What’s Best for Chrysler, It’s Dealers, and Employees?
Posted by christiancarguy on October 23, 2008
How many lives does Chrysler Have? At least 4 that I know of. (READ MY PLAN BELOW IACCOA)
I have several close friends, dealers, and factory folks hanging in the balance as Chrysler is on the Block once more. Please join me in prayer as so many have invested much of their professional lives in this Great American Company. Pray that God would direct this next Chapter for Chrysler to His Glory and aide so many jobs in danger.
Why doesn’t Chrysler take a lesson from history? How did Iacocca do it? You may think it was the Government bailout, but good, simple, inexpensive fuel efficient K cars was the real answer then, as it was in Henry Fords day with the model T, and it would be today!
Think about a $9,000 car that would seat 5 and get 30mpg. It doesn’t have to have power anything, it may not even need an automatic transmission, it does need air conditioning. The K car was the answer for Iacocca, the model T for Henry Ford. Henry’s Only came in Black the idea was simple no options not even color, options cost huge money in the manf. process, one color is fine, Ford has gotten upto 15 shades of red as of 2010. WHY?????
Right now in the current economy, not unlike the economy of the late seventies the American people needed good efficient reliable, cheap cars….NOT another Crossover, SUV or flavor of the week. Ford did it with cars; GM did it with cars the Olds Cutlass, Honda and Toyota Civics, Accords, and Camrys. 5 or 6 passenger cars!!!!
If Chrysler could acquire a leader with the vision to build an inexpensive 5 passenger, simple, simple, simple CAR that got better than average gas mileage for a price that people wouldn’t have to go into further debt to buy……. THAT WOULD SAVE CHRYSLER!!! True they may have some help from the Fed like Iacocca to get it to market but it can still be done. As always the secret is trying to help people with their transportation needs, not wants, NOT MAKE A HUGE PROFIT SELLING BIG INEFFICENT VEHILCES.
Detroit, take a basic auto history lesson!
Bob said
I agree…I fail to see why this merger is even being considered…Am I missing something?…GM is so desperate for cash, they are like DeLoreon with “Things go better with Coke”. Instead of one millstone around their neck, they want TWO….Too many brands, too many employees, too many cooks in the kitchen, and far too many dealers…The only good thing might be for Jim Press to replace Rick Wagoneer…and replace the GM Board with excellent long term thinkers who can “fog a mirror” and challenge every level of management…Someone needs to lead GM and pull them kicking and screaming out of their arrogant status-quo mindset
christiancarguy said
More Bad News from CNBC
Chrysler to cut 25 percent of salaried workers
Oct. 24: Chrysler has announced it will be cutting 25 percent of its salaried workforce, about 5,000 positions, as GM says it will seek government aid for it’s possible Chrysler merger.
Anonymous said
I’m still going back to Who killed the electric car? and why. “Structured as a documentary murder mystery, with each suspect in the EV1’s “murder” being investigated and pegged with a motive, Who Killed the Electric Car? makes no bones about the fact that something stinks in the story of the sudden demise of the car that came by the too-fitting name of The Impact.”
“Electric cars are quieter, cleaner and cheaper to run than gas-powered cars. As to why they haven’t been fully adopted yet – watch Who Killed the Electric Car? for the story.”
http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/
christiancarguy said
Alright, I just ordered it from Amazon. This week we have Brad Warner from Bosch on the show, you ought to call and ask him Saturday he will be on all hour. I should have seen mine by then, this could get interesting…. Thanks for the tip… Robby
Anonymous said
I have a suspicion that lots of city/county governments “helped” Chrysler from going out of business 30 years ago by buying the K cars by the thousands. I do remember seeing myriads of then here in town (Winston-Salem) with city or county stickers on the doors. (Now this is in no way a scientific assesment; it’s based on “I saw, I figured and I concluded” and have no idea of the percentage of validity. I’d like to hear from the CCG what he knows about this.
christiancarguy said
What I know is that Chrysler back in those days was big, big into political subdivision fleet business and bid on them and won most of the bids because they were the cheapest that could meet the specifications that were required by local governments. Chrysler engineers to a great extent built certain models for that sole purpose of selling to governments, remember how many Chrysler Police cars they’re used to be ala the “Blue’s Brothers”, or do you remember the James bond chase through Louisiana. Here in this area Elderton Dodge was one of the biggest dealers in the country because they sold so many fleet cars to the State and local governments. So yes the government bought most of there cars from Chrysler, but my guess is they won the bids fair and square…. Thanks for the post… Robby