ted mittelstaedt

This is an extreme simplification of things.

The head honchos of the UAW have their own accountants who can read a
balance sheet. They aren't dumb. This so called "take it or leave it"
offer
was negotiated between Cerberus and the UAW before Chrysler was
purchased. Proof that the UAW and Cerberus came to an agreement is
that Cerberus went ahead with the purchase - they never would have done
so if the UAW hadn't struck a deal.

The problem now is in selling this agreement to the UAW membership. So
what the apparent tack is going to be, is that both the head honchos at the
UAW and Cerberus have worked out a propaganda campaign to convince
the membership that it's big bad Cerberus who is pushing things around and
that this take it or leave it agreement is the only option.

Of course there is. Once the UAW accepts the contract this summer, you
would
be daft if you think that Cerberus is going to sit back and run the company
forever. Not at all, instead, they will be very concerned with getting the
company
profitable - but if for some reason they fail, they will have no choice but
to write
it off and break up the company.

And here we go with the Yugo all over again....

Ted

desertbob

Another example of flimsly WSJ "reporting." Eaton was brought on
board LONG before this time by Iacocca to impose a system of financial
controls on what was basically an uncontrolled enterprise wasting
money on decisions made by incompetent middle and upper management. It
was Eaton's job to seek out "finance guys" to implement the new
system, which is exactly what he did at Woodward Avenue for GM. He
was/is NOT a "car guy;" he's a beancounter of the same ilk whose
decisions at GM tanked the company. Iacocca lists naming Eaton as his
successor as "the biggest mistake of my life." Iacocca DID have a car
guy, Bob Lutz, now mired at a collapsing GM.


Didn't happen that way. Eaton took over and immediately cut off all
but "skeleton" funding for the Belvidere Design Center, opining that
Chrysler Group's product line was "good enough" to compete. Remember,
Eaton was NOT a "car guy." At the same time, he slashed operating
costs at the plants through attrition-driven downsizing, cut quality
engineering staff and made other obvious gaffes, and then started
looking for a buyer. THAT's where Schrempp fit into this...he was the
proverbial sucker to Eaton's polished pitch. Eaton took the money and
ran like hell, knowing that hoary K-car based products and a
much-troubled LH platform were ticking time bombs.


That's because they're shitty vehicles. The 300 is exactly what the
WSJ writer implies...a "gangta car," only now purchased by blacks in
ghettos, who immediately deck them out with 22" baby buggy wheels and
thumper car stereos, only to have them repossessed a few months later.
The 300 is dead. One only has to look at the depreciation of these
toadmobiles to know. Another zero..the "Charger", as well as the
panned Caliber, which is not selling well at all due to bad design and quality gaffes.


The UAW will have to tell Snow to shove it. There will be no major
"give-ups." Those days are over, and Labor is tired of fat cat
private equities like Cerberus crying poor mouth when they sit on
billions of cash in some very right wing pockets. When Iacocca
negotiated cuts from UAW in the '80s, he did it from a position of
poverty, and UAW's Doug Fraser knew it. Iacocca told the bargaining
committee that he had "lots of jobs at $17, but I haven't got any at
$20." Fraser knew Iacocca was honest and reliable, and decided to
join in Chrysler's rehabilitation. This isn't the case now. Right
wing fruitcakes like Snow will look at that '80s episode as a sign of
weakness and will try to pin all of Chrysler Group's troubles on
labor, just as GM and Ford have tried to do. Ain't gonna work this time.

Bernhardt (correct spelling; again, the WSJ couldn't report the
temperature correctly) is a major mistake. He's responsible for the
ghettomobile 300 and the now-failing Caliber and "Charger" as well as
other screw-ups. Snow got him on board mainly because Snow doesn't
know crap about the car biz, and Dr. Z probably sold Bernardt to him
to get rid of him from D-B.


If the "Dodge Nitro" is any example, they will fail at this. My local
(D)C dealer cannot sell "Nitros" even with $3000 spiffs.

ROFLMAO!!! Snow?? Quayle? These are Republipedo Party silver
spooned dumbasses! Snow almost tanked CSX and Quayle...well, all
anyone has to do in research there is listen to some of his "speehes"
and read some of his Bush-like scribblings to know what's going on
there...another born-rich, dyslexic moron á la George Dubya Bush, with
no credentials at all except those bestowed upon him by other
Republipedoes and the WSJ.

The WSJ has no credibility writing about Chrysler at all. All you
have to do is dig up all those anti-loan-guarantee articles they wrote
back in '79, '80 and '81 to see that these Wall St. shills are just
that...shills. A perfect takeover target for a right wing whack job
like Rupert Murdoch, sure, but any business/financial sagacity?
Fahgetddaboutit. Remember, it was the WSJ's editorial statements that
said over and over that Chrysler under Iacocca would fail and the
cadaver should have been divied up among all the banks holding
Chrysler Corporation's debt. WSJ also was guilty of false reporting
even then, repeatedly writing that the Federal loan guarantees were a
"giveaway." Nothing could've been further from the truth. They
pulled the same stunt during the Conrail reorganization, and cheered
when Snow made a severely undervalued bid, championed by "Newt The
Galoot" Gingrich in the House, to get CR's assets for pennies on the
taxpayer's dollar.

desertbob

....which hasn't even arrived yet.

snoman

Its going to take a lot more than that. The only way Chysler is going
to be able to buy time and stay in bussiness to try to tuen around is
through some serious cost cutting starting with labor. If they do not,
it will not be too long before they are on the auction/chopping block
because Cerberus has neither the money or desire to bankroll them in
current state of operations. Whether Chrysler survives now is more up
to the workforce than the owner because without a big reduction in
operating cost there will be no time or money for R&D for new model to
sell.
-----------------
TheSnoMan.com

some o

Nope, eventually a fine car. My '95 still runs as new.


Not quite, but they made too many.
Doesn't sell here, many new 2006s for 30% off.


Styling for kids. Good functional design though.


UGH! Honda Fit competition?

who

Based on what Cerberus did with their involvement with the Air Canada
recovery, they will tighten up everything and will try higher prices for
a slightly premium product. Less volume higher prices.
This could mean the dumping of some vehicle lines, just as A/C gave up
some less profitable routes.
http://www.cerberuscapital.com/profi..._aviation.html

lloyd

Because everybody who's tried this has been so successful, right? GM
with Cadillac, Ford with Volvo, Nissan with Infiniti...

Good think you're not being paid for advice.


Oh BS. Chrysler has never competed in the Mercedes market, and nobody
in the market for a Mercedes or BMW would even consider Chrysler.

lloyd

Charger is outselling 300 so far this year: http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...01/046193.html


25,000 sales so far this year isn't peanuts.

snoman

It is going to take more than that, Daimler spent 500 million to sell
Chyrsler after all the money was spent (most of it went back to
Chysler Financail) and you do you spend a extra 500 milion to sell a
company unless it stands to cost you a lot more to keep it. Chysler
has major labor cost problems and either they reduce them a lot with
major consesions or they go out of bussiness because there will be no
3rd option here.
-----------------
TheSnoMan.com

who

Generally you're correct, but I've heard a number of hemi buyers say
they changed from Mercedes to Chrysler because that drive train was
almost half the price of the Mercedes.

However most Mercedes buyers don't buy for performance, just image.
We have many Mercedes vehicles around here and they just put along in
the city and seldom are seen on the highway.