Is something good on its way?

While Chrysler has now been out of bankruptcy for a while, it is not giving any real public indication of being alive again. The pundits, when they do mention Chrysler, normally do so in disparaging terms, usually something along the lines of “Chrysler has no product any sane person would buy, and won’t have any until 2011.”

I could point out that the 2009 Ram is still the best pickup out there, despite Ford’s superior marketing and propaganda, or that the minivans are still very competitive, or that many critics have reversed themselves on the Caliber and Patriot, and that some have even had the courage to praise the Sebring for its strengths even though Top Gear apparently thinks it’s worse than the Chevette, Pinto, Yugo, and Tempo all rolled into one.  The Challenger remains a family-sized alternative to the Camaro and Mustang, and is better-looking than either one by a huge margin. And, of course, the Charger has been rapidly replacing the Ford squads, to the point where the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is being discontinued entirely.

I could also wonder why Chrysler did the absolute minimum it could do this year in terms of press materials. The new model press book was issued online, it had every indication of being a rush job, carelessly tossed out, with numerous missing pieces and, Heaven help us, dead links. Oh, and no way to view the whole thing at once. It was ghastly and did nothing to help those who wanted to get at the major improvements made to some models.

But I’m guessing now that the company is working on saving its energy for a major publicity blast. At least, that’s what I’m hoping, and not just because I miss their ad revenue. (I really do. I mean, Allpar is running ads for Toyota, General Motors, and Ford, but not for Chrysler, and it’s not by choice.)

I recently got an email suggesting that the first batch of 200Cs has just rolled off the assembly line. The 200C is a car so good-looking that when it was revealed at the auto show last January, the press issued a collective “wow.” It’s hard to make the press stand up (literally) and take notice. Sure, the 200C didn’t make the editors’ cut for most publications, but it made the kind of impression nobody can forget.

Maybe, just maybe, Chrysler is holding back until it has something to sell. The dealers are out of stock on many vehicles; the assembly lines are unable to make everything they need to, because suppliers aren’t providing key parts. Even Mercedes, presumably out of spite, is reportedly withholding parts.

Maybe the guys in the executive rooms are figuring that they will come out big-time with a splash, but that they’ll do it when they actually have something to sell at the dealerships.

Maybe they’re smarter than we thought, and smarter than they could be under Daimler’s Chrysler-loathing iron fist, or Cerberus’ cost-slashing (which had to both address longstanding product problems caused by Daimler, and cultural issues also caused by Daimler, while trying to figure out which executives were incompetent bootlickers and which had just not been able to work effectively given their constraints.)

Maybe, too, the new organization needs some time to regroup, as people get used to their new jobs, reorganize, move people around, start the paper trails necessary to fire people in today’s world, and implement the changes needed for higher quality and more customer-friendly cars and trucks.

Let’s hope so. Otherwise, we at Allpar will be very sad as the tailspin continues.

GM to do PR right

Congratulations, Bob Lutz. You had the right idea on GM.

Most Americans think GM and Chrysler are still bankrupt. General Motors is running a series of ads to show that it isn’t, and that it still has a future.

A huge number of  Americans still seem to think that Chrysler is owned by the government or Fiat, or both (that is, depending on their mood, they say Chrysler is owned by the government, or they say it’s owned by Fiat.) Most of the rest think it’s directly owned by the UAW.

We’re not going to get into the problems with our news media and educational institutions, or the merits of teaching calculus instead of research methods, or of teaching about dates, names, and empty events, some of which were made up (which is sometimes referred to as “high school history”), instead of logic and reason. The problem here is mainly Chrysler’s fault — because they never managed the public and pundit reactions to their actions.

Many still believe Obama ordered Chrysler to close dealers due to their political leanings. Many still believe Chrysler had no justification for closing dealers. The company did release their rationale shortly after the firestorm began, but there would not have been one had they done what GM did — immediately released their rationale, and provided an appeals process in case the dealer relations people were not, shall we say, perfectly unbiased. Or in case they made a mistake. Daimler culture will take a long time to erase (especially since the arrogance of Daimler seems to be matched by the arrogance of Sergio — though at least the latter has something to be arrogant about.  Something he didn’t make up.)

General Motors is not just getting its message out, it’s doing it across a variety of media. You will find lots of GM ads on Allpar, because they’re targeting all car buyers. You won’t find ANY Chrysler ads on Allpar. That’s their choice, not ours.

Ford has made an amazing number of sales based on their whisper campaign that GM and Chrysler are going away. GM is fighting that, and I think they’ll be very effective in fighting it.

Unfortunately, due to the weakness of Chrysler’s own leaders, the average American will still think that Chrysler is owned by Fiat, not honoring warranties, and is still bankrupt. That’s pretty sad, especially since there’s no reason for it.