By 1995 the bloom had started to come off the Jeep/AMC acquisitions. It was those that saved Chrysler a second time, even as the K-car and minivan magic was winding down. The only other thing Chryco had was Mitsubishi/DiamondStar (e.g. Colt, Ram D-50, Laser, Conquest, Stratus, etc) products.
The LH series vehicles, Neon, and Grand Cherokee were all AMC legacy, already in development when Chryco took over. Even the new Ram was AMC personnel designed. Chrysler had nothing of its own, as others have pointed out earlier in this post, and an American keiretsu plus vehicle centers or not, Chrysler still made vehicles with detonating transmissions that couldn’t keep their paint. Throw in Capt. Kirk and Iaccoca’s attempted coup, and Eaton could see the writing on the wall well enough. The Germans badly overpaid, saving the “Crisis Corporation” once more, only to see it slip away under their watch.

Yes, Iaccoca was the Chrysler hero in the ’80s but after his retirement, he supported Kerkorian’s takeover attempt circa 1995 which was the proximate cause of Eaton’s frantic search for a white knight.

Someone wanted a Patriot?!

I remember Chrysler back in ‘95. Heady days indeed.

A major focus was in product development, where vehicle centers (modeled after Honda) were created to realign the old functional organization into a product-driven organization. Engineers responsible for electrical components, body engineering, chassis engineering, and manufacturing engineering were all put together under one general manager, who took a role something like the Toyota chief engineer. These groups had a single focus—produce excellent vehicles that customers will want to buy at a low cost so Chrysler could make a profit.

This led to the LH series of vehicles (Chrysler Concorde, Dodge Intrepid, etc.), a modernized minivan, the Neon, an award-winning new Jeep Grand Cherokee, and even the quirky but popular PT Cruiser. Each general manager was learning from the last one and the organization, at least in product development, was getting stronger and stronger. In the meantime, Tom Stallkamp was revolutionizing purchasing and creating what a Harvard Business Review article called an “American keiretsu” (Dyer, 1996). Chrysler soon became the world’s most profitable car company in terms of profit per vehicle—not the biggest, but the most profitable per vehicle.

Toyota was actually concerned by these developments. Up to that point, no U.S. company had shown signs of getting it right and developing a culture that could compete with Toyota. But Chrysler was beginning to get it right.

Fortunately for Toyota, Chrysler was bought by Daimler.”

From The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer

For car buffs, these are excellent reads – one that you won’t want to put down.

For VW fans, “Getting the Bugs Out” is another good one.

A big misconception is that the LX cars were based on Mercedes. That’s not true. The LX program was underway prior to the big merger. The LX’s are 100% US engineered and if you’ve driven one you’d be hard pressed to mistake it for anything remotely German. Chrysler did copy some of Mercedes’ suspension design and some electronics for the car but that’s really about it. They drive big and American, as they should

Chrysler has had it’s ups and downs over the years, but it wasn’t so long ago that things were going pretty well. A few years ago they had a product lineup that was fairly solid and could have been built upon with wise management, excellent redesigns, and good marketing.

The second generation big-rig styled Ram was best in class, it debuted Chrysler’s new HEMI engine resurrected a legendary brand name and making it the most powerful truck at the time. They produced modern, distinctive and thoroughly American fullsize cars that people actually wanted to buy. The Neon SRT4 lit the budget tuner world on fire like the Plymouth Road Runners, Dusters and Demons of Chrysler’s hey day. The Pacifica was a rich and expensive looking vehicle inside and out that made the crossover mainstream and featured Chrysler’s best modern interior. The previous generation Grand Cherokee and Wrangler were very good looking vehicles and true to the brand’s off-road heritage. Chrysler also founded SRT, which out of the Big Three American tuner knock-offs was the best. Every vehicle SRT got their hands on they turned into a fire breather, even the lowly Neon and goofy German Crossfire. They made the resurrectede four-door Charger thoroughly badass. They made a Jeep that wasn’t designed to go off-road but was so outrageously cool that people didn’t care. It made Ford’s dying SVT look weak and GM’s performance division (with no unifying brand name across GM’s products) look silly. When Mercedes was losing money for the merger years ago Chrysler was making it.

It’s amazing how just a few bad product ideas (Commander, Caliber, Patriot, Compass