Comments on: Jerry York: Chrysler Can’t Make It; Jeep to M&M?

By: geeber

geeber — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:38:43 +0000

jurisb: Warning! Any car company with common sense, don`t buy anything that deals with USA plus car manufacturing. Have you got any positive merger or purchase of any American company that would have yelded anything but cancer to the buyer? Warning! Fools are destined to repeat history, not learn from it….

I know it must be hard to accept, but the history of VW, Renault and now Daimler in the U.S. shows that the problem was with the EUROPEAN company. Chrysler was HEALTHY when Daimler bought it, and VW started with a clean sheet of paper when it opened its Westmoreland County, Pa., plant in 1978. AMC was sick when Renault bought a controlling interest, but Renault proceeded to run the company into the ground during a boom market for new vehicles.

European companies don’t know how to run plants outside of Europe all that well, they badly botch the merging of corporate cultures and they have a very limited understanding of the American mass market.

By: TriShield

TriShield — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:17:24 +0000

I doubt Cerberus will break Jeep from Chrysler. It’s the only brand that has value and would leave them stuck with two brands with nearly zero value.

Jeep is a niche brand, any automaker that owns it should know that. It can’t sell cars, it can’t sell car-based things with any credibility or without tarnishing it’s brand image. Jeep needs to be a pure 4×4 brand and doing that is where it flourishes.

By: Sherman Lin

Sherman Lin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:12:28 +0000

If this happens, it will be interesting to see how domestic fans can still try to pull off the spin that a made in the US Indian owned Jeep company is good for the US but a made in the US Japanese owned Toyota is bad.

By: Martin Albright

Martin Albright — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:19:35 +0000

Two points:

First, this could be Mahindra’s “foot in the door” to the US market which would give them a leg up on the Chinese who AFAIK are still searching for a way to break into the US auto market.

Second, this wouldn’t be the first confluence of Jeep and Mahindra. I believe Mahindra made flat-fendered Jeeps under license for decades in India after WWII (and as far as I know they may still do so.) Google “Mahindra Jeep” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

By: thetopdog

thetopdog — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:14:25 +0000

It’s funny how a few years back Jeep’s lineup consisted of the Wrangler, Cherokee and Grand Cherokee. Then they decided they somehow needed to expand/neuter their lineup with awful offerings like the ‘cute’ Liberty, the useless Patriot/Compass and the corpulent Commander. Now they might have to cut their lineup down to just Wrangler and Grand Cherokee, which is one less model than they had before

By: iNeon

iNeon — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:01:31 +0000

Jurisb–

This fool’s spent over a decade– and less than 20 grand, *all-inclusive*– to drive his Chrysler neon 170,000 miles.

He’ll do it again– you’re right.

If you knew much, you’d not blanket-statement by saying it’s a distinctly domestic thing. Chrysler’s ills began when the Germans showed up.

Period.

Instead, I’d like you to Google: ‘Jeep Curse.’ That’ll tell you something of value. =P

By: jurisb

jurisb — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:53:37 +0000

Warning! Any car company with common sense, don`t buy anything that deals with USA plus car manufacturing. Have you got any positive merger or purchase of any American company that would have yelded anything but cancer to the buyer? Warning! Fools are destined to repeat history, not learn from it….

By: SherbornSean

SherbornSean — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:04:32 +0000

York is right about Chrysler, although it may be a couple of years and several billion dollars befoer the fat lady sings.

Selling Jeep would be a smart move for Cerberus, as it would get them some cash to stay in the game a few more years or to exit with some semblance of dignity.

But the right buyer for Jeep is not an expert on cost, quite the opposite. Jeep needs an owner that knows how to manage a luxury brand. This means a company like Fiat (think Ferrari), LVMH (they aren’t carmakers, but they do know how to manage luxury brands better than anyone) or Harley Davidson.

An alternative would be Renault/Nissan, which could leverage its global footprint to turn Jeep into a global brand.

Finally.

By: lprocter1982

lprocter1982 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:49:37 +0000

That would be a sort of surprise – we may be seeing Indian cars over here before Chinese ones.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:39:01 +0000

Well. Former CXO’s can’t see how it can be done. I would say this is a very positive sign for Chrysler.