and move it piece by piece to China and rebuild it. The plant is located in Brazil and by all reports makes excellent engines. Mini Coopers and PT Cruisers use the engines produced there. Lifan, a Chinese car manufacturer which started building motorcycles (remember Honda's roots?) needs the engine capabilities and buying the manufacturing plant and moving it may be the fastest way to reach the technological baselines which it has set for itself. Here is a quote from the New York Times article about the plant: "Chrysler and BMW began construction of the Campo Largo factory in April 1998, a month before Daimler-Benz began a takeover of Chrysler that it completed in November of that year. Heralded in the automotive press at the time as arguably the most advanced engine factory ever built, the factory had already become a corporate orphan by the time production began in September, 1999. The Brazilian auto market had entered a slump by then and Daimler already had ample engine manufacturing capacity of its own and was uncomfortable collaborating with its longtime German rival, BMW." and here is a link to the entire article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/17/business/17auto.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin Note: You may be required to sign up for a free registration at the NYT to view the article, but that is well worth it to read the paper IMHO. Mike