I think what I saw at Chrysler is what people felt when Iacocca was there. It’s a new level of energy and enthusiasm because there’s new leadership of people that know what they’re doing, of people that have been successful in the automobile manufacturing business.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood waxes eloquent about the New New Chrysler and its Iacoccian leader, Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne. Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club [via Automotive News [sub]] LaHood said Marchionne represents “the next generation of leaders for the American automobile industry.” But who’d have thought Detroit would have had to look outside of, well, Detroit for that? Luckily LaHood was able to ward off such awkward questions by simply stating that “Detroit is back.” Yeah, now that the Italians have taken over. Elsewhere in his Detroit visit, LaHood also pronounced “Taurus is back. Ford is back” after a test drive, confirmed that “high speed rail is not competition for cars,” and predicted Detroit would become a “Midwest cruise-ship capital.” TTAC is still trying to confirm rumors that Secretary LaHood has money on the Lions making the playoffs this year.
After my experience with POS Fords in the ’90s, I hope they AREN’T back.
John
He is right about high speed rail, the competition there is JetBlue, not Toyota.
Although I agree that Marchionne is a capable leader, I believe that Alan Mulally is a better example of the next generation of automotive leaders.
Put him behind the wheel of the POS Chrysler Pacifica I’m renting for the next two weeks. I cannot believe that in this day and age, such an abomination can still be made (much less purchased). The interior is crap, the transmission can’t decide on which gear to be in, it creaks and moans over every surface and groans like an old goat when it goes in reverse. Chrysler is a long, long way from recovery (or better put, much closer to death) than ever thought…
RFC, Mulally is indeed the Iacocca of this generation. I think it will end better as long as I don’t hear about Ford merging with BMW in 2018. Then I’ll start to get nervous! :)
This is totally unlike me…
But like every Ford / Generic Motors vehicle.. and or Chrapsler vehicle…
10yrs should be enough time to turn over the lineup.
Assuming the company doesn’t go through more changes in ownership… than I change my socks..
Re LaHood’s comments: Good Grief!
LaHood said Marchionne represents “the next generation of leaders for the American automobile industry.”
He could be right. My money is on a series of flash-in-the-pan foreign takeovers of divisions spun out of GM and Chrysler as these two spiral into absolute failure. Why would the foreigners buy into Detroit? They won’t. Uncle Sam will pay them take these losers. That’s Washington’s ultimate exit strategy — let the failure appear to happen to someone else — assuming circumstances don’t allow enough time to merely kick the can down the road.
That mention of “high speed rail” is the scariest thing in the speech. Look for the Obamanites to find something else for out-of-work UAW members to do.
Dee-luge-an-al.
I’m not sure I’d be waxing eloquent about Detroit when cranes are dismantling the city in the background.
Lee I. is a “1st-gen” Italian American automotive leader-maybe LaHood just skipped the work visa paperwork for the “next-gen” Italian automotive leader.
http://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/
Sergio Marchionne is not Lee Iacocca.
Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but wasn’t LaHood one of the chief bad guys in Pale Rider? Just sayin….
Iacocca was not Iacocca.
The company was a mess when he came and when he left.
The culture didn’t change.
For that matter IIRC, I think the items that temporarily righted the ship, Minivan and K, were underway when Lido showed up.
Bunter
Who set up this photo op? Declaring Chrysler/Fiat is ‘back’ (I guess he hasn’t looked at the sales figures for September) in front of a city bus? Next thing you know we’ll see the Treasury Secretary telling us our 401K’s are back with Michael Milken standing behind him.
We finally have the definition of change; bury the problem under billions of taxpayer dollars and baffle ’em with BS. “Midwest cruise-ship capitol” ? What the heck is he talking about? The government is using bailout money to twist Detroit’s arm to build EV’s, not interstate cruisers. Come on, Mr. LaHood, didn’t you get the talking points memo?
Given the LaHood is the token (rhymes with smokin’) Republican in the Obama administration, it makes sense that they’d let him play fast and loose when he’s on the loose.
BDB: RFC, Mulally is indeed the Iacocca of this generation. I think it will end better as long as I don’t hear about Ford merging with BMW in 2018. Then I’ll start to get nervous! :)
I hope not. Iacocca was a genius at marketing, and he matched Harley Earl’s ability to pick styling that would appeal to both the “common man” and the “strivers.”
But under his watch at Ford in the 1970s and Chrysler in the 1980s, neither quality control nor engineering were “Job 1.” Iacocca was satisfied to pay lip service to those qualities, but he never made much headway in bringing about true change in those areas, even while he was at Chrysler.
During the mid and late 1970s, Fords had a terrible reputation for quality and reliability – right down there with Chrysler and AMC. Even GM built MUCH better cars than Ford did during the late 1970s. Iacocca was content to sell leather interiors, opera windows and designer trim packages instead of focusing on the basics.
WetWilly :
I’m not sure I’d be waxing eloquent about Detroit when cranes are dismantling the city in the background.
This is the funniest thing I’ve read all week!
ZoomZoom & WetWilly
That’s Portland in the background: ground zero for bikes, trains, and trams in the United States. It’s an odd choice for this post, to say the least.