Click on over to Chrysler’s blog for a look at the anger unleashed by the ailing automaker’s full-page (and Google key word) “Thank You” ads. (Either glasnost has suddenly infected ChryCo’s secretive owners or, more likely, the site’s moderator took the week off.) The first comment by RightKlik.net: “Hey Chrysler! You’re not welcome. You took my hard earned tax dollars without congressional approval. This is not the time for a ‘thank you.’ This would be a good time for a refund…and an apology.” With a few notable though still critical exceptions, it gets progressively angry from there. spalind: “Bunch of scumbags…Nardopey and Cerberdolts can stick it…the VAST majority of the American public is against any sort of bailout for you or GM and yet you steal our money anyway…Are you and the other CEOs and investment bankers going to come bail me out when I lose my job?? Didn’t think so… I’ll NEVER buy a Chrysler or GM product–EVER–and either will any of my current or future family members I will make sure of it…” There is only a handful of positive response, like this one by corie: “think the Thank you was a great idea. It would be nice for every person connected to employment in the automotive industry to say thank you to every person driving an american made car. Thank you to those who BUY AMERICAN!” But as this non-scientific sampling indicates, there’s a bailout blowback blowin’ in the wind. When GM, Chrysler and then Ford return to the well, they’d do well to play their PR cards more carefully than this early and deeply reviled attempt.
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I love it!! Thank you for bringing this to our attention…
Careful what you wish for Mr. Nardelli.
I actually think Lede Agenda had the most lyrical way of putting it…poetry, pure poetry I say:
” Thank You? Kiss mine you looters. I had ZERO choice in the matter. The money was taken from me by FORCE of GOVERNMENT and given to you. Ads like this reaffirm my decesion to buy a Honda last year. Bottom line Chrysler- I WILL NEVER BUY FROM A COMPANY THAT POINTS A GUN TO MY HEAD AND THEN SAYS THANKS. This ad infuraties me. Rot in hell scumbags.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 8:03 PM by Lede Agenda “
What a maroon.
Bob Nardelli, not content to ruin my Home Depot investment, proceeds to loot the Treasury as well.
If Mr. Nardelli had an ounce of honor, he’d resign.
Jeez! Everyone needs to jump over there and read that stuff before it disappears. As it surely will the minute one of Nardelli’s (Nardopey!) henchmen gets wind of it.
Ya gotta ask yourself which one of the wunderkind thought “nah, we don’t need anybody to moderate the comments on this, what could possibly go wrong?”…
Effen hilarious.
Here’s your real history lesson, for those paying attention. Wait till the brass sees/hears about this, prolly Monday, they’re all in St. Bart’s till then. Watch the site disappear. See if it gets replaced with revisionist (fake) comments, or they just deny that it ever happened.
Perhaps it will have ‘technical difficulties’ and be ‘back up soon’…
Zarba,
If ANY of these jokers had an ounce of honor, they’d ALL kill themselves.
Publicly.
The ChryCo blog and responses have caused me to realize that this is really the same government action that caused such anger in Connecticut when the Supreme Court ruled that a government could take private property through eminent domain to give to another private individual or company for development, if they thought it would be better for the public (i.e., more tax revenue).
I’m afraid things will only get much worse under the new administration, when the tax hikes for the “wealthy” (what is that, more than $100,000 now) come about. I think that companies involved in Betamax, Laserdiscs, and HD-DVD would be worthy recipients of taxpayer support for their cause… heck lets go back and prop up wagon and buggy whip manufacturers!
This Chrysler blog debacle is just another example that the people running the Detroit 3 don’t have a clue. If these guys can’t even get a simple blog right how can we expect them to get out of the mess their ineptitude put them in.
I think it is funny that there are still people out there that think you should buy “American” cars.
Well, I will be the first in line to buy an “American” car again when the big three start buying “American” parts.
How about it?
And while we are at it, the US government has to fade a lot of the blame. The big three need a level playing field. It is not cheap to provide a safe working environement, pensions, equal employment opportunities, health insurance, livable wages, workman’s comp., fair labor laws, a standard work week, vacation, etc. Try getting any of this in China. Keep turning a blind eye Big Brother and you will surely kill ALL manufacturing in the US. We will all be working at Wal Mart if you keep thinking trickle down economics is ever going to work.
# john.fritz :
January 1st, 2009 at 2:09 pm
“Jeez! Everyone needs to jump over there and read that stuff before it disappears. As it surely will the minute one of Nardelli’s (Nardopey!) henchmen gets wind of it.”
That’s why you copy the blog, and repost it.
It’s a shame that all those blog entries wont get the same national exposure that the ChryCo ad did…
Right now, some poor programmer is being called into work (New Year’s Day).
