Cerberus and Chrysler: Okay, now what?
In
Greek mythology Cerberus is a three-headed dog who guards the entrance to Hell. So is Chrysler the definition of Hell?
Now that the dust has settled a bit, and once the deal is signed, the tough work begins. So what do you think is going to happen with Chrysler? Will Cerberus march through Chrysler like Sherman marched through Georgia, slashing and burning everything in sight?..
Or will the steps taken be more measured?
First off you have to figure out what Chrysler has that is working, and what is not working. We know the minivans are working. The Dodge Ram and Sprinter, as well as the Jeep Wrangler are working. That's pretty much it as I see it. I suppose you could argue a case for the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge spin-offs, but the luster on their stars has diminished quite a bit this past year or so. The mid-size Chrysler/Dodge cars and CUV Jeeps are a joke; strictly rental car stuff. There are way too many mid-size SUVs, and a lot of them leave much to be desired, although I think the upcoming Jeep Liberty looks pretty good.
Should be interesting to watch, for sure. One thing that concerns me is how are Chrysler customers going to react? Are they going to stick with Chrysler? Or will they bail, figuring that buying a Chrysler vehicle now could be risky and/or that the resale value in any Chrysler product could go down the tubes with all this uncertainty?
Here are a couple of links of what others think: From the
Detroit News (
here) and from the
Baltimore Sun (
here).
Image: Getty Images Europe / Thomas Niedermueller
- Permalink | Comments (3)
- Posted by: Bob Holland May 15, 2007, 6:17 AM
- Categories: Chrysler
I agree it will be intersting either cerberus will help make chrysler profitable or drive chrysler further to the ground and leave it in a worse state than it already is. of course financial woes are not chryslers only problem. They also have had dud models such as the compass and caliber and there are way too many mid size SUVS and as stated earlier many of them are questionable quality. To further prove my point try this little game my brother made up involving the Jeep liberty. Drive down a road or freeway and count down from 20 or 10 (10 is preferable). As you count down look for any jeep liberties either on the road or parked. If you see one you have to start counting all over again and the whole point is trying to keep from going down to Zero. I know this game might sound a tad stupid but it will show you how popular and how plentiful the liberty is. However as i stated they have to many mid size SUVs such as the commander, the previously mentioned liberty, and the wrangler and grand cherokee models. Also most of chryslers models have always faltered in the fuel mileage department. the Hemi a powerful and legendary V8 that has symbolized chrysler for many years has one flaw. Its extremly thirsty for gas. The fuel saving MDS feature helps but the V8 still does not get the best mileage out there. Also chrysler has always had a lousy advertising department especially in recent years. two cases in point the dodge avenger advertisments with the automatic transmission sticks moved to smoke on the water and the infamous city man advertisements for the compass. Chrysler is trying to prove a point but rather than trying to do what they are doing now they should do what the ask Dr. Z commercials did. Yes ask Dr. Z even though those commercials were kinda lame and some of the jokes wern't that funny. They did a good job emphazizing the positive aspects of owning a chrysler vechicle
I think they will slash and burn. Sell off parts of Chrysler, revise others so they can be profitable. I see ugly, ugly battles with the UAW, though.
So there hasn't been word about Daimler holding onto Jeep? I can't imagine them letting such a goldmine go. All the Chrysler/Dodge products that use Jeep chasses aren't worth much anyway. And the "fluffy" Jeep products should die off anyway.