The Wall Street Journal reports that "Chrysler LLC will aggressively pursue partnerships with other auto makers to expand its global reach–" Hang on; "expand its global reach?" Don't you mean get something into Chrysler's American showrooms that customers will actually buy so we (Cerberus) can finally sell someone this turkey? No? OK. Carry on. "and its president dismissed the idea that joint ventures may damage the value of Chrysler's own brand." Well exactly! How could rebadging/reengineering someone else's product possibly hurt Chrysler's brand? (What brand, you say?) Especially when ChryCo Co-Prez Tom LaSorda promises "every joint venture will either produce an entirely new vehicle not already in Chrysler's lineup or it will be limited to a slightly modified car or truck made or designed by the partner but that doesn't compete with an existing Chrysler model in the same market." What's more, LaSorda says everyone should be doing it! "Partner early and partner often, because more strategic alliances and joint ventures are on the way. And the best time to partner with a company entering your market is before they enter." So let's see… Chrysler's cutting or trying to cut deals with VW, Nissan, Fiat, Great Wall, Chery, Mahindra and one Russian carmaker to be named (or not) later. Is there anyone "The New Chrysler" won't sleep with talk to?
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Where do I sign up for the first Dodge Kangoo?
It appears that the three-headed hellhound would rather pursue partnerships than do any actual R&D themselves. Your big product announcement for Traverse is moving the Grand Cherokee to a unibody in 2 years, really that’s all you’ve got?! (and that’s certainly a questionable move to the Jeep faithful).
Does Chrysler actually have anything in the pipeline, I don’t need details, I’d just love to have someone from Chrysler (besides LaSorda’s PR) actually confirm real product.
The interesting little factoid is that the current Grand Cherokee is already built using the unitbody principle, as was the old square rigged Cherokee which came out in the AMC/Renault era. The old Cherokee was called “uniframe” to give a palliative to “Jeep afficianados” but it was not a frame-body vehicle, it was a variant of unit construction.
No real news here. “That’s all you got” is pretty much – nothing anyway.
As for sleeping around, isn’t that a way to get incurable diseases?! Probably works that way for companies, too.
Mitsubishi ended up being diseased by Chrysler and later by Daimler-Chrysler. AMC ended up being diseased by Renault before morphing into (being bought up by) Chrysler. Isuzu ended up being diseased (and dying) from sleeping with GM.
I rest my case.
Lasorda has been a great disapointment. Raised in the auto industry by union parents he seems more interested in lineing his own pockets than running the company. The new product under Lasorda’s tenure is such an embarassment.
You can now see why Mercedes is gone from Chrysler. Zetsche in his last term running chrysler thought he could put some mercedes star dust in chrysler bones and get the prices up so that profits would follow. It may have been a flawed plan but it was the only way chrysler could have survived.
Now Cerebrus wants to get the prices down by selling other people’s junk. If it’s a flight to the bottom in pricing, trust me chrysler will lose. They do not have a dealer network that can profitably sell lot’s of low wage built junk. For this you need some mega dealers in big metro areas who will unload truckloads of iron and inventory this stuff by the thousands. (in other words less and larger dealers)
Mercedes was not going to get in a pissing war with the chinese and korean builders for low margin cars and trucks and they couldn’t get the mix right on Chrysler engineered stuff, so they left.
Cerebrus is going down the path mercedes wouldn’t go and will end in failure.
BTW, nice little (old style) Lada in the photo.
Short story. When I lived in the UK (1986-1993) I bought two new Lada Riva’s (slightly – VERY slightly updated versions of what’s in the photo). A 1987 then a 1990. It was either that, or not eat/not feed my family, since a Ford Escort (same size) cost about 300% as much. And I needed a car to get to work since my work was in the middle of nowhere and no housing was available nearby (all taken up by other workers). Alternately, I could buy bangers and often not get to work, which I tried for awhile and didn’t care for.
The Lada was built by drunken Russian “workers” and “ham-fisted robots” and transfer machines, with much of the machinery, technology and design dating from the mid-1960’s (the car is a brand-new 1967 Fiat 124 built with rear drum brakes, a SOHC engine based on an old OHV Fiat design, and hot-rolled very thick, very heavy steel).
The thing of note? They were not all that bad!
Bearing in mind that my prior US new car had been a 1984 Pontiac 1000 (nee Chevette).
But overall, the Lada did the job required, did it fairly reliably and – ESPECIALLY NOTEWORTHY – subsequently proved to be a better car than cars I bought when I moved back to the US.
Lincoln Town Car. (used)
Ford Taurus. (used)
Chevrolet Cavalier. (new)
Dodge Neon. (new)
How’s THAT for embarrassing information for the Detroit 2.8?
Even the RUSSIANS can build better cars – on an outdated Fiat basis – than you idjids. Nuff said!
Hard to dismiss the investment in JNAP. Close to Nissan Tech Center, yes, but still a major commitment to NA/UAW assembly.
Would the tea leaves read differently if Nissan announced they were putting the same investment into Mississippi for unannounced products?
Lasorda has been a great disapointment. Raised in the auto industry by union parents he seems more interested in lineing his own pockets than running the company. The new product under Lasorda’s tenure is such an embarassment.
I’ve thought about this too. I think he’s had a couple of dead horses to ride and did the best that he, or any likely alternative, could have done under the circumstances. I don’t fault him for finally getting a good payday after years of watching those up the line get rich for doing little.
