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Please god, someone choose “Else”.
Fiat 500 in the background.
I do give Nardelli some credit; at least he’s more objective and credible than CNBC.
I haven’t figured it out yet but I assume someone is making a bundle on all of these bailouts.
and no I don’t mean the UAW workers who get to keep their jobs for another few years until the next round of layoffs.
kytreb: I noticed the Fiat too. It’s like the sign I see at my local Wachovia: “Wachovia and Wells-Fargo have joined forces to bring you better products and more personalized care”. It’s as if Nardelli is already claiming to have made products like the 500 from the Chrysler-Fait agreement.
Unfortunately, as in Wachovia, one agreed to take on the other basically for free because the other would not survive alone.
Nice to see some optimism at the very least. With HomeChryslerDepot Bob it has the aura of feeling like “we are boned” but he’s putting up a happy face on it and trying his best to solve the problems.
With Red Ink Rick it feels like cluelessness rather than optimism, and a rudderless course set(ish).
Is Fiat any healthier than Chrysler? This seems to be a case of two drowning men clinging to each other.
My favorite part was where he says, “When we shut down our factories, we stop generating revenue,” as if they were making money on the vehicles coming out of the factories anyway.
Actually, the few moments of Becky Quick were far more stimulating than anything Nardelli had to say.
If you like that speech just check out what ChryCo has threatened for it’s Canada operations – $20 /hr pay cut or we’re out of here!
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1398301
I’m at loss though – both sides, company and management are equally repugnant.
Who do I cheer for?
“I do give Nardelli some credit; at least he’s more objective and credible than CNBC.”
That’s damning with faint praise!
I wonder if Nardelli read the most recent Consumer Reports. That is what is the real problem. Horrific ratings on almost every model they make. Perhaps TTAC should send a gift-wrapped copy of the magazine addressed to Nardelli&Team. Make a good car, and we will come. Yeah, right.
it’s funny how CNBC gives softball questions, John Stewart was so right about CNBC…
CNBC makes me want to vomit. It is THE last place I would go for business news or investment advice. Nardelli is just feeding them the sweet nothings they love to hear, and they broadcast it as an exclusive scoop.
Good cars or Else! Oh too late…
Are you threatening me?
I triple-dog-dare you, Chrysler! Do your worst! (Oh wait, you already are doing your worst…)
way to go Nardelli!
After reading about all the pork in this bill,I say go for it!
For the cost of one DDG-1000 that the navy doesn’t want,but was approved anyway,Chrysler’s needs could be met for 10 years or more.
There is SO much unnecessary spending going on now that Mr. Nardelli has just as much right as you or I to take a bite!!
I cant drive a DDG-1000..but I can drive a Chrysler!
BDB:
It shouldn’t inferred as any praise of Nardelli, only a critique of the horrible, cartoonish reporting at CNBC.
law stud:
It was way past softball, Lebou was basically feeding the correct answers to Nardelli with leading questions. I was afraid Lebou might start phalating Nardelli on live tv.
When will we let this company be buried? They tried going down in the ’70s, then the ’80s, now the lid’s almost shut on the coffin. Please, no more life support, let them go down! It’s extremely painful to watch this mess.
Cute
Nubile
Business
Commentators
When Phil Lebeau goes on TV, I run and hide.
esg:
To be fair, Nardelli was not there when Chrysler was producing the vehicles that are currently getting bad ratings. Those normally run 3 or so MY’s behind, which puts it back in DCX years.
The only product launch that Chrysler LLC (as opposed to DaimlerChrysler) has had any control of thus far is that of the new Ram.
Commander Fish is right.
I keep on screaming to anyone who will hear me that the current team is NOT responsible for the Daimler-decontenting we see right now.
At the same time, our country can’t support three failing automakers forever. One will have to be liquidated… and I believe that will be Chrysler.
I keep on screaming to anyone who will hear me that the current team is NOT responsible for the Daimler-decontenting we see right now.
What exactly has Nardelli done for Chrysler so far? We all know what he did for Home Depot. I guess he is waiting for more US taxpayers’ bailout money, so he can collect another multi-hundred million dollar bonus and disappear into the darkness. He is the epitome of today’s dangerous, destructive, thieving MBAs. His kind is 100 times worse than any plague that lawyers have ever inflicted upon this country. Over the past 25 years I have seen them in action over and over again. They are like locust. One of them shows up, calls up the rest, they come, prey, and when the corpse stops moving, they move on. They never invent anything. They are parasites.
Nardelli and team, we now know, bought Chrsyler to slowly shut down its production of automobiles, rebadge cars made by other companies, in Mexico and Asia, as Chyslers, Dodges and Jeeps, and then make money primarily off of the financing of those cars.
Nardelli not take his position to reverse the damage that Daimler did to Chrysler as an automobile manufacturing company, he took his position to end its existence as an automobile manufacturing company. Unfortuantely the automobile market crash got in the way of this plan, and now he’s crying “what about the jobs”.
