The Chrysler brand is going global, but not the way you'd think. While GM and Ford ramp-up operations under their corporate names around the world, Chrysler is pimping itself out. Dodge is already building trucks for Mitsubishi. Chrysler has a deal for Chery to provide a small car to Dodge in Mexico; they're also developing a small car with Chery for North America. Volkswagen's Canadian Chrysler-built minivan starts production later this year. Nissan wants Chrysler to build large trucks for them for the U.S. And now Reuters reports Nissan will make Versas to be sold as Chryslers in South America in 2009. Confused yet? Trust me– it's going to get worse (better?) as Cerberus does whatever it takes to keep Chrysler's head above water long enough to get what they can when they finally get down to the strip and flip part of the program.
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I don’t understand your implication (“pimping itself out”) that building vehicles for others is bad. If it increases your own sales (dollars) and pays the bills I say it is a good thing. Especially considering the shape Chrysler was left in by it’s “saviors”
It is a global economy and hopefully Chrysler and their new management know it.
This sounds a lot like what AMC tried to do to save itself, and we all know how that ended.. They made some parts for other people and bought trim parts from the competition to stay up. Let’s see if doing a global version is more effective.
God bless the MBA’s. They’ve done so much for the American auto business. Just the integrety they bring. Makes me proud.
(As the shirt says…”Sarcasm is just another service….)
Or it’s just the next step in the full commoditization of the car. Consumer electronics has been like this for years. Walk into a store and you’ll see all sorts of different brands of DVD players, TV’s, etc but they are all just different lines of product made by 3 or 4 companies.
So are the anti alleged import bigots going to still say a rebadged Nissan Ram is better purchase than a Toyota Tundra?
Can’t forget Hyundai. The Dodge Atos (Hyundai Atos/Santro), Dodge Attitude (Or Hyundai Accent) and Dodge H100 and Ram(a Hyundai forward control van) Take a look at http://www.dodge.com.mx and you can see the entry level Dodges.
Badge engineering. Fun fun fun.
That Atos doesn’t even have the Hyundai logo removed from the front grill, it’s not even badge engineered they forgot to put a dodge badge on it.
Gosh Redbarchetta, you’re right!
If Dodge/Chrysler can’t even badge engineer correctly, they are in trouble.
They seem to get it right with the Sprinter van. Up here in Vancouver I have seen them badged as Dodge, Frieghtliner, and Mercedes Benz.
And I saw something on our fleet manager’s desk about the Sterling Bullet, a medium duty truck that appears to be based on the Dodge Ram.
Something for everyone!
The Sprinter in the US is the same, Dodge on the hood, Merc star on the grill and I thin the Freightliner is on the side quarter. They should give each employee that builds it a logo and have them on it too to make it a little more confusing.
But Manufaturing other peoples cars might not be a bad idea if they build them good since they are failing in the design end for themselves. I don’t see it helping them much with the red ink though.
Just as I suspected, Chrysler is turning itself into a distribution company and not a design, engineering and manufacturing company. In the future it will look more like Sears than it will like Toyota.
The Sprinter was originally marketed as a Freightliner in the US, then as a Dodge to replace the full-size van.
You can then buy a Mercedes grille, 3 pointed star, badges, etc. to put the MB back on the Sprinter. I don’t know about Canada but the Sprinter was never officially labeled a Mercedes south of the border.
“The Sprinter was originally marketed as a Freightliner in the US, then as a Dodge to replace the full-size van.”
My recollection is that DaimlerChrysler went through a big tussle with the unions over this. They wanted to make it a Dodge for the much bigger distribution network, but were at odds with the union over details and for some reason first started building them as Freightliners and added the Dodge name later. My memory is foggy on it all though.
I believe that Chrysler is going to be just a distribution company, like whole united states has this manufacturing cancer, that roots itself in lack of attitude, greed, lack of product diversity, obsoletness and mediocre quality.They are going to loose the last morsels of expertize and that is what japanese are waiting for, to control the NA market completely. Actually I wonder, Americans, How your kids, constantly playing only computer games, reading no books,eating junk food, doing no sports, how will they be able to work in a factory, to stand at a stamping bench, or do any physical work? I wonder how much cash will Medicare consume just to make their heartpacers going. Where will you get money from, if there won`t be any substantial economy with added value businesses? Is all America going to be tatto salons, internet cafes, and software activities based? Don`t you think you need a new leader who could stop this? I guess you live in a time when you have such a leader. Many laugh, that Jesus would vote for him, and Jesus would, even though he has never ever mentioned Bible, Jesus or God in his speech. U.S. needs Jesus of manufacturing.
Folks, I think you’re being a bit too alarmist on Chrysler.
This company was already stripped by th Germans even before the three-headed dog got in the act. Within a period of five years Daimler took the most advanced and successful R&D center in the U.S. and stripped it. Both of authority and money.
The 300C should have been released as a 2003. Due to Daimler’s dictatorial directives it was not able to come out until 2005.
The Dakota was slated to become the ‘new’ alternative to the S10 and Ranger. Chrysler had $850 million budgeted for it on the belief that pickup truck buyers wanted a larger and more substantial pickup. They were right… but Daimler disagreed. Chrysler wasn’t able to capitalize on what turned out to be excellent market research.
The 2nd Gen Neon was supposed to be a far more athletic vehicle with styling as unique as the first generation. Daimler shut it down in favor of a more ‘mainstream’ vehicle that could compete more directly with the Civic and Corolla. Dumb move. The Neon turned out to be a boring and pointless car. All of the brand equity that was in that name was shot within five years.
The Germans made decisions with virtually no real knowledge of Chrysler’s role in the North American or regard for the ‘American’ underlings’. They stripped the company of cash, delayed product development, ignored unhappy customers, and pretty much put Chrysler into the hole that they are now in. It may not have been their attention. But it was most certainly their responsiblility and their fault.
I don’t fault Cerebreus for going forward the way they are at all. Like Chrysler in the early 1980’s, this company simply can’t afford to invest in all the R&D it would take to make it the leader of the pack in all the segments where it sells. There’s simply too many. Instead they’re going to use other successful platforms out there, rebadge them, and perhaps tweak them a bit to have these vehicles better suit their customers preferences. So long as the platforms are good ones, it should give them better product than they have now. It should also allow them to focus on those vehicles where their skill sets are a good match (pickups, medium duty trucks, minivans) instead of ones where they simply don’t have it at the moment (subcompact, compact and midsized cars).
Steven Lang
I totally agree with you.
Jurisb
I don’t know where you get your information but I think it is from the internet and MTV. The real world here in the US is quite different from your description.
I don’t think jurisb gets it from MTV. I don’t see many references to “Jesus of manufacturing” on The Hills or The Real World.
What it shows is that there is a big schism in terms of how important people believe manufacturing is to America’s economic future.
juniper , enlighten me!
Steven Lang- I don`t believe your blaming the Daimler of stripping job. I have never ever experienced a Chrysler bringing out a quality product. Why should I believe it was in works and stalled by daimler? Steven, I dare not to believe!