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November 2, 2001: More bad news from Chrysler

While zero-percent financing lifted GM and Ford sales by about one third, it nudged Chrysler sales up only by about 5 percent - with yet another decrease in the number of cars sold. Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai all announced major sales boosts.

Overall, big trucks and SUVs were the winners among American automakers - a perverse outcome given the concern over dependence on foreign oil in a time of conflict, but also to be expected with oil prices at a historic low. With no end in sight to the downward spiral of Chrysler's car sales, the group (as we reproted earlier) revived its 7 year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. Some of the financing for these offers comes from dealers.

This may have led Chrysler to offer early retirement buyouts again, this time to employees as young as 52 years of age, hoping to eliminate a few hundred more jobs as the "shrink to grow" program continues.

November 1, 2001: Big Three sales rise

GM, Ford, and Chrysler have all experienced substantial sales increases during October, though that may be largely due to zero-percent financing deals (to be fair, Jeep Liberty, Dodge Ram, and Chrysler PT Cruiser sales all increased without incentives, due partly to production increases). We will have more details and analysis later today or tomorrow.

November 1, 2001: Priorities

Words are one thing, deeds are another. To get a little glimpse of Daimler-Benz's priorities, take a look at media.daimlerchrysler.com. In the English section, here are the headings: Home All Media Material Company

• Mercedes-Benz P. Cars (apparently they couldn't spell "passenger" or just say "cars")
• Maybach (modified high-end Mercedes which are not sold yet)
• Chrysler Group (note that Jeep and Dodge are, unlike Maybach, not even worth mentioning)
• smart
• Commercial Vehicles
• DaimlerChrysler Services
• MTU Aero Engines

November 1, 2001: Chrysler finally ups warranty - for a while

Chrysler has started a temporary "Home for the Holidays'' program, which will provide -- at no charge -- a seven-year/100,000-mile powertrain protection plan on any 2001 and 2002 Chrysler, Jeep, or Dodge vehicle purchased between November 1, 2001 and December 31, 2001. That's nearly as good as Hyundai's warranty.

October 31, 2001: Finally, something definite on Chrysler's future

"ChrisStapMopar" summarized an interview with Chrysler head Dieter Zetsche and Mitsubishi head Eckrodt:

1. Mitsubishi-Chrysler is the begining. Hyundai and yes, Mercedes will be fully intergrated into DCX. Mercedes' independent, tower on the hill days are numbered.
2. Charger and 300 Hemi, Dead. But new platforms based on the new RWD (He talks as if this is a done deal) platform.
3. Mitsubishi will take over the small car program including its direct injection engines. ALL NEW 4 CYLINDERS WILL COME FROM JAPAN. New sixes and eights from America.
4. New Neon styling not nailed down yet.
5. PT around for a while with variants considered. Expect any new 4 to be Mitsu.
6. All three American Chrysler brands appear to be hanging around for the foreseeable future.
7. Rubicon trail thing is gone for Jeep. Liberty, Wrangler, and new GC will be heavy off roaders, soft roaders will join them, especially a low cost model. Currently will remain separate from Mitsu.
8. The big cars will apparently get the Mercedes Diesels along with trannies and suspensions.
9. Two new crossovers, one off minivans, one off Galant.
10. Chrysler to be DCX's heavy hitter in America. They will "concentrate on the domestic market"
11. Mitsubishi will cut models, no mention of this from Chrysler (I think we have seen most of the model cutting from Chrysler).

Zetsche says Chrysler is going to "Expand our brands". This will be good for fans of current Mopar products. The article set my mind at ease to the extent that DCX appears to be commited to making Chrysler a powerhouse brand again. I still have reservations about the adulturation of some uniquely Chrysler products. But it could be worse. They could really do away with the brand.

October 30, 2001: Ford fires Nasser

Ford replaced Jacques Nasser, its chief executive officer, with William Clay Ford, Jr. Nasser had been assailed for pushing diversity too hard in Ford's remarkably undiverse management ranks, but the primary excuse for his dismissal was the rampant quality issues that have been publicized so heavily lately.

