Posted on 03/18/2002 6:37:45 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Reuters - Lee Iacocca, the mercurial former head of Chrysler Corp. who brought the automaker back from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1980s, has lashed out at DaimlerChrysler AG Chairman Juergen Schrempp for refusing to bring him back for another try at rescuing Chrysler.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Detroit News newspaper published on Sunday, Iacocca, now 77 and living in Los Angeles, said Schrempp wooed him in discussions over the last two years about a possible role at Chrysler, then spurned him.
"I'd give my right arm to do it, to be honest," Iacocca said of a possible role at Chrysler, which in 1998 was bought by Daimler in one of the most celebrated business mergers ever. But Daimler has struggled ever since to integrate Chrysler, and the U.S. arm of Daimler has been losing money of late.
"Chrysler was my life. I feel bad it is where it is today. People say well, it's just another German company. No. This was a great American company."
Iacocca said he met regularly with Daimler and Chrysler executives in secret talks over the last two years but Schrempp ultimately stopped calling him.
Iacocca, who headed Chrysler from 1979 to 1992, was prevented from speaking publicly about Chrysler for five years under a gag order he agreed to in 1996 settling a dispute over his joint bid with investor Kirk Kerkorian to buy Chrysler.
In the interview, Iacocca aid Schrempp does not want to deal with him because the Daimler executive wants control of Chrysler himself.
"He just wants to run Chrysler from his ivory tower in Stuttgart," Iacocca said.
"Schrempp doesn't want to be upstaged by even the aura of having me around," Iacocca said. "The guy doesn't want me, but I think I could give them some credibility. Who could represent Chrysler better than me?"
"I guess I could stay in California and enjoy life, but I think I can help them. I'm ready. President Bush (news - web sites) says volunteer. Well, I don't want to volunteer for the Peace Corps. But I would volunteer to go back to Detroit."
2012: Bob Welch, who is he?
Just when Chrysler finally started to produce interesting and decently built cars, and the company began to have some value, they sold it to a German parent. I remember at the time how the corporate PR was that Chrysler would still be an American company, Americans would run it, etc., etc. Ridiculous.
Somebody sold that farm, Lee. Do you really want to be a sharecropper?
From the point of view of the sellers is was a smart move. The sold at the top, Chrysler has been sucking wind ever since.
Iaccoca must be given credit for turning around Chrysler and paying back the government loans ahead of schedule.
Having said that, yes I agree, he is a self-promoting windbag.
Last I heard he was trying to sell some kind of mo-ped to the Chinese.
I guess that deal must've fallen through.
There is a cruddy gas station near me with a big sign in the window for an "e-bike" and it says "Iaccoca's latest invention is here!" or something like that. It is a mountaing bike with a little motor attached I think.
I suppose that's another thing that one must give Iaccoca credit for: whether he's right or wrong, he DOES devote attention to development of the products that he promotes.
In contrast, leeches like Jack Welch exhibit absolutely no competence in this aspect of business development.
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