I know the theories of ‘free trade’ and I acknowledge some of the benefits, but if our leaders don’t wake up to security issues that are looming just ahead and limit and control foreign investments we are in trouble. Chrysler Corp is just the tip of the iceberg.

1. Chrysler was in trouble at the time of the merger due to Eaton’s handling of cost reductions in the manner of Lopez of GM at the time.

2. Middle management at Chrysler grew almost twice the levels it was under Bob Lutz in Eaton’s term in “the front office”.

3. This business is cyclical for more than one reason….meaning that engineering and styling staff (THANK YOU to Jeremy Mutz for using the correct terms!) has a usefull work life of an average of 20 years at most (for real productivity-I am deleting the years spent learning this business) so you have a turnover of staff that is continous, HOWEVER, in the Chrysler case-the groups have actually been like classes in high school and colledge-meaning the numbers of people that start at Chrysler enerally STAY there, as opposed to moving around as at GM, Ford, International, Freightliner, PACCAR, Toyota (!), etc. As a result, thse groups of people tend to be closely matched in age and instead of spreading out retirements, tend to stick together as a class.

4. DBAG is ALSO suffering from this “class” affectation. In the mid 1980′s the biggest “class” of staff retired and they were replaced by those of lesser ability. This is the real reason MB quality falls so low today, compared to the best car ever built by DBAG-the mid 1980′s S class. Which leads to…

5. Loss of corporate history and continuity. All manufacturers of any product (not just cars, in other words) have become more attentive to the financial markets since the early 1970′s and as a consequence, have taken their corporate focus away from the product, and moved onto the (in)famous “quarterly report”. Rightly or wrongly, this lack of attention has allowed vehicles such as the GM “X” car, the Maybach, the Mustang II, the EEK limo, etc. to come to market, when the market responded “Huh?”. Without concentrating on the core competencies of the corporation, ANY corporation will fail.

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I DO have faith in Dieter and Tom to understand what is needed to make DCX survive as a company (notice I mentioned the integrated company, NOT DBAG or Chrysler). It is going to be painful. It is going to be horrific. It can get out of control EASILY.

Fact is, it is going to happen in some form. I only hope it is not too late and too far gone to work out. I never approved of the “merger” BUT it happened, so we have to deal with it and make the best out of the situation as best we can. Certainly, Dieter and Tom are not suicidal.

Best regards…..

For one thing, I wouldn’t diss Curtis so easily. The guy knows more about MoPar and Chrysler then you will ever know in your life-time.

Second, there is this thing called analysis. This is what Dave and others are doing on this site. I was involved with it at one time too, but I’ve decided to let my talking go on in private. We have been following the Daimler takeover of Chrysler ever since the very beginning, so we have seen this downward spiral coming for many years. All you are doing is hanging on a prayer and hoping things turn around because, well….. it just has to right? Of course, all of you Daimler and “merger” supporters have been saying this crap since the very beginning. You would think by now you would see the light, but you don’t. CG is a fraction of itself in which its size, its independence, profits, and market share are shrinking at a good clip. It wasn’t always Chrysler’s fault for this; a good deal of blame has to go to the Germans in Stuttgart since they practically run the place and put their CHOSEN LEADERS in place to run it. The information is out there if you choose to really research the issue. Something tells me you are too enamored by the so-called “potential” some people still think resides in DCX, to really think objectively on the issue. Unfortunately for you, it seems that boat sailed 6 years ago. The following link questions the purpose of this project X in the first place, and I must say I believe he is right on with his analysis: http://www.autoextremist.com/page2.shtml#Rant

You can base your opinions on products like the 300C, or you can really dig deeper and see that things are not well for CG under Daimler’s control. “

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