I wrote my congresscritters about the Bank Bailout. Against. I didn’t waste the toner and ink for this issue.
These guys could not hire a moderator…morons.
There is a subsequent Blog posting titled “Response to Thank You America Ad”.
“We appreciate the strong interest and wide diversity of opinion regarding the government loans for our Company to continue its transformation, as well as our one time advertisement thanking the American people.”…
Wide diversity of opinion? It reads about 74-3 against at the moment. This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
Chrysler has way way way too many happy happy people working there. They are trained to talk about things gone right instead of things gone wrong. That is why they think they have “caught up” to the foreign auto companies in terms of quality. All of their media items are spun so that even if it looks like Chrysler isn’t as good as the foreign company they automatically find the one possible item that they can spin to make them look good, or better. It rarely works as most people can see right through it. This ad was trying to show the public that the money was greatly appreciated even though most Americans didn’t want it to happen in the first place. Always say thanks to something you didn’t deserve.
Meh, still too many of the “I rented car XX, and it was junk” comments. The real owners never respond.
There’s a claim in the comments that the mid size sedans now get worse mileage than 10 years ago in both 4 and 6 cylinder models
2009 Avenger 6 cylinder 16/27
1999 Stratus 6 cylinder 17/25
2009 Avenger 4 cylinder 21/30
1999 Stratus 4 cylinder 18/28
1999 3 star crash rating and no side airbags
2009 5 star with curtain/torso bags
2009 4 cylinder has more power than 1999 V6
People should check their claims.
If Mr. Nardelli had an ounce of honor, he’d resign.
If Nardelli had an ounce of honor, he wouldn’t be Robert Nardelli.
He wrecked a lot of lives as the Home Despot and was rewarded with a $210 million golden parachute and a bigger stage on which to wreck even more lives at Chrysler.
This is corporate America’s idea of the ‘Best and Brightest’ — a slick-tongued, bullying thug proficient at looting. No wonder this country is so screwed up.
Yowza! Tough room. I read all of the posts. Some were double, even triple posted.I was amazed at the level of hostility. Oh please, is this the spark that sets off a massive tax revolt ?
But do any of you think for one moment that Numb Nutz Nardelli gives a rip about any of those negative posts?
Chrysler will be completely done by June, this is all theater. Nardelli is simply a place holder at Chrysler till the plug is pulled. Next stop, GE ? Or Costa Rica ?
This is really sick and sad at the same time.
Lots of folks in Detroit drinking lots of Kool-Ade. How else could you explain the existence of that blog?
They drove to DC for the second trip because they realized they needed to carry more of that beverage to Capital Hill then they could take in the plane(s).
Evidently, it worked. Detroit has shown Fwank and co. how to operate a screw-a-thon like non other. Now that Capital Hill is drinking from the same fountain it is highly likely to get worse. Much worse.
AS FOR BUYING AMERICAN…
If america doesn’t produce cars – what then do we actually produce?
This country has been sold out by “toyota republicans” and they don’t mind seeing this country go down the drain since they’ll have stolen enough money to flee when the shit hits the fan.
American cars are at the exact same level – and in many cases, better than the competition. The Big 2’s problem is the INEQUALITY IN TRADE that the Republican congress has allowed to be set up. Korea sends 700,000 Hyundais but we can’t get more than 6000 American cars into their country?
Bullshit.
I don’t care what anyone says because the TRUTH of the matter is that there are people who don’t understand the current trade system, don’t understand the bailout, don’t understand the entire situation – and yet they think their educated enough to talk shit about it.
GUESS WHAT. I’m PRO-BAILOUT. I want the Big 3 back on their feet.
Flashpoint,
Happy New Year!! I have GREAT news for you (and your kind):
You are hereby selected to show your support for Chrysler, LLC. by sending a $10,000 check to
Chrysler, LLC.
C/O Bob Nardelli
1000 Chrysler Drive
Auburn Hills, MI 48326-2766
God Bless and thank YOU for YOUR support!!
Flashpoint,
I’m American and pro-American too. But I don’t see why my tax dollars should go to prop up a private equity firm that bit off more than it could chew. More Americans are shareholders of Honda than of Cerberus.
As one of those shareholders in HMC, I don’t like that unfair advantage is given away to competitors that have no right to exist in the marketplace. The sad truth is that in this economy, Chrysler cannot survive without massive hand-outs. And even after they have wasted tens of billions of our dollars, they still will not be able to engineer a competitive car.
Chrysler needs to die and the sooner the better.
Flashpoint,
At the risk of agreeing with you…
We don’t make anything but money. This “service industry” economy line of crap has been sold by the Wall Street types for quite a while.
