The Wall Street Journal reports that the concord between Italy’s Fiat and China’s Chery has fallen apart, a victim of the global auto industry meltdown. Chery spokesman Jin Yibo was not in a word-mincing mood. “The global situation is totally different from before. We have had to adjust our strategy accordingly . . . It definitely won’t happen this year.” Hey! Isn’t that the same Chery that had signed a highly-touted deal to produce a small car for Chrysler? (That was then going to be built by Nissan?) Yup. So, Chrysler can’t work with Chery to bring cars to the US. Fiat can’t work with Chery to build cars in China. But Chrysler can work with Fiat to build Fiats in the US. Makes sense. But then I’m pretending to be a Chrysler executive or a member of the Presidential Task Force on Autos (PTFOA). And while we’re on that subject, next week the PTFOA will begin floating trial balloons advertising the next seating at the multi-billion dollar bailout buffet. So a quick refresher on the bureaucrats that constitute the august body in whose hands Chrysler and GM’s fate rests. [NB: Steve Rattner joined Ron Bloom after the commission was formed.]
Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry
Members
- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner
- National Economic Council Director Larry Summers
- Secretary of Transportation
- Secretary of Commerce
- Secretary of Labor
- Secretary of Energy
- Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers
- Director of the Office of Management and Budget
- Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
- Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change
Senior Advisor on Auto Issues at the Treasury Department
- Ron Bloom, Senior Advisor on the Auto Industry, Department of Treasury
Official Designees of the Members of the Presidential Task Force:
- Diana Farrell, Deputy Director, National Economic Council
- Gene Sperling, Counselor to the Secretary of Treasury
- Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist to Vice President Biden
- Edward Montgomery, Senior Advisor, Department of Labor
- Lisa Heinzerling, Senior Climate Policy Counsel to the EPA Administrator
- Austan Goolsbee, Staff Director and Chief Economist of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board
- Dan Utech, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy
- Heather Zichal, Deputy Director, White House Office of Energy and Climate Change
- Joan DeBoer, Chief of Staff, Department of Transportation
- Rick Wade, Senior Advisor, Department of Commerce
I am not understanding part of the Chryco/Fiat partnership. If they signed the agreement today, it would still take them two or so years to re-engineer Fiat’s small cars to conform to U.S. crash standards and tail pipe emissions, right? Won’t that leave Chryco on an IV drip from the treasury for a couple of years?
It’s a real shame that the Hornet will never see the light of day.
Gregg,
Apparently not. “Fiat had considered building the 500 for the American market at its Case New Holland tractor factories, before tying in with Chrysler.”
http://www.allpar.com/cars/adopted/fiat/500.html
In the days of Iacocca, Lutz, Creed, and Gale the Hornet would already have been in production. We have no visionary leaders today. What we have is a bunch of snake oil salesman trying to get either a bailout from the government or a takeover bid from a foreign carmaker. Nardelli is the anti-Iacocca. In 18 months he really has not done a thing. Dan Neal was right about him afterall.
What really needs to happen at Chrysler if it is going to have any chance is a skunkworks design program.
Really small, but charged with coming up with the new models. Carte blanche. Upper mgmt puts out the criteria:: small sedan, using this 4 cyl and that V6, this platform… go! Betcha they could do it amazingly fast. And come up with some spectacular designs if done without “test audience” type of interference.
Dimwit,
I agree. Apparently something like that led to the development of the ME412 concept/prototype. A stealth project right under the noses of the Dumbler overlords. They used an off the shelf engine and trans and made a car that kicked the McClaren SLR’s ass from here to Stuttgart. This was when Dieter was leading Chrysler (and believed in them). They got into trouble for that. Too embarassing to the Dumbler execs.
Maybe it is just over for Chrysler.
“”Dimwit :
It’s a real shame that the Hornet will never see the light of day.
“”
It looks like Kia built it for them and called it the Soul….