At 10:11 AM 1/3/99 +0000, you wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jon Steiger <stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu>
[...]
>>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.
>
>Another case of selective facts. Certainly Chrysler sold more cars than DB.
>DB sells LUXURY cars starting at prices which exceed $30K. DB is larger than
>Chrysler, it is a very, very large industrial corporation and is the largest
>producer of large trucks in the world.
True, but when we're talking about a manufacturer of small autos
and trucks (CC), I don't see how trucks and planes and stuff matter. If you
believe the web site, D-B's other ventures were actually a liability;
especially the high overhead, low income commercial truck division.
>
>Chrysler sales outside of North America are anemic, even in the last few
>years. One of the main reasons Ford and GM weathered the automotive
>downturns in North America much better than Chrysler was their strong
>European presence, which Chrysler has very little of.
I saw a commercial on TV yesterday that said that last year was Dodge's
best sales year ever.
>
>>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.
>
>
>I would veture to say either the numbers are reversed or they're counting
>single vehicle sales in 3rd world countries. Either way it is a
>misrepresentation of the facts. Mercedes-Benz is the most recognized
>automoive name wold wide. Period.
The Hindenberg is the most recognized airship name world-wide, but that
is not nescessarily a good thing. :-)
>
>>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).
>
>
>Of course the DB sales are reported in DM, The company is German ! To think
>that this would mislead the stock holders is ridiculous! It's very easy to
>compare DM to $US. Your talking about investment professionals, Do you
>really think Wall Street and Frankfurt would be mis lead this easily? Lets
>go sell them the Peace Bridge!
In the beginning of the report, it was stated that all figures would
be converted to US dollars, but they weren't. That was the first point.
The more important point was that all D-B numbers were reported in BILLIONS
and all US numbers in MILLIONS. For example, reporting a figure for
D-B as .3 billion (instead of 300 million) and reporting figures for CC
as 3,000 million instead of 3 billion. You can probably make the case
that stockholders who don't read into this stuff deserve whatever they
get, but that doesn't change the fact that this report appears to be a
deliberate attempt to deceive stockholders and sway votes toward the
"merger". I would venture to say that most stockholders are just average
folks with average jobs; hardly investment professionals.
[...]
>The web site appears to be authored by someone who is ignorant or they are
>putting this up for grins. I was amused by teh way the author put Iaccoca on
>such a high pedestal. Every Chrysler employee I know personally detests
>Iaccoca. I recommend reading "Behind The Wheel at Chrysler" for a very good
>insight into Iaccoca, Chrysler, and the Auto industry as it goes into the
>21st century.
>
Thanks for the reference; I'll check it out.
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------------------------------.
| Affiliations: DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA. RP-SEL |
| '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (14.58@93.55), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
`----------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'
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