Yes, we can have a service component to our economy, but it can’t be the whole economy.
I really do wish you’d look at who buys our “representative” government. It’s just big business. It really has nothing to do with what country they’re from – it’s just big money.
I also really wish we had a viable automotive industry in this country. But we simply don’t. It can be fixed, but the bailout isn’t going to do it. If we had the products that people in other countries really wanted, they’d buy them. The Japanese have no problems buying Benzes and Porsches and all sorts of lower-level iron as well. Those companies all have to get past the same restrictions our companies do.
Dateline: Monday Jan. 5, 2009
Auburn Hills, Michigan
NARDELLI: So Jimbo.. that blog thing didn’t seem to work out so well did it? Got any more brainstorms percolating up there?
PRESS: Uh no sir it didn’t. Hmmmm, I think we need some out of the box thinking. …. I hear through the grapevine Julie Roehm’s work at Walmart has been wrapped up for awhile. I’ll give her a ring and she if she’s still available.
I’m PRO-BAILOUT. I want the Big 3 back on their feet.
I guess, then, you’re also pro status quo. Let the Big 3 continue to operate in a world where they have too many brands, too many dealers, too many workers, too many vehicles, too much poor management, and not enough sales to maintain it all. The Big 3 were losing money before the credit meltdown and unless they make massive changes to their entire organization, they will continue to loss money whenever the market recovers. Is that what you want from the Big 3?
This is my favorite… Goes right for Ch. 7…
“Thanks for nothing. The money for this advertising campaign would have been better spent for Chapter 7.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by Zoom”
Maybe the US bankruptcy courts can be outsourced to Cuisinart. Set those Judges on LIQUIFY!
My predication… you’ll start to see Ford steal market share from GM / Chryco and then Ford won’t need bailout funds. GM and Chryco will be back to the well with the “we haven’t had enough time to restructure, we just need a little more $$ to make it through. Just one more hit.. that’s all.”
Robert, is there any way you can save that page for posterity?
It’s way too amusing to have it disappear.
this is one of those amazing things that we are all very glad to see on ttac
Just run the URL through: http://www.pdfonfly.com/
It works way better than printing to PDF using standard plugins on your browser. However, I don’t know why you’d want to save it for posterity since it’s just a bunch of pissed off rants. You get better rants by reading TTAC than you do reading those blog comments.
@ Bill
I just saved the page (with the comments) as an .HTML on my desktop.
Your browser may allow the same.. I used Safari as I’m a Mac guy…
Behold the power of the blogs, and a PR department that’s asleep at the wheel! I love teh internetz.
SherbornSean- were you “for” Chrysler pre-Cerberus or even pre-DCX? I’m asking if Chrysler were never bought out/merged with Daimler-Benz would you be for or against the loans given to them? What if they needed them in 1999?
Would you have bought a Chrysler product at any time in their history?
Would you have bought a Chrysler product at any time after 1981?
It seems like there are quite a few people who are against the loans simply because they dislike the companies products, not so much because they are against government spending to prop up businesses.
Happy_Endings- any proof that the D3 are not making “massive” changes?
UAW contracts renegotiated
health and retiree benefits renegotiated
Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar sold
Volvo on the market
Hummer and Saab on the market
Saturn possibly eliminated
I’m sure more is coming
I think people want all this to happen magically and not take 10-20 years like its going to whether you like it or not.
Think about that, it’s possible that we will be giving money to GM, Ford and Chrysler for 20 years.
any proof that the D3 are not making “massive” changes?
UAW contracts renegotiated
health and retiree benefits renegotiated
Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar sold
Volvo on the market
Hummer and Saab on the market
Saturn possibly eliminated
I’m sure more is coming
I think people want all this to happen magically and not take 10-20 years like its going to whether you like it or not.
Think about that, it’s possible that we will be giving money to GM, Ford and Chrysler for 20 years.
Yes, the current management is staying. The first massive change to make is to get rid of the current management.
And you give evidence of things changing as selling assets they have. Well, all those assets were purchased in the last 10-20 years. Instead of investing that money into other ventures, they could invested that money into the vehicle line-up.
@davey49:
Please name one Chrysler car as good as an Accord or Camry or Civic or for crying out loud, a Sonata. Chrysler makes crap.
Mentioning things that GM is trying to do is like saying I’m trying to lose 30 lbs. as I drive to the pizzeria. It’s vapor, and it’s meaningless. Things that matter are things that are done.
That’s fine that they’ve made changes to the UAW contract. Clearly it’s not been nearly enough if they’re bleeding billions per quarter, heh?
