The Chryslertakeover Guy Speaks (2001)
Before DaimlerChrysler was formed, there were a few of us who were fighting to stop the inevitable, which we felt would be a bad move for a Chrylser that was starting to find its international feet — and doing quite well domestically. The most visible was probably the man who started and ran “chryslertakeover .com” - anonymously. At some point, he gave up the domain name and a sleaze site took it over, so don’t bother visiting it...
I joined Chrysler Corporation “officially” in early 1994, although my family’s history with the company reaches back into the 1940s. We’re also shareholders. When news of the “merger talks” broke in May ’98, I was apprehensive, considering how bright the future looked for Chrysler at that time. Thus, when the phone book sized shareholder prospectus arrived, I read carefully from cover-to-cover.
Upon digging into this document, it seemed deceptive for a number of reasons, some of them “purely psychological,” to steal a famous phase from Jurgen Shrempp. Even more unbelievable to me was the fact that no one in the media seemed to be questioning it… In fact, some of the “reporting” was just paraphrased from company press-releases. I suppose this was my introduction to how the mainstream media often works.
In those beginning days of the Internet, I put together a simple website titled “The truth about the DaimlerChrysler takeover” that laid out some of the most obvious deceptions. I received only slight interest from the public, despite going as far as mailing pension funds! It did seem to become a clearinghouse for employees who wanted to feed me information anonymously. Regardless, the marriage was consummated in November of 1998. I took the page down, and took a wait and see approach.
It didn’t take long for things to begin playing out exactly as I had expected. Bob Eaton and a few V.P.s bailed-out and opened their multi-million-dollar golden parachutes. The billions in pre-merger cash was spent, assets sold, etc. My new job in product testing was giving me a first hand look at Mercedes products, and more knowledge of how “Daimler” worked, and neither impressed me.
In February of 2001 (or Chrysler Group turnaround plan 1.0), the idea of a Daimler-Chrysler spilt was in the air. During this time, I was also in contact with none other than Lee A. Iacocca, who had taken an interest in my newly re-launched site, ChryslerTakeover. During our conversations, he reveled something that I had never been aware of… The takeover bid of 1995 (in conjunction with Kirk Kerkorian) would have had minority ownership by employees, something not uncommon in the airline industry. I also learned that he was under a gag order the whole time the merger was playing out, which explained his silence on the subject. Well I made a little more noise this time, and even managed to get myself a full hour on Detroit’s top-rated radio station, a mention in Ward’s Automotive, and a reference in Der Spiegel. It still wasn’t enough to even dent the DCX public relations monster, but they were forced to discredit “various internet sources” as a result.
That brings us to Turnaround 2.0, a.k.a. Valentine’s Day Massacre 2007. Now the company that had supposedly been turned-around by Dr. Z, really is “on the table”, by his own words. The problem, once again, is that the plan isn’t anything more than shrinking the company again. The same group that has been “turning around” Chrysler, Mercedes, Freightliner, etc. for the past decade is still calling the shots! Remember when the K-car saved Chrysler? Well, that truly was a new type of product for Chrysler, and it spawned a bunch of further successes. When Tommy LaSorda talks about all the new products in the Chrysler pipeline, he really just means a bunch of long-overdue facelifts. Oh yeah, we’re also going to close some plants, end some shifts, and buy more stuff from China. Ain’t that some inspirational leadership?
Is anyone calling them on this? Not once that I’ve seen. Gas prices high since 9/11? Let’s build a bigger Jeep. How about a truck with reclining rear seats? Durango doesn’t sell? Let’s build a more expensive version named after our most recalled car ever. Still not moving? Let’s just ignore how ugly it is, and blame gas prices. We need an entry-level model? Let’s kill Plymouth and sell a $20,000 German golf cart. If you want to believe rumors, Chrysler and GM are working on a large SUV! I don’t think these guys could turn around shopping cart with a bad wheel, let alone the Chrysler Group.
Yet in Detroit, Zetsche, LaSorda and the whole gang that was in charge of this mess for the last six years are still treated like royalty. Bad marketing? Never heard of it. How much has the Chrysler Group saved by cooperating with Mercedes? Never thought to ask it. I swear to you, the last question I heard asked of Tommy LaSorda in an interview was: “Why did do it on Valentine’s Day?”
This is like watching someone starve to death, but you’re locked in a cage with so many Twinkies that you’re used them as furniture. I’ve tried to convince myself that these guys must know what they’re doing, after all, they’re executives. But Hitler thought invading Russia was a good idea, and nobody had the guts to say otherwise (thankfully). Once, I cared about being anonymous. Now it doesn’t matter, I’d rather be the guy that notices the emperor is naked. Give me a few minutes of media attention, and I’ll shout it form the rooftops in the hopes that an investor group might realize that not everyone within the Chrysler organization is brain dead.
