There's big news from the Chrysler Group this morning. According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, the automaker is planning to refresh the designs of five of their models - the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass, and Jeep Patriot crossovers, and the Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Caravan minivans - all by mid-2011.

Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler CEO and head of Fiat S. p. A., told reporters that he wants these "facelifts" completed within 18 months. He plans to submit a five-year plan for Chrysler to the presidential auto task force next week, after it receives board approval on Friday.

A refresh for the PT Cruiser is also in the works, but no schedule has been specified for that as of this morning.

The sorts of redesigns Marchionne has planned generally take two-to-three years to complete. In order to meet his accelerated 18-month timeline, Chrysler Group will be rehiring laid-off workers familiar with the models in question, and authorizing overtime for them. The company cut 1,000 salaried positions in September, 2008, and then said it's white-collar work force would be reduced by about 4,300 jobs (roughly 25%) in November and December.

UAW Local 412, the union which represents many of the salaried designers previously employed by Chrysler, is already negotiating re-hires. Some of the terms being proposed include allowing employees laid off or bought out last year to work for Chrysler on a contract basis.

According to the Free Press article, even a newly expanded work forse will require significant overtime from the design, engineering and product development departments at Chrysler Group.

Chrysler Group, whose light-vehicle market share in the United States had, as of August, fallen almost 33% from two years ago, completed a government sponsored bankruptcy on June 10th, and is under the control of Fiat.

Representatives from the union and Chrysler Group have not yet responded to the Detroit Free Press report.