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For St. Louis-area Chrysler workers and the community, the possibility of reopening the Chrysler LLC minivan plant in Fenton seems almost too alluring, too unthinkable to believe.

Then, the unthinkable was suggested in a news report Tuesday.

According to the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail, Chrysler Canada Inc. warned Ottawa and Queen’s Park that the automaker could close two assembly plants and shift the manufacturing work to the United States if it doesn’t get emergency funding from the Canadian government.

Such a shift would include dusting off the Fenton plant that was idled six weeks ago today, according to the Globe and Mail report, citing anonymous sources briefed on plans Chrysler submitted to Canadian lawmakers.

But was the warning, if true, just a bluff to spur Canada to provide financial aid? Or, was the threat a public ploy to garner support among U.S. lawmakers, who also are considering an aid package for the Detroit Three? Or both?

A Chrysler spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

Joe Shields, president of the union that represents the Fenton minivan workers, said he couldn’t speculate about the possibility of resuming minivan production in the St. Louis area. "I haven’t been told anything," said Shields of United Auto Workers Local 110.

Foreign and domestic automakers have been battered by high gas prices and a global credit crunch. Chrysler is in a particularly precarious situation because its product portfolio is laden with sport utility vehicles and pickups at a time when consumers want small cars.

The automaker’s U.S. sales through November are down 28 percent from a year ago. In Canada, it reported a 1 percent dip during the same time period.

Any money, from anywhere, certainly would be welcomed, analysts say.

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"Chrysler is desperate for cash right now, and they are looking at all sources to keep the lights on," said Ken Elias, a Scottsdale, Ariz car insurance quotes.-based partner at auto consulting firm Maryann Keller and Associates.

According to The Globe and Mail, Chrysler is asking for nearly $1.3 billion in U.S. dollars from the Canadian government and warned it could transfer its production of sedans from a Brampton, Ontario, plant to a facility in Detroit. The automaker also said that it could shift production of its Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country from a plant in Windsor, Ontario, to Fenton’s South Assembly Plant.

While Elias said the shift is a possibility, he added that Chrysler would need to examine "the economics of the whole situation" before making such a move. That includes looking at the work force costs, the price of shipping vehicles and other operational expenses.

At the moment, the production change is speculative and may be a political move, said Richard Cooper, vice president of J.D. Power and Associates’ Canadian operations in Toronto. He said any aid from Canada would depend on the terms the U.S. makes with Chrysler and the other domestic automakers.

A production shift would be a reversal from the message St. Louis-area workers got from Chrysler this summer.

In June, Chrysler said it could satisfy demand for the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivan — which had a 20 percent drop in sales through June compared with the same time in 2007 — with three shifts in Windsor. Some Windsor workers also build the Volkswagen Routan.

As Fenton workers protested the idling of the minivan plant this summer, Chrysler said the Windsor operation always was the primary spot for making minivans. The Fenton plant, officials said, was for overflow.

Shields of UAW Local 110 said Tuesday that he’s not getting his hopes up for any production shift back to St. Louis until he hears from the international UAW. But Shields said the local, regional and international unions will continue to lobby for reopening the plant.

"We haven’t given up by any means," he said.

Tuesday’s report also comes less than a week after local union officials said Chrysler will shed more than 1,800 Fenton hourly workers from its payroll through severance and early retirement packages.

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