trucks in the United States.

GMAC has announced a while ago that they are stopping leasing operations in Canada. Interestingly enough, this comes after a little while when Chrysler Financial announced it would stop leasing operations in the United States.

Even more interestingly enough, 51% of GMAC, General Motor’s financial arm is owned by Cerberus Capital, the same people who own rival Chrysler LLC and Chrysler Financial.

Seems like everyone is getting burnt in leasing, with the exception of Wells Fargo, who claims that they are pulling out of leasing simply because there isn’t enough business for them there.

The saga continues, which will only push sales down even further. If I were a betting man, I would short GM, Chrysler and Ford stock right now.

Look for Ford’s announcement to pull out of leasing in the coming days.

Saturday Chrysler Financial has announced that it plans to exit the leasing business. In a bold move that has shocked the industry, this announcement was made on Saturday.

Spokesman Bill Porter announced, that the product mix in the United States will not include lease products in the United States.

The consumer market, as well as the erosion of residual values, have forced Chrysler, owned by Cerberus Capital to exit lease operations. As a large percentage of Chrysler product is trucks and SUV’s, which have fallen the greatest in recent times, it is hard to argue with Chrysler. It is just a very strange occurrence that they have announced to exit leasing in its entirety. To date, I’m not sure if any other manufacturer has done anything as bold as this. I know of GM and Ford’s push to decrease fleet sales by removing incentives, but this is the first change that I’ve seen as a reaction to aggressively combat declining residual values by the Big Three.

Several industry insiders are wondering exactly how Chrysler plans on making sales and continuing operations if it’s leasing services stop.

Leasing is a way for small and medium sized business to write down expenses by not directly purchasing vehicles, but rather a form of long term leasing.