By Robert Farago
June 11, 2008 -
Now that Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli has recovered from his back injury (after bending over backwards to assure his employer that the ailing American automaker wasn't about to implode), Boot 'Em Bob's amped-up the PR. (No, I don't attribute the end of the radio silence to yesterday's Chrysler Suicide Watch.) Nardelli appeared on CNBC [reported via Bloomberg] to tell the world that ChryCo "had" $9b in the kitty last year. Let's see… a $1.6b loss last year, a catastrophic sales decline this year, the need for a multi-billion dollar float to keep the lights on, massive capital investment in competitive new small car products– oh wait, scratch that. The bottom line? "We're still in very good shape," Nardelli told the network. Yes, well, he would say that, wouldn't he? But what about this? "I have to take charge to get us through 2008 and make sure we are better positioned to 2009," Nardelli said. I have to take charge? Not I am taking charge? Uh-oh. Continuing the theme of decisiveness, Nardelli revealed to Reuters that Chrysler "may have to go back and resize" production. Ya think? The truck-heavy company's sales declined 19 percent so far this year.
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POWERED
June 11th, 2008 at 9:55 am
“We’re still in very good shape,”
The use of “still” is very worrying, and could indicate “for how long?”
June 11th, 2008 at 10:00 am
“I have to take charge to get us through 2008 and make sure we are better positioned to 2009″
Uh… if Nardelli hasn’t been in charge all this time, who has? And what have they been paying him to do?
June 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
They’re all wearing Carhartt jackets. Perhaps this is to endure the harshness that is to come.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Somebody tell Bob this isn’t Home Depot he is talking about.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:28 am
No audited financial statements, no credibility.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Samir, couldn’t have said it better myself. In fact everything that Chrysler releases is on a thick cloud of suspicion these days.
I do think the ultra-cheap interior in the Durango translates fairly well into the Journey. But still… when you’re asking $20,000+ you should demand a standard of quality that is far better than that. I’ve been able to drive a Durango for free this week (long story) and I have to say that the interior is simply the absolute worst I’ve ever seen in a contemporary SUV. Given my experiences with the Armada and Liberty in their initial launches that’s saying an awful lot.
Sad really. Chrysler has a ton of potential but virtually no effective management that can address their core problems. Daimler cheaped out their entire line in much the same way they did to the C-class for 15+ years…. and with Chrysler asking their suppliers to cheap them out even more, they have no real chance for survival in their current form.
Someday our kids will be reading case studies on Chrysler as to why they failed. Something tells me we could write it up right now.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
One thing I have learned is that when management starts telling you all is well, start heading for the lifeboats.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
The jackets are b/c they couldn’t afford to heat the offices… Now they are in shorts and flipflops b/c they can’t afford suits or a/c…
Seriously I hope Chrysler comes out of this much stronger and much, much wiser!!!
June 11th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
too bad Lee is retired!
June 11th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I don’t see much hope for chrysler. They don’t have the capital to develop competitive new models. They don’t have any overseas operations to draw new models from.
I give them five years, tops.