Short: the problem with German engineering
Does anyone remember those old Chrysler Crossfire ads, where they touted the car’s German engineering? No? Well, here’s the story - Chrysler ran a bunch of ads for the Crossfire, which is a Mercedes retuned and reskinned by Chrylser engineers so most critics preferred it to the more expensive original. It was still made in Germany with a German engine and transmission, so Chrysler ran a bunch of ads noting it had a great combination of German engineering and American style.
Gee, as an American, do you find that just a little insulting? The insinuation is that Germans are good engineers and Americans can make pretty sheet metal. (If you are from a different country, substitute your country’s name for “America.”)
They’re at it again, with a new series of ads that tested very well among their pilot audiences; Euro-accented Dieter Zetsche (the other Dr. Z, as I think of him) is going on the air to talk about how Chrylser is benefiting from the sharing of German engineering.
Here are the problems, again, with this approach:
1) The increasingly small number of buy-American people will defect to Ford.
2) By implicitly stressing the superiority of German engineering, these commercials will push potential Chrysler buyers over to a real German car - Volkswagen.
3) The commercials are once again insulting to Chrysler engineers - who, let’s not forget, came up with the technology to counter Germany in World War II, not to mention actually were able to get the company to make a HUGE profit pre-takeover, not to mention got a better quality product out there than the Germans at Mercedes.
4) Perhaps more important, these commercials again insinuate that Germans are better than Americans in the country where most Americans live.
5) And of course it implies that anyone who bought an American Chrysler got some sort of inferior rubbish without German technology.
Nothing like insulting your customers. Again.
Look for someone to be fired after sales fall yet again.
In view of the holiday that we celebrate, and the reason for that celebration on this particular day, not only belies the intransigence of the selection of airing of those commercials, as it does the sheer arrogance of telling Americans that you couldn’t do it correctly, therefore we came along and bailed you out of your plight. Garbage and rubbishy! This not only directly insults customers, it should make every American real upset.
I really wish they would have run ads for the new Sebring
instead. Chrysler has great product and needs to emphasize
that. Mercury is running good ads for its Milan, that
directly target Camry and Accord. The 2007 Sebring is a
better car than any of those and has a chance if they market
it correctly. The Dr Z ads, run in prime time, are such a
waste of marketing resources.
The Dr Z ads are also completely one-sided. They ignore all the
efforts made on the Chrysler side of the equation: such as the
new Sebring’s 6 speed automatic transmission, developed totally
by Chrysler. Or the Chrysler-developed platform under the M class
and GL class. You will not see any ads touting how Chrysler has
improved Mercedes’ cars and organization–which they have.
I am afraid these ads will hurt Chrysler. They may also hurt
Mercedes–why should anyone pay $50,000 for an E-class
Mercedes-Benz if they can buy a $30,000 Dodge that is packed
full of Mercedes technology?
Lee Iacocca warned about Americans’ inferiority complex when
it comes to cars. These Dr Z ads do nothing but feed that
attitude, an attitude that has made the Toyota Camry the best-
selling car in the US. I am confident that if people go out
and drive a new Chrysler, alot of them would choose it over a
Toyota; the problem is getting them to look at a Chrysler in
the first place. This sort of advertising is not going to bring
those people in.
I Dislike those ads myself! Even though German is the #2 ancestry after British, it doesnt mean we still are snotty (Well,okay,we are sort of prideful/snotty and think our country is superior to all others, but so does Germany!). Also, the Germans do not understand the heritage of chrysler! The charger is supposed to have a V8 and 2 doors or a ragtop, not 4 doors and *the most advanced 4 cylinder technology!* We want MUSCLE CARS! well….the Romance european ones of us anyway! ;)
(see at: http://img.drive.com.au/drive_images/Editorial/2001/03/26/26u540.jpg)
It is a risky move on DCX’s part to run these types of ads. I, myself, like Chrysler Group vehicles because they are still “American” brands and are much cooler products than anything Ford and GM makes. These ads dilute the Americanness of the Chrysler Group. Also, the ads are very misleading. There hasn’t been that much mixing of Mercedes and Chrysler to make the Dr. Z ads true. The (new)Sebring, Caliber, Patriot, Liberty, Compass, Nitro, Dodge trucks, Durango, and the Aspen are about 0% Mercedes (correct me if I am mistaken) The new Sebring rides on a Mitsu platform, engineered by Chrysler and will be built in Michigan. What contribution did Daimler make in that car?
