Sea change at DaimlerChrysler

Some time ago, Chrysler and DCX execs were talking about how Chrysler was being rescued by the quality gurus of Mercedes. The Chrysler production system was to be replaced, the highly successful SCORE program was killed off, and white-coated engineers (”quality SWAT teams”) would, in the Mercedes tradition, be dispatched to handle quality problems, in a supposed step up from the empowered-employee, bottom-up quality approach that had worked so well in Windsor and other plants (not to mention throughout Toyota and, for a time, throughout Volvo).

Then it seemed that the younger “cost-control” kids had been either fired or at least put somewhere they couldn’t do any harm; and we started hearing about empowered work teams. The tide seemed to be turning back to the pre-Daimler days. A major bright spot appeared when the decision was made to engineer the entire corporation’s V6 engines in Auburn Hills, not Stuttgart. Mercedes may get to use special technology (camless heads?) in their own cars, technology too expensive for Chrysler’s pricing; but the engines would be designed by Chrysler. That was such a major step, in light of Daimler’s constant stream of put-downs from the acquisition onwards, that it seemed almost unbelievable. Yes, we knew that Mercedes was using the Grand Cherokee as the basis for the M Class SUVs, but that was trucks, and Mercedes pretty much denied it anyway.

Insiders were telling us that Mercedes people were being dispatched to “fix” Chrysler, but were eventually finding out that Chrysler often had better processes than Mercedes, even if its executives were often poorly chosen (for brown-nosing ability rather than actual capability). Once “spoiled,” these Mercedes reps would be recalled, a move that infected Mercedes - spreading the AMC/Chrysler Way, or so we were told. Wishful thinking, we secretly thought.

Then again, there was that supplier who leaked the common basis of the LY cars with the upcoming Mercedes C and E Classes. Since the LY was coming first, it would seem to indicate that the “real Mercedes” would be riding on a platform and chassis largely engineered by Chrysler - a sensible move for Mercedes, since Chrysler knows how to engineer within a budget and with quality in mind. (Yes, I just said that. We can argue about it later, but the engineers are capable of making darned good, inexpensive vehicles - when executives aren’t busy cutting costs in the most short-sighted possible ways.)

In the latest issue (October 2) of Automotive News, Harald Hamprecht and Bradford Wernie, though, planted some interesting facts in a note about Dieter Zetsche’s ruling out of the United States as the location for a new Mercedes plant (apparently using an old Chrysler plant and saving Chrysler money on all those retirees and laid-off personnel is out of the question). Along the way he noted that Mercedes “is using Chrysler expertise to make Mercedes factories more flexible” and was quoted as saying “We are certainly benefiting from the Chrysler production systme and the assignment of Chrysler experts at Mercedes.”

Let me just repeat that. The chief of Mercedes, Dieter Zetsche, said:

“We are certainly benefiting from the Chrysler production systme and the assignment of Chrysler experts at Mercedes.”

Also, when asked about producing Chrysler vehicles on Mercedes assembly lines, he did not rule it out, but said it wouldn’t be possible for some years.

It seems as though perhaps there’s some dim glow of respect for Chrysler burning in Stuttgart at long last - and, despite the awful possibility of Dodges engineered and built by Chery in China, the continued production of Spinters and Crossfires, and the huge DAIMLERchrysler signs outside all the factories, perhaps the embers of AMC and Chrysler Corporation will be rekindled.