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Why Chrysler matters
cnnmoney.com ^ | April 2, 2009: | Chris Isidore

Posted on 04/05/2009 4:36:16 PM PDT by kellynla

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It's easy to think that Chrysler LLC is no longer too big to fail.

The embattled automaker has already cut its U.S. workforce by more than 60% since the start of the decade, leaving it with just under 39,000 employees in America.

To put that into context, that's only five thousand more people than electronics retailer Circuit City had when it went out of business this year -- and few thought the demise of Circuit City would cripple the economy.

Once a pillar of the Big Three, along with General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500), Chrysler now trails Toyota Motor (TM) in U.S. sales and is struggling to stay ahead of Honda Motor (HMC).

So the news that the company could be forced out of business in the next 30 days if it can't work out a combination with Italian automaker Fiat strikes some as not that big of a deal.

"This is a company we can do without at least for the next couple of years without missing its production," said Kevin Tynan, auto analyst with Argus Research.

(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News
KEYWORDS: automakers; bigtwo; chrysler; manufacturing; mopar
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To: Las Vegas Ron

“A good part of their failure is due to the US government and other nefarious organisms that have bled them to a point of not being able to compete in the market place and some see it fit to cheering it on.”

Nobody I can find is cheering it on.

But the problems is mostly just lousy, inept management.

The lost market share was picked up by import brands, with better mileage, quality, etc. Built without union labor.

The top management of the former big three could leave the unions, one way or another, but did not.

In case nobody noticed, Chrysler bet on no hybrids, more than the others.

Toyota has sold over one million hybrids. People buy them, and like them.

The buyers, like Toyota can and do think long term.


61 posted on 04/05/2009 6:29:08 PM PDT by truth_seeker
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To: Paladin2
Somebody will have to keep making Jeep Wranglers, or America will be changed forever.

Given enough determination and patience to save the funds needed, you could BUILD YOUR OWN Wrangler based on the after market there is for Jeeps. You could also do it for FAR LESS than what they sticker for!

/Wrangler owner; they DO get in the blood

//"wave!"

62 posted on 04/05/2009 6:30:54 PM PDT by Michael Barnes
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To: AmericaCitizen; Admin Moderator

This guys trolling...


63 posted on 04/05/2009 6:33:22 PM PDT by Michael Barnes
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To: Paladin2
I own a pickup for those chores.
There are some gorgeous cars from the last 50 years I would love to own (Avanti among them) and I enjoyed a few, including four Jaguars in my early life. All had their limitations.
64 posted on 04/05/2009 6:33:41 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: tvdog12345

I dunno...you think the country can survive without any 2010 model year Chrysler 300’s on the road next year?


65 posted on 04/05/2009 6:34:37 PM PDT by LiveFree99
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To: Gorzaloon

“I still have dreams about my Golden Hawk.”

Was yours equipped with a supercharger?

All Studebakers were engineering marvels in my book.

Really fine machines.


66 posted on 04/05/2009 6:35:20 PM PDT by EEDUDE
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To: Michael Barnes

I have accumulated quite a collection of FSJ parts which could be used with the aftermarket body parts to build Super Wranglers. I’ll give it some serious consideration as I am in John Galt mode.


67 posted on 04/05/2009 6:35:50 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Big Ears + Big Spending --> BigEarMarx, the man behind TOTUS)
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To: BIV

I agree... all Ford needs to do is break the union.

LLS


68 posted on 04/05/2009 6:38:38 PM PDT by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my President... NEVER!!!)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
"I own a pickup for those chores. "

I'm seriously looking for a medium duty, single axle grain truck (dump bed) (Ford C-Series preferred) to be my pickup equivalent.

69 posted on 04/05/2009 6:38:53 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Big Ears + Big Spending --> BigEarMarx, the man behind TOTUS)
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To: Paladin2

If Rush’s name had not been mentioned... I would have let it pass.

LLS


70 posted on 04/05/2009 6:40:02 PM PDT by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my President... NEVER!!!)
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To: AmericaCitizen; Old Sarge

sniff? #26


71 posted on 04/05/2009 6:40:16 PM PDT by dynachrome (Barack Hussein Obama yunikku khinaaziir)
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To: tvdog12345
“that no one who works for them finds employment in the car business ever again?”

boy, you're a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeel Christian & Patriot, aren't cha...

and a Happy Easter to you too.