For what its worth I agree with you flashpoint.At the same time Happy-Endings has summed it up fairly well.Massive changes to the entire organization?
As a now retired 36 year+ hourly GM employee I
have grave doubts.I simply can’t see the present management implementing the painfull changes that are so needed.I really hope I’m dead wrong about this.
In the next 30 to 60 days GM management has to bring the unions onside,deal with the bloated salary workforce,and dump a shitload of dealers.
Once they got that done now they got’a change public perception.Yes indeed the product IS infact as good if not better than the imports.Just try to convey that fact to the import crowd.
Can the present management team pull all of the above off in 90 days?Well……..I sure hope so.I kinda’a like see’n that pension money appearing in my bank account monthly.
Mikey should not worry,he is retired in Canada and not the USA, so his Pension will be there when he needs it as well as Canada Pension and Old age benefit when the magic age comes up! I dont think the quality of the Domestic three is up to the Imports no matter how you spin it, its just not there imho! like when you try to trade in your Domestic vehicle and want to buy something else that is better quality, watch out for you having to pay a lot more.
Geo I just traded in my 8 yr old 100,000 klm,very clean Grand Am for top dollar.I picked up a discounted Impala fit and finish wise its got Toyota beat.From a looks standpoint,a little bland maybe.Compare the looks of a domestic to anything from Toyota,imho the domestics are way ahead.
Chrysler now comprehends the ancient Chinese curse that simply says ‘May You Get What You Wish For‘.
Even after GM and Chrysler turn themselves around they have the gigundo task of turning around the resentment, let alone the much mentioned “perception problem”… I wouldn’t put money on it working.
Luckily Chrysler pays as much attention to its blog as it does to its cars.
If america doesn’t produce cars – what then do we actually produce?
American produces big fat cheques for executives who run companies into the ground and taxpayers foot the bill for it.
Sheesh! Easy answer.
Just when we thought that Chrysler couldn’t possibly be more out-of-touch with the buying public, they go and spend OUR money on an ad like this.
The end can’t come soon enough…
mikey:
“Geo I just traded in my 8 yr old 100,000 klm,very clean Grand Am for top dollar.I picked up a discounted Impala fit and finish wise its got Toyota beat.From a looks standpoint,a little bland maybe.Compare the looks of a domestic to anything from Toyota,imho the domestics are way ahead.”
Mikey, Mikey, Mikey. If only it was that simple. The Impala, no offense, is a rental queen if I ever saw one. To quote U.S. News Rankings and Reviews: “But negative qualities like its uninspired handling dynamics, plain exterior design, and poor cabin finish are turnoffs.”
Plus, it’s not just Toyota (and Honda, and Nissan, and Hyundai) you’ve got to worry about – even the Taurus/Sable pair easily eclipse the Impala.
How this is “way ahead” of the new Maxima or Honda Accord, I’ll never know.
For the usual suspects, Detroit can do no right.
If Chrysler was moderating comments on their blog, most of you would be criticizing them for censorship.
Frankly, I think it shows some fortitude on Chrysler’s part that they’re willing to suffer the slings and arrows of folks attracted to the chance of dumping on a Detroit company.
Since this is the third blog thread I’ve seen about negative comments at the Chrysler blog, the fact that the comments there are overwhelmingly negative is not surprising. “Oh goody, I get to show what a big man that I am by anonymously telling Chrysler that they make crap cars and that I think they should die.”
Ronnie Schreiber:
“For the usual suspects, Detroit can do no right.
If Chrysler was moderating comments on their blog, most of you would be criticizing them for censorship.”
C’mon, you have to admit, it is pretty funny to see something like this. It’s very evident that they’re not closely monitoring the situation at this point, because some of the more childish posts contain language that they probably wouldn’t normally tolerate.
This isn’t free speech – this is just a lack of oversight for the time being. I doubt it will remain in this fashion for long.
And please, please inform us as to what Chrysler has in their offerings that is competitive with even GM/Ford. I can’t think of anything, save Jeep.
I worked for Chrysler for many years.
The last good car they made was the old RWD Diplomat.
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING since has been utter junk.
OK Ronnie,
What’s the test? Fix Chrysler?
Initial steps are straightforward. C11, renegotiate everything, every contract. Close all but 3 most modern/productive plants.
Factories shift to same work rules, pay scales, bene packages as transplants.
Overhead staff is where the most waste is. Reorg into a realistic vertical model- 3 levels between the factory manager and the presidency.
Horizontal integration along the lines of Ford, but they still have WAY too much overhead staff doing jobs that are nice to have. Not need to have.
Identify the top performing 20% core of overhead staff. (This is where the rubber hits the road.)
