The plant is what is known in Pentagon parlance as a GOCO a government-owned, contractor-operated site that has been managed by defense contractor General Dynamics since it bought the armored-vehicle operations of the Chrysler Corporation in the early 1980s.

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It should be noted that Lynch was a big buyer of Chrysler Corporation during the automaker's time of great distress and its government-backed bailout in the late 1970s and early 1980s, so he was not one to shy away from a turnaround play.

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Its batteries are already used in power tools, and the company has formed alliances to supply Chrysler and SAIC Motor Corporation of Shanghai with car-sized versions.

ECONOMIST: The electrification of motoring

Forty years later, Chrysler Corporation had its own brush with death and was saved only by Lee Iacocca who persuaded the federal government to guarantee the company's loans.

ECONOMIST: Motor industry