How is this a new strategy for Chrysler? Haven’t they been doing this exact thing for the last 20 years?
Dodge Colt
Dodge Stealth
Plymouth Laser
Dodge Raider
Eagle Talon
Dodge Sprinter
Dodge Magnum
Chrysler 300
Dodge Charger
Dodge Challenger
Chrysler Crossfire
Jeep Patriot
Jeep Compass
Dodge Caliber
All of these have parts from, or are rebadges of other cars, be it Mercedes or Mitsubishi.
Lasorda has been a great disapointment. Raised in the auto industry by union parents he seems more interested in lineing his own pockets than running the company.
Isn’t that SOP (standard operating procedure) for any Detroit 2.8 exec? What’s the problem? [sarcastic]
If Cerberus’ relationships strategy can create good vehicles that consumers want, then it will be a home run for the investors. If the next Chrysler midsized sedan has an attractive design on top of good mechanicals and the car can be sold in large numbers at a high enough price, that could be a win for both parties.
I suspect that the problem that Cerberus will have is that the Indians, Chinese and Russians will likely prove to be much tougher to deal with than they may appreciate. They can deal in good faith with Renault-Nissan, but that may not be the case for the rest.
I’m going to bet that they run out of cash before this strategy works. This could conceivably take a decade to make it effective, but I’m sure that the investors will not give them that long to make it work.
The Nissan arrangement is going to make or break them, because they are the most reliable potential partner in the bunch. They need products to sell, and you have to question whether they can count on the likes of Chery to provide them.
@PCH101
Great post.
One option that may wind up on the table that has not been discussed yet is for GM to partner with CLLC. The General–for all their issues–remains a dominant global player with incredible scale, and may be facing the need to do novel partnership deals due to the crisis in NA.
An EPII midsize, 1.4T engine, etc., might offer a win/win for both.
@eastaboga:
Grand Cherokees have always been unibody.
Well you learn something everyday, while my Dad has a GrandCherokee and my son a Wrangler, the Jeep gene must be recessive b/c I’ve never had one.
My real question though, is where is their new product? Are they going to get chassis help from Mercedes? If not, are they developing an entirely new platform for the 300, et al. or are they simply looking for a partner to do all the R&D heavy lifting? Do they have anything in their own pipeline at all?
Do they have anything in their own pipeline at all?
Guessing it’s a safe bet that Project D(OH!) – the Avenbring “update” has been aborted(?).
jerry weber:
“You can now see why Mercedes is gone from Chrysler. Zetsche in his last term running chrysler thought he could put some mercedes star dust in chrysler bones and get the prices up so that profits would follow. It may have been a flawed plan but it was the only way chrysler could have survived.”
If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. Zetsche is a buffoon of the first order (class of Wagonner et. al.). He just happens to be head of a storied marque and does not get the same scrutiny.
Also the GC “unibody” flap is another failure of the media to report accurately. It’s the Durango that is going to share a platform with the next GC, which has ALWAYS been unibody and has NEVER been based on an existing “car”. There may be some potential for another unrelated vehicle to be produced at Jefferson North, because with the 1.8 billion that “strip-n-flip” Cerberus is about to invest it will be one of the last Chrysler factories to go to flex manufacturing.
Blunozer,
The 300/Charger is not a rebadge of the old E class, if it were, you could swap parts between them. You will find the steering columns switch quite well and – well, that’s it. Even the tranny, which is based off of a Mecedes design won’t swap, the bellhousing is different. The Caliber/Compass/Patriot and the Sebring/Avenger are so altered from the original Mitsubishi platform (another one of Dumbler’s/Zetsche’s great ideas) that parts don’t swap between them either.
eastaboga,
Yes, the 300/Charger replacement will be entirely their own. Why pay a surcharge on Mercedes parts that you still have to adapt to your application when you can develop your own for less money? Dumbler still owns a percentage of Chrysler, so you might see their electronics used. Another possiblity is axles from the new Chrysler rwd axle plant could end up in Mercedes units built in Alabama.
Chrysler did well selling the Colt, an unknown subcompact from an unknown manufacturer (Mitsubishi) back in the 1970s. Maybe the Chery car we’ll do just as well.
Chrysler has always had new designs and new cars. They’ve come out with 15 new models in the past 5 years. How much more do you want them to do?
“Enthusiasts” just have a hate-on for Chrysler products so when they introduce new models it’s automatically the worst car ever made and “absolute crap”
A lot of people making comments about fuel mileage and SUVs seemed to have missed the Jeep Patriot and Compass which are not only fuel efficient 23 city 28 highway for the 5 spd 2wd and 21 city 24 highway for a 4wd CVT it’s also inexpensive $17065 for the Patriot.
The Lada was built by drunken Russian “workers” and “ham-fisted robots” and transfer machines, with much of the machinery, technology and design dating from the mid-1960’s (the car is a brand-new 1967 Fiat 124 built with rear drum brakes, a SOHC engine based on an old OHV Fiat design, and hot-rolled very thick, very heavy steel).
The thing of note? They were not all that bad!
But overall, the Lada did the job required, did it fairly reliably and – ESPECIALLY NOTEWORTHY – subsequently proved to be a better car than cars I bought when I moved back to the US.
Afterall they have better pride/workmanship while workng drunk than UAW folks working sober.
That really say how F up it this country now!
Shut up and go away Chrysler…