If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face was starred
If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face was unstarred
I kind of look at the whole Daimler past in sort of a certain Broadway musical if you can imagine.
Dieter Zetsche: Don't you see, Porth. Darling Porth, glorious Porth. It's so simple.
Step One: we find the worst car company ever made.
Step Two: we hire the worst management in town.
Step Three: I raise two billion dollars...
Wilfried Porth: Two?
Dieter Zetsche: Yes! One for me, one for you. There's a lot of little old ladies out there.
Step Four: We hire the worst designers in Germany and open on the US.
And before you can say Step Five, we close on the US, take our two billion and go to Rio!
Wilfried Porth: Rio? Nah, that'd never work.
Dieter Zetsche: Oh ye of little faith.
What did Lewis say to Clark
When everything looked bleak?
What did Sir Edmund say to Tenzing
As they struggled toward Everest's peak?
What did Washington say to his troops
As they crossed the Delaware
I'm sure you're well aware...
Wilfried Porth: What'd they say?
Dieter Zetsche: We can do it, we can do it
We can do it, me and you
We can do it, we can do it
We can make our dreams come true...
The rest is history. The only problem is it actually worked unlike the play...
Exactly why I took the bailout money and ran last November. For 2 years I wondered what was going on. There was no future plan. There was no real drive or want to get better. Major targets were reduced to save money when all they did was increase warranty 10 fold. Touchy/feely special customer focus projects were forced on engineers (me included) that had absolutley no influence on the customer. 4 yrs ago me and a few others submitted a 1.2L 3cyl 160 hp turbo with the center cylinder bigger than the outer 2 and a monohead, and we were told to go away. EVERY car company on earth has since come out with a 1.2-1.4L - EXCEPT CHRYSLER.
I am now in Germany at a job I love doing things on the cutting edge of tech. Oh yeah and I live less than an hour from the NRing.
About nine months ago I interviewed at a company that had bee bought out by Cerberus (the group that owned Chrysler), left just say that during plant tour, I got the idea that the new owners didn’t know what in the hell they were doing.
Was it really only five years ago that everyone was cheering Chrysler over the new LX-series 300s and Magnums? Weren't the magazines all gushing about how Chrysler was going to revitalize the traditional American sedan? Didn't it seem that the company was recharged and refreshed compared to the faltering GM and Ford? Sure, there had been some lingering quality problems and some contretemps with Mercedes, but everyone was certain that the new new Chrysler was the one company with a big future. All blue smoke and mirrors, wasn't it? The lean-and-mean fighting colossus ended up having a soft gut and feet of clay.
@bmoreDLJ: That reminds me of a class trip while on high school exchange to Germany. We went out to Strassbourg to see some EU offices and we were all wide eyed to be in a new-to-us European country. I was cracking jokes about the air somehow smelling less efficient and other kids were busy looking around for crepes to scarf down when someone said they just couldn't believe they were in France. And to that, y good friend turned around with a completely serious sneer and grumbled, with all of the indignation that years of German-French aggression can stir up, "You're not". He proceeded to spend the day going into French restaurants and cafes, ordering in German and gruffly storming out at their gallic pride.
@Hello Mister Walrus: Oops, Fiat is Italian - I confuse it with Renault sometimes. But you get what I mean - socialism?
Plus, to Mr. "high moral standards" duurtlang, minus points for incorrect word usage and for not understanding jokes when you read them. I'm not even American, so what stereotype does that seem to make you conform to?
Sitting here, doing our collective deskchair-punditry that we do, we are apparently more aware of what Chrysler is doing than the management of one of it's part owners is. This is not good for Chrysler, and is disheartening to learn about Fiat.
Well, Cerebrus' model is slash-n-burn cut expenses, show a profit, sell for profit. So why would they look at future development when they are just day-trading the company anyways?
@PotbellyJoe - Second Class Commenter: Once Cerberus realized that they couldn't turn it around, they would have considered it foolish to throw cash at product development. Too bad, as a certain measure of foolishness has been necessary to create the best vehicles.
Ahhhh, then Fiat has never been married to a fat American before? The key to everything is Chrysler has always been a lazy husband. He goes out in the garage, turns the ball game on and swears at the lawn mower from time to time. The Wife thinks things are going along fine.
Then she actually goes out in the garage once and all hell breaks loose.
Call me cynical but, this reeks of a sham deal to temporarily placate union interests. Fiat will cherry pick the few viable assets of Chrysler and either sell them off or brand products they'll make in their existing plants. Don't forget, they were trying to dump their automotive operations on to GM just a few years ago. I hope I'm wrong but, like GM's bankruptcy, the government is just delaying the inevitable.
09/17/09
09/17/09
Dieter Zetsche: Don't you see, Porth. Darling Porth, glorious Porth. It's so simple.
Step One: we find the worst car company ever made.
Step Two: we hire the worst management in town.
Step Three: I raise two billion dollars...
Wilfried Porth: Two?
Dieter Zetsche: Yes! One for me, one for you. There's a lot of little old ladies out there.
Step Four: We hire the worst designers in Germany and open on the US.
And before you can say Step Five, we close on the US, take our two billion and go to Rio!
Wilfried Porth: Rio? Nah, that'd never work.
Dieter Zetsche: Oh ye of little faith.
What did Lewis say to Clark
When everything looked bleak?
What did Sir Edmund say to Tenzing
As they struggled toward Everest's peak?
What did Washington say to his troops
As they crossed the Delaware
I'm sure you're well aware...
Wilfried Porth: What'd they say?
Dieter Zetsche: We can do it, we can do it
We can do it, me and you
We can do it, we can do it
We can make our dreams come true...
The rest is history. The only problem is it actually worked unlike the play...
09/17/09
I am now in Germany at a job I love doing things on the cutting edge of tech. Oh yeah and I live less than an hour from the NRing.
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
Plus, to Mr. "high moral standards" duurtlang, minus points for incorrect word usage and for not understanding jokes when you read them. I'm not even American, so what stereotype does that seem to make you conform to?
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
Then she actually goes out in the garage once and all hell breaks loose.
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
09/17/09
06/10/09
06/10/09
and I'm not even a AF fan
06/10/09
OK, I am not celebrating anything but that does sound pretty tasty.
MMMM with malt vinegar...
06/10/09
06/10/09
Just do your thang honey!
I could feel it from the start,
Couldn't stand to be apart.
Something about you caught my eye,
Something moved me deep inside!
Don't know what you did Fiat but
You had it and I've been hooked ever since.
I told my owner, my suppliers, my Congress and my friend
I told the others, my owners, both past and present tense.
Everytime I see you everything starts making sense.
Just do your thang honey!
Ain't no other car, can stand up next to you
Ain't no other car on the planet does what you do
(what you do).
You're the kind of company that Cerberus can spoon
You got soul, you got class.
You got style with your bad ass - oh yeah!
Ain't no other company its true - all right -
Ain't no other company but you.