(Note: the info I give here in this post is from the
http://www.flash.net/~bigmopar/ web site. Craig B. has
already mentioned that the author didn't want to disclose his
sources for much of the info, but other stuff is from quotes
from executives, sales reports, etc. so at least some of this
is fact.)
At 01:12 PM 1/1/99 -0800, you wrote:
>>>From what I've read, Chrysler was given away for a song and a dance....
>
>I think the merger was pretty much mutual. Chrysler execs didnīt believe they
>were big enough to survive alone.
>
That's what is so depressing about the site... I spent quite some time
reading through it all and there were quite a few troubling things about
it. The first is that it is actually a takeover, and not a merger. Daimler
is pulling the strings; they bought Chrysler. Another thing is that Chrysler
was actually much bigger than Daimler! (As far as automobiles go.) If I
remember right, DB was 15th and Chrysler was 5th. DB sold cars in
something like
55 countries, and Chrysler had something like 160 countries. According to
the web
site, it was D-B who needed Chrysler, and not the other way around. The
Chrysler
execs stood to make a lot of money from the merger, so who knows where
their loyalty was? Schremp was quoted as saying that Chrysler cars wouldn't
be sold in Mercedes-Benz dealerships, and the MB quality control wouldn't
be applied to Chrysler vehicles, so that doesn't help out Chrysler
either... Then there was the misleading stockholder report where all DB
numbers
were reported in billions of DM and all CC numbers were reported in millions of
US dollars. (which made DB seem like this huge corporation when it is
actually Chrysler who is the bigger (and better and more efficient) auto
manufacturer).
>Can you think of a car company youīd rather merge with?
>
>I canīt.
I can't either, but only because I don't think they should have merged
with anyone... They were doing fine on their own. Bigger != better. The
web site above mentioned that BMW would make a lot more sense to merge
with. (There were several reasons, but a couple were better quality and
less product line crossover.) There's some info on the site to the effect
that the Viper was supposed to be completely redesigned this year to a
mid-engined vehicle that would compete on the level of Ferarri and
Lamborghini.
That idea was killed right after the merger. There was also a chrysler
vehicle in the works that would have competed directly with many of Mercedes
Benz's models, which was also killed with the merger. (Obviously,
DC wouldn't want to compete with themselves, but the point was that CC
didn't need DB to design vehicles of that caliber; they were already well
on their way. But now they'll be restricted to just low cost, lower
quality lines.)
I dunno; check out the site and make your own judgements; if just a
quarter of the things mentioned there are true, its still enough to make
me very depressed. :-(
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------------------------------.
| Affiliations: DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA. RP-SEL |
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