I don’t understand what is the big deal about German Engineering. The term “German Engineering” is so cliched. Ask anyone to name one German Engineering achievement / marvel and they either come up with something during world war II (c’mon for christ’s sake the world war has been over 60 years ago), or attribute something that is developed in America to Germany, or they might just say Heiniken. Sure Germany has bright and talented engineers, but so does every other country who are as smart if not smarter as German engineers. As for cars go, the reliability of German cars is supposedly at the bottom of the barrel. Dollar for dollar, there is no car that can beat the corvette from the looks to the performance. The corvette is simply untouchable.
62 boatcar
There is electronic fuel injection from Bosch - oops, that was developed in the United States and SOLD to Bosch, and was first used on Chrysler Corp vehicles…
This may seem like a radical idea, but I think instead of saying how great their vehicles are because of German engineering, DaimlerChrysler should launch a campaign showing how American companies can build cars as good as or better than import manufacturers. Chevrolet is sort of doing this with their ads, but I think it would have a HUGE effect if Chrysler made ads showing how good American cars really can be. We as Americans need to stop feeling bad because we have a history of making unreliable cars and need to show everybody that we CAN make cars better than the Europeans or Far-Easterners, especially since Chrysler Corporation has a history of making superbly engineered cars. This would probably not work though, I can’t see the mostly German top-brass agreeing to launch an ad campaign promoting American design.
come on now. the best engineered cars in europe come from ford and gm (volvo and saab). there may be a lot of engineering feats accomplished by guys with german last names, but most of those happened either during wwII or in other countries (you can’t tell me that einstein’s genius is going to be attributed to a country that wanted him dead at one point. c’mon now…)
when it really comes down to it, most of my friends and i will take my dodge stratus over a mercedes c-class any day of the week. it’s faster, handles better, is more comfortable, and is more stylish…and gets better gas milage at the same time. take that, german engineering.
(on a side note, the dodge sprinter and the freightliner van that are both based off of that mercedes delivery vehicle are actually pretty nice pieces of german engineering, but would benefit from a hemi or a cummins turbo diesel. oh, and if you wait long enough, there will eventually be a mercedes viper, a la cadillac corvette [same car, different bodywork on the front, different and weaker engine underneath it all].)
i thought mopar was always known for german enginering, grenwald, sperlich, scharf…others. some say most american cars are not even designed there any more…might be time to keep it a secret.
I took a look at the Crossfire at a dealer once. The interior was so claustrophobicly small, the side windows were so tiny you could barely see out of them. The cargo space could barely hold one set of golf clubs. Plus the groves on the hood looked very tacky. If this is what German Engineering brings to Chrysler, we can surely do without it.
There is a saying, Imitation is a sincere form of flattery.
I see so many syling cues that are Chryler/Dodge.
I sometimes wonder if some headlights, tailights, body parts might be interchangable?
The problem I see here is that, Chrysler has always been the Innovator.
I’ve owned Chrysler products my whole driving life. My parents and grandparents as well. I’ve always felt they were the underdog in one way or another. I remember being hassled by Ford and GM owners (co-workers and classmates) while giving them a ride to pick up their car from the shop! As far as the merger, they did it this way more for tax reasons as the German tax structure saves them millions a year. If this country’s tax structure wasn’t so unfriendly to “Big Evil Business”, It would be ChryslerDaimler now. The ads would quite possibly be the same though. As far as their cars, I’m becoming a little dissapointed. The past four have had problems, the previous dozen or so have not. Then again, I’ve seen this with Honda and Toyota as well the past 6 or 7 years. I guess as features go up, quality goes down. That seems to be the trend anyway.
Gee, my comment about my 2003 Dodge caravan with rusty door seams has been deleted.
Is it only permitted to submit positive comments about chrysler cars on here?
No, but we don’t need a bunch of supercilious, snarky flames, either. Tough luck on your rusty door seams. It’s much better than my neighbor’s rusted-through 2004 Accord.
Well, Dave, that reply about a rusty import was so expected, I should have written it for you.
My rusting Caravan is not really tough for me; I leased it. It seems like it will be tough on Chrysler though when an import is choosen to replace it.
You know, if you hate Chrysler, why don’t you go and find a Toyota site to play on?
On the contrary, I don’t hate Chrysler at all. My dad always had big Chrysler sedans; 1966 Chrysler Windsor (built like a tank), then the 1970 Dodge Polara Custom with a 318 (smooth as a caddy). But that was our world of cars 35 years ago. Things have changed and and will continue to change, I expect.