72 posted on 04/05/2009 6:42:54 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: truth_seeker
I don't think the hybrids (or lack thereof) have contributed to Chrysler's problems. Their biggest problem is that they have no decent small cars. The Daimler boys hamstrung the company by killing the Neon, one of the few cars that could go head-to-head with the Civic and Corolla. Remember back a few years? Neons were *everywhere*.

The Caliber, or whatever that thing is that took the Neon's place, is so bad that even rental fleets don't want them. The Enterprise car rental place near my house dumped its Calibers in favor of Jettas and Altimas.

An automaker needs a decent economy car first, before it can try to tempt customers to spend a bit more for a hybrid version. Chrysler really has no excuse. It does have capable engineers and "car guys" - real enthusiasts - in its employ. As soon as the Daimler link was broken, they should've had two or three replacement vehicles ready for consideration. Maybe part of that failure lies with Cerberus, I dunno.

73 posted on 04/05/2009 6:43:45 PM PDT by Charles Martel ("Endeavor to persevere...")
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To: Paladin2
I'll freepmail you my e-mail address..I would love to hear about your after market work...
I am a relative new wrangler owner, but it didn't take long for the vehicle to get me hooked. Not to mention how damn easy they are to work on!

I don't know about you, I am not about the sky-high jeeps or mountain crawlers, but I do like the utilitarian side of them and especially a warm Oct. evening and taking the top and doors off going out spotting..

74 posted on 04/05/2009 6:45:21 PM PDT by Michael Barnes
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To: Paladin2

Consider forgetting MOPAR.


75 posted on 04/05/2009 6:51:15 PM PDT by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: kellynla

Not to be insensitive, but I read where there are several hundreds of thousands of cars on ships in the ports (both our exports and imports), and nowhere to offload them. Do we really need Chrysler to start churning out more cars in an oversupplied market? In the industry that I work (Oil and Gas), we have a similar situation. There are hundreds of tankers tied up in the docks with no where to offload their crude. We have been forced to drastically cut drilling because we can not sell the product—there are hundreds of domestic oil companies that have been forced into bankruptcy (I suspect that we will lose 50% of our domestic producers in the next 3 years.) The Oil and Gas Industry will not be bailed out (nor do we want to be.) The net effect is that we will be importing 80% of our energy in the next 3 years instead of 60%. The whole point is, do taxpayers need to prop up the Union Jobs and Pension benefits of the Auto Industry..I think not (and I don’t give a damn that they all vote democratic.)


76 posted on 04/05/2009 6:52:01 PM PDT by richardtavor (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem in the name of the G-d of Jacob)
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To: Charles Martel

It was a 1994 Dodge Dakota, and the time I needed the parts was August 1995.


77 posted on 04/05/2009 6:52:48 PM PDT by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: EEDUDE

Studebaker made a 289 cu. in. V-8 that was the basis for the Avanti blower motor. It weighed almost twice as much as the 289 motor that Ford put in the Mustang. The company had been starved for cash for a decade before it finally failed; their little sedans weren’t comfortable, economical or pretty and the Hawk had turned into a fat junior T-bird. Raymond Lowey’s Avanti was not the first contribution to Studebaker but it definitely was his last.


78 posted on 04/05/2009 6:55:56 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Charles Martel

“The Caliber, or whatever that thing is that took the Neon’s place, is so bad that even rental fleets don’t want them. The Enterprise car rental place near my house dumped its Calibers in favor of Jettas and Altimas.”

We rent vehicles several times a month. The last time we rented from Enterprise, we got one of those things (Caliber) and when we took it back we told them that if they wanted to give us one next time it would be the last time we rented from them.

Of all of Chrysler’s junk over the years, this one definitely takes the prize. Did they design and produce this car without ever driving it??? They must have or they would have sh*tcanned it.


79 posted on 04/05/2009 6:56:06 PM PDT by EEDUDE
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To: AmericaCitizen

You joined on the appropriate day.


80 posted on 04/05/2009 6:57:46 PM PDT by richardtavor (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem in the name of the G-d of Jacob)
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