Posted on 02/15/2007 9:14:46 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
The chief executive of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said that he wants to use new alliances to more than double sales outside North America, and that he hopes the uncertainty about whether Chrysler will remain part of the German auto titan is resolved "sooner rather than later."
In an interview yesterday at Chrysler Group headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Tom LaSorda said a previous goal of doubling Chrysler sales outside North America from the current level of about 200,000 vehicles is "not acceptable" and should be ratcheted up. Alliances with other auto makers could cut the costs of that expansion, he said. Chrysler also is exploring partnerships to jointly develop vehicles, powertrains, axles and other aspects of auto making.
One possible alliance is with General Motors Corp., said people familiar with the matter. An agreement is far from certain, these people said, and they discounted the potential that a possible GM-Chrysler alliance based on specific vehicles would develop into something deeper.
This week, DaimlerChrysler and the Chrysler Group unveiled a turnaround plan for Chrysler that aims to return the U.S. unit to profitability by 2008, and it wouldn't rule out selling the operations. DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche declined to comment further, but people familiar with the situation said DaimlerChrysler already has begun talks to explore a sale or spinoff of the Chrysler Group. Any future alliances with other auto makers would be affected by the fate of Chrysler itself.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Historical context:
July 13, 1983
The Chrysler Bail-Out Bust
by Hickel, James K.
Backgrounder #276
(Archived document, may contain errors)
276 July 13, 1983 THE CHRYSLER. BAIL- OUT BUST INTRODUCTION Chrysler Corporation auto sales are roaring into high gear.
And so is the myth of the Great Chrysler Comeback of the once dying automaker has become the favorite example cited by proponents of national industrial policy who call for massive and costly federal efforts to revive what they describe as a des perately ailing American economy.
Chrysler in 1979 seemed destined for bankruptcy, and now it's showing a profit. What saved Chrysler, we are told, are the 1.2 billion in loan guarantees provided by the federal government--so successful was the timely injection of cash that the company could announce today that it will pay off the remaining 800 million by September. And it didn't cost the taxpayer a penny, did it, they ask gloatingly. Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca, who came to Wash ington four years ago with begging bowl in hand, is now in the vanguard of the push for more government intervention in American industry.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/bg276.cfm
Can't help but get a kick, when diehard Chrysler (now DC) aficionados cringe at "foreign" cars of today and slam the owner for not buying "American." What better than smile and say, "I did, why didn't you?"
No, wait-- tripple sales.
No, ummm... 5 trillion in profits.
Like, yeah. Definitely that amount of money is what I'm gonna earn with this plan I got.
Chrysler has done this to them. They have treated their customers like crap over the last few years.
The Doge Durango which is a nice looking SUV has bad lower ball joints and all of them went bad before 50,000 miles. They fought replacing them for years.
The V8 has a strange problem of caking the oil and clogging the oil pick up screen so many engines were just throwing rods. Many people that were life long Chrysler owners that had every oil change done at the dealer were told “It is you hard driving habits" and they would not replace the engine.
The word was all over the internet.
Then the intrepid and others had problems with there engines throwing main Barings way too often.
Don't forget the multi million dollar add campaign saying “Hey look at me I'm not American any more" Sales dropped from the start of the campaign and after.
Maybe COSCO can buy them?
them=themselves
And...
Toyota recalled more than 750,000 SUVs last month:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7887155/
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