/Allpar historical reminder/ Ford has had major quality goofs as long as we can remember - huge numbers of transmissions that tended to slip into neutral, massive numbers of recalls for fire and explosion risk, the first-year Taurus, ignition switches, and what may have been the only car transmission worse than the Ultradrive (according to Consumers Reports). The main difference here is that the press noticed the goofs. /end reminder/

Nasser's reign was beneficial for Ford's new acquisitions, prizes gained for a pittance - Jaguar, Volvo cars, Mazda - which were maintained as prize possessions, and valued for their strengths. Volvo and Jaguar both made comebacks, Jaguar putting classical styles over Ford vehicles with great success, Volvo modifying their boxiness and power to gain a sporty image and many new buyers. Indeed, under Nasser, acquisition became something good for the companies being acquired, with little of the destruction and waste we've come to expect from, say, Daimler-Benz. Ford's cars tend to be among the most popular in their class, and, while Ford trucks are generally not nearly as good as their competitors at GM and (in some cases) Dodge, they still manage to sell extremely well. Even Mercury is poised for a comeback.

Perhaps the most famous fired Ford executive was Lee Iaccoca.

Nick Scheele, one of the architects of Jaguar's revival, will take over Ford's auto operations in North America. His place will be taken by another Jaguar revivalist, Jim Padilla.

October 29, 2001: GM small car wrap-up

...and Terry Dempsey gets the last word, clarifying the situation over at GM, which we don't cover in much detail here but which gets lots of attention at the news forum:

"I should read more carefully. I keep forgetting about the soon to be discontinued Metro. And that the Metro is considered GM's "compact car". I guess Cavaliar/Sunfire fall into that "grey area" beteeen compact and intermediate in GM's lineup.

Here's the break for GM's future platforms as I remember them:

Delta (small car): SL/Caviliar/Sunfire/Astra

Sigma (intermediate): Malibu/LS/Grand Am/Regal

Epsilon (big car): Bonneville?, CTS, Park Avenue? and LeSabre and possibly Caddys (DTS/STS) in the future.

A question mark is where the Grand Prix/Impala/Monte Carlo will fit in. Origionally it was thought that they would move on to the Epsilon in 2005/2006. But there has been rumors that GM will rehash the current W-Body (again!) when time for redesign comes around for those models. There are also questions as to whether the Bonneville will survive the another round of paring down on models offered by each division. I think Park Avenue has already gotten the ax when Epsilon comes.

Also I don't know if the big Caddys (DTS/STS) will be moved on to Epsilon or be given a seperate platform that Cadillac's tradionally gotten. I think the CTS is a harbinger of things to come and that Caddy will not get its own platform anymore.

Overall, when you compare the myriad of platforms (unique or modified) GM had in 1990, by 2005 or 2007, one can say that GM will have done a good job of combining platforms across the board.

October 29, 2001: GM small car follow-through

Our news item on GM small car design led to two interesting responses. Terry Dempsey wrote:

I question it because at the last National Auto Show, GM showcased a bunch of hybrid and conventional and said it was "reaffirming" its committment to small car marketing and designing in the American Market while decreasing its dependence on big time SUVs and Trucks.

This move is a bit suprising. But it does make some sense given GM's schizoprenic long term planning and decision making over the last ten years. I thought the next Caviliar/Sunfire is supposed to be on the Sigma Plantform, though shared w/ the Opel Astra, is a GM/Opel design.

You are correct about Cavalier/Sunfire/Saturn SL/Astra being a shared platform. I can't seem to keep the greek letters straight. GM has 3 new future platforms in various stages of development. Sigma, Delta, Epsilon. One is the mentioned 'compact car' platform. the other is a mid-sized platform encompassing Malibu/GrandAm/SaturnLS/Vectra/Saab9-3. The third is a RWD platform for the Cadillac CTS and other Pont/Buick models. As for other small cars, GM has Suzuki, Subaru, models, the Opel/Chevy Corsa, and synergies with tons of Fiat group models, that are yet to be taken advantage of. GM should be in a pretty good position when it comes to small cars, if they would get the 'way we've always done it' blinders off.

October 29, 2001: DCX still making profits

DaimlerChrysler is still making an operating profit - 1.4 billion Euros, roughly half of which came from a one-time aerospace gain.

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