@no_slushbox
Well said.. that is exactly the type of plan that Cerberus would cook up.
Here is my conspiracy theory for the day…
Bailouts for the automakers are critical for the 2010 elections. Need to maximize the number of dues paying union members to flow the cash to the Democrats…
I expect the next plan to ramp up production to 20M units with car crushers installed at the end of every assembly line.
“YO LARRY! .. Did this unit pass all the inspections?”
“GOOD TO GO BOSS!”
“HEY EARL! CRUSH IT!”
Right on, no_slushbox. Like I said, they are parasites.
CommanderFish:
“To be fair, Nardelli was not there when Chrysler was producing the vehicles that are currently getting bad ratings. Those normally run 3 or so MY’s behind, which puts it back in DCX years.”
Steven Lang:
“I keep on screaming to anyone who will hear me that the current team is NOT responsible for the Daimler-decontenting we see right now.”
hwyhobo:
“What exactly has Nardelli done for Chrysler so far?”
It’s not just Nardelli but Cerberus and Press and LaSorda as a whole. Here’s a quick list:
Cerberus hired all new management (something we have been screaming at GM to do, to no avail).
They have cut models and consolidated dealerships (something we have been screaming at GM to do, to no avail).
They have cut production (capacity) and employees (costs) because of the unprecedented drop in auto sales (something we have been screaming at GM to uh, well, you get the point).
They have improved interiors in several models and new models. The Challenger and Ram interiors are so much better than the penny pinching crap of the Dumbler era.
They greenlighted the Challenger, which I believe would never have happened if Dumbler was in control.
They explored alliances with other automakers; some failed to materialize (Nissan), some have started (VW) and some are being explored (FIAT). They didn’t get into a stupid situation like GM did vis-a-vie FIAT.
They have a program to develop practical, profitable electric cars (unlike GM’s “moonshot” that will cost too much, arrive too late, and not make them any money). It looks like between the two of them (if they are still in business) that Chrysler’s will be on the market first.
They have improved reliability. Warranty claim rates are down 30 percent. The cars in Consumer Reports that were surveyed in the spring of 2008 were built in the fall of 2007, shortly after the transition from Daimler to Cerberus ownership. CR measurements are based on three years of reliability data for each model, so it will take a considerable amount of time for changes implemented after the Cerberus takeover to appear in full.
As for Nardelli himself, he was the only one who said he would take $1 for a salary and the only one who said if saving Chrysler ment he would lose his job as CEO then so be it. Can you even imagine Ricky baby saying that?
Cerberus has owned Chrysler for less than 2 years; they are changing direction away from the path Daimler was taking. In the auto industry you can’t change direction in a few months, it takes years. Do you even know the plans for Chrysler, what new models are coming, what new technology, etc? Are you aware of the interior and other upgrades that have been made for 09? Or the new engines with much improved MPG that will be here shortly? Or do you just assume everything is the same as when Daimler controlled it.
They have made mistakes (like humans are wont to do), they will make some more in the future. But they are not the the total cluster f#*k that GM mgt and the BOD are.
I am not going to argue with anyone who thinks the USA should fund Chrysler. It’s your money do what you want.
I am in Canada. What I will argue for is cutting our (Canadas) ties with this latest incarnation of Nigerian Scammers. Once they hook you on the first installment, the come back with an even bigger payment request, they play on the fact that you already sunk in money you don’t want to lose.
It’s time to cut our losses and move on. If we bow to this latest multi-billion dollar ultimatum, there will only be another down the road. Cut our losses, take our lumps, then we can watch this play out down south, with no more stake in the game.
And no I am not discounting the human cost. My own company is in Chap 11 right now and I could lose my job any day with no severance, nothing.
The money is better spent on re-training etc.
Time to write my MP and tell not to bow to the latest Chrysler ultimatum.
I watch at least a bit of “Squawk Box” on CNBC every morning. Generally, the three hosts are far more critical of the bailouts, especially for the Big 3. This AM they were much too eager to have Nardelli on and consequently played a lot of softball.
Phil LeBeau is a lot like the sports reporter at your local paper or TV station. He values his “contacts” at the Big 3 too much to risk asking difficult questions or making critical comments and losing that access.
Bytor :
March 18th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I am in Canada. What I will argue for is cutting our (Canadas) ties with this latest incarnation of Nigerian Scammers. Once they hook you on the first installment, the come back with an even bigger payment request, they play on the fact that you already sunk in money you don’t want to lose.
I am in Canada too.
This morning CBC reported that Canadian auto sales in January was down by a staggering … 4%!
And they are asking for billions of bailouts.
Should Canadian tax payers pay for the sluggish sales of Chrysler in the US market?
If Canadian is 10 times larger (in population) than the US, OK, why not just save the little brother. But really, the US is 10 times larger than Canada, and the US itself has no clue as how to save those companies.
Shall I blame the CAW thugs? Or the spineless politicians?