Romney wrongly claims Chrysler may move all Jeep production to China

LANSING, MI - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is getting heat for wrongly claiming in an Ohio rally Thursday night that Chrysler may move all Jeep production to China.
He apparently was referring to a recent Bloomberg story about Fiat, Chrylser's majority owner, returning Jeep output to China for the first time in at least a few years.
Chrysler now builds all Jeep SUV models in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois, according to Bloomberg. In the story, the reporter wrote that Mike Manley, chief operating officer of Fiat and Chrysler in Asia, "referred to adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China."
Romney, however, told supporters in Defiance, Ohio, that he had read a story that Jeep "is thinking of moving all production to China" - prompting groans from the crowd. He may have been referencing conservative blogs or other stories that incorrectly concluded from the Bloomberg story that Jeep might close U.S. plants, the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press reported Friday.
A Chrysler spokesman criticized those interpretations on Thursday even before Romney's made his comments.
"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," Gualberto Ranieri said.
Obama's Michigan campaign spokesman Matt McGrath told the News that Romney's comments were "blatantly false" and "speaks to how Romney will say absolutely anything to win votes."
The Romney campaign had no immediate comment Friday.