DaveAdmin over at Allpar Weblogs is just as unhappy with the coverage of the potential GM – Chrysler debacle merger as your faithful TTAC correspondents. But for different reasons. Apparently, it’s OK for the mainstream press and armchair analysts to suggest that this is a done deal, but they don’t “get it” when it comes to what might come next. In the main, DaveAdmin reckons they’re all guilty of the sin of omission. “No article I have seen suggests that maybe, because the Dodge trucks are clearly superior (especially in Class 3-5), that GM might shift over to Dodge’s designs. Only one mentioned the Dodge trucks in any way other than ‘to be canned’ at all, and that was to point out the bad timing of their launch. Ford’s big, trucklike Flex, Toyota’s Tundra (with one factory already being converted to other uses), and Ford’s upcoming F-series were apparently examples of good timing. No article I’ve seen mentions the Hemi except disparagingly, as in ‘dummies make V8s when people don’t want them any more.’ (Four years ago.) Never mind that trucks still need V8s and the Hemi is best in class, especially in variable cam form. No article I’ve seen mentions the Phoenix engines or the dual-clutch transmission technology. The latter, to be fair, appears to be dead at the moment, as Chrysler chose to cancel their launch by picking a fight with Getrag and abruptly canceling all talks.” Yeah, to be fair. It gets better…
“No article I’ve seen mentions the possibility that maybe GM would keep the Dodge and Jeep brands alive, and drop Pontiac and/or Buick. I really don’t think the Chinese will care if Buick disappears from the United States, honestly. Nor do Americans still seem to think of Pontiac as the sporty brand, despite the G8, which could live on as the Dodge Charger. Or not.” Hey! That’s our line! Anyway, bravo to DaveAdmin for setting us straight on who’s really calling the tune here. “Cerberus owns Chrysler and it may soon control a large enough chunk of GM to call the shots, even as its spokesmen profess helplessness – or, as they prefer to do, remain silent, and allow pundits to cover the wrong game.” [thanks to .hmmessage P {margin:0px;padding:0px;} body.hmmessage {font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;} Stingray for the link]
Hmmm. That’s interesting. One thing that *nobody* has mentioned is Cummins. If Dodge goes under the Cummins deal goes south and wouldn’t Ford just love to dump Navistar for Cummins which is acknowledged as the best diesel out there for the pickups. GM swooping in and swapping Cummins for Duramax would piss off Ford, I would imagine, assuming GM through C11 could make it stick and Cummins would agree in the first place.
Overall though, it’s more like the MadHatter’s picnic with everyone running around screaming rumours and no substance. I can’t believe anything any of the MM report these days.
I can understand that the Allpar boys might be a bit protective of their stuff, but nobody thinks Dodge trucks are superior to much of anything.
They do have the Cummins diesel as mentioned, but having to pay Cummins healthy profit on the engine makes it pretty much a pass-through financially.
To the acquirer goes the spoils, and I would think the Chrysler folks would well understand this after the Daimler deal.
“Never mind that trucks still need V8s”
No, they don’t. They just need lots of torque at low rpm’s. There are lots of ways to accomplish that.
Also, the Ram has absolutely no future in a GM-Chrysler merger. In a town that lives and breathes NIH, GM is probably the worst of the lot at contemptuously ignoring better solutions from outside itself. Unless GM sells the design outright to Nissan, the current Ram will be the last.
All this merger talk makes my head hurt,In the end, just bend over, there will be second part of the body that will hurt worse.
I am beginning to think that all of this GM-Chrysler merger talk is part of back room negotiations between GM and the powers that be in the federal government.
Although the GM-Chrysler merger does not make sense from the perspective of either GM or Chrysler, it makes perfect sense from the perspective of the U.S. government, who is faced with the prospect of propping up the entire U.S. automotive industry for several years to come. If the government agrees to bail out any one of the big 2.8, it must bail out all of them. If GM acquires Chrysler, no one can argue that the expenses incurred by the automotive industry as a whole will decline drastically after GM lays-off 85% of Chrysler’s employees.
Has anyone thought of the possibility that GM only wants a part of Chrysler, let’s say minivans only. Nissan for trucks, and Renault for Jeep?
Just a thought.
If you just want the brand, sit on it. Big Dog is clearly sweating bullets, and its not like GM wouldn’t sell it to you if it ends up with it anyhow, as long as you showed up with cash money.
wait, did he just say the Dodge Charger is comparable to the GTO and G8? Has he ever turned a corner with one?
Never mind the heinous technical glitches and quality control issues from the Charger/Magnum/300 platform… this guy’s an unapoligetic Mopar lover and GM hater, I really don’t think he has the objectivity to discuss this subject.
If the Chrysler acquisition doesn’t outright kill GM, then Jeep certainly will on its own. It is the Hope Diamond of automobiles as everyone who has previously owned it has taken a knee.
I rented a Dodge truck before to do some hauling of crap, and I’ll never do that again. Sorry, but they are just awful vehicles.
I usually avoid the “Dodge trucks are inferior to GM trucks” discussions because I haven’t followed reliability ratings for the latest generation of either truck, but I have a ’94 Ram 2500 with a Cummins and I’m very happy with it. It’s also been very reliable in my opinion. I bought it used in 2001. I don’t expect I’ll be looking to replace it for another 6 years or more.
On the same day I bought my truck, I also test-drove a 1996 Chevy p/u with the 6.5L turbodiesel and was unimpressed. The interior didn’t strike me as being any better than the Dodge. The 6.5L diesel doesn’t have a good reliability record, and the 1st gen Duramax that replaced it doesn’t either.
I have rented a newer (2006?) GM pickup for a week once. (My truck was in for bodywork due to a minor accident.) It would be an apples-and-oranges comparison because the rental was gas-powered, 4×4, 1/2 ton, but I was happy to be driving my own truck again at the end of the week.
If the new smaller Cummins slated for the 2010 Dodge 1500 is as reliable as the larger Cummins engines are, that will be on my list when it comes time to replace my current truck.