Chryslertakeover

First off, there’s a great editorial here

http://www.allpar.com/ed/chryslertakeover.html that has inspired me to write. I remember chryslertakeover.com, and thank Mr. Vitale for his work. I remember feeling this was a ‘bad idea’ in 1998. There was a time, not long ago, when Chrysler was busy saving Mercedes’ bacon and Zetsche was the toast of Detroit, that I thought this whole DCX thing might work out long term.

I believe I was mistaken.

It’s clear now that if Chrysler stays within the clutches of Daimler, it will slowly but surely be completely absorbed with only Jeep and Dodge Trucks left. Every “turnaround” seeks, supposedly, to grow by contraction - a short term answer intended to impress those looking to make a quick buck on the stock rather than actually grow the company long term.

There’s another angle, the one that suspects this is all a ruse to soften up the UAW. It’s a mighty sophisticated ruse then, as this has all the earmarks of really being an effort to sell. I used to place more credence in this idea than I currently do, but given what we’ve seen with DCX so far I hesitate to completely rule it out.

It is also possible that they simply will not get their asking price, and will eventually take Chrysler back off the market. In my opinion that is the least likely scenario, as they have created many, many wounds that they would then have to heal, a difficult task when they already have a plate full of those.

Key elements in Daimler want Chrysler gone. That also has been made clear. This not only makes a retention of Chrysler by Daimler seemingly unlikely, it also makes it undesirable in the extreme. For, if you cannot sell that which you want to be rid of, you can always dismantle it, jettisoning that which you don’t want and only keeping the bits that you still value.

Chrysler - as a company - ceased to exist in 1998. If Daimler does not find a buyer (and of course, maybe even if they do), Chrysler could very well cease to exist as a brand as well.