Fire the rest. Wholesale. Hire fresh meat, without any D3 experience, make sure they actually like cars.
No make-work ‘volume lines’. If it isn’t category/class competitive, we will fix it, or quit making it. Period.
Spend that money that we are no longer wasting on R&D and product content.
Hold managers and everyone else accountable. Give them the freedom to make decisions. Trust and verify. Reward for results. Modern management, somewhat ala Mullaly.
These are simple effen steps that work all over corporate America. If any of my friends ran their companies the way the D3 have, they would be fired and/or out of business.
It’s not hard. But some fundamentals have to be changed for any of the D3 to have a prayer. Starts with a C11. Non optional. Next is genuine leadership. At best, Nardelli is last-minute Captain of the Titanic, running around opening the bulkheads to hasten the journey to Davey Jones’ locker.
Yes, it will require hard work and some serious bloodshed. But it’s completely doable.
This is incredibly stupid. But then again consider the source. This is the company that discontinued the Neon, the one small car they might have had a chance with.
Let’s get it over with and C7 this mess.
FYI: Whenever you want to save an online page you can always take a screenshot of it. Most computers will do this when you press command shift 3, or command shift 4
It will basically take a picture of whatever is on your screen.
Its a new year, 11am on (what should be) a working day in Auburn Hills, and their blog remains unedited.
That is truly scary.
At least they had the balls (or foolhardiness) to express gratitude, unlike AIG who took us for fools before taking their execs to lavish spa treatments and foxhunts (and never appeared before Congress to justify their need for a second bailout in light of this revelation).
I challenge you to find another bailout recipient who publicly expressed their gratitude to its fellow citizens for lending a hand.
It is amazing that their blog is still running.
Someone hit the delete key!
jkross22- I could easily say that I think every Chrysler product would serve my needs just as easily and as well as all Japanese or Korean brand cars with a few exceptions. Personally I like the Dodge and Jeep SUVs and Trucks better than all the foreign brands. I like the Patriot, Liberty, Nitro, Commander and Durango better than just about everything on the market now.
I like the appearance of the Avenger better than any other mid size sedan. The seats are uncomfortable. I’ve never driven one.
I don’t like the appearance of the Camry or Sonata.
Your Chrysler is “crap” opinion is just an opinion, saying it loud or repeating it doesn’t make it true.
My answer would be: Jeep Patriot
here’s a question for you- Have you ever liked a Chrysler product?
Davey49 –
“Your Chrysler is “crap” opinion is just an opinion, saying it loud or repeating it doesn’t make it true.”
I wouldn’t say it’s an opinion, I’d say that when it comes to particular models, it’s fact, no matter how hard that is to admit.
Here’s a tidbit from Consumer Reports:
“Chrysler trails the pack. Almost two-thirds of its products rate below average for reliability. The redesigned 2008 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans earned low scores, as did the Chrysler Sebring V6 and Dodge Avenger sedans and the Jeep Liberty SUV. The Sebring Convertible has the worst score: 283 percent worse than average. The only above-average models are the Dodge Caliber hatchback and Jeep Patriot SUV.”
To make matters worse, my own family members have been affected by this dismal reliability. In 2006 my brother bought his wife a Pacifica. Admittedly, I was impressed with the interior design and it seemed like a very practical crossover.
Around 30k miles the steering rack broke. Luckily it was under warranty, but they decided to trade it for…wait for it…a 2008 Sebring! Guess what – around 10k miles, it started making the same tell-tale steering noises as the Pacifica (shocking, I know).
Searching the net reveals that this steering rack issue (among many, many others) is not uncommon.
“here’s a question for you- Have you ever liked a Chrysler product?”
It would have to be a) Dodge Viper, b) ‘Cuda (and other assorted muscle cars from the late ’60s to early ’70s). Other than that I’ve rarely found Chrysler’s styling to my liking, and most of what I’ve heard about them is that they’re not as reliable as the competition. From unbelievably cheaply-built K-cars to the LeBaron to the Neon (all cars I’ve had close experience with friends/family) I’ve always had the feeling that Chrysler products weren’t for me.
I would not be sad to see them go, especially considering they took taxpayer money when Cerberus has money at hand.
Nothing is “fact” when it comes to cars.
Everyone has a bad or good story.
Why not just have the cars fixed? Why does everyone freak out and get rid of a car when one thing breaks? My Saturn has had a seized AC compressor and a loose control arm bushing. I had them repaired, I still own the car. I’ll repair whatever else comes up. As long as I don’t destroy the car somehow I’ll keep it to 2015-2020
I will give great credit to Chrysler if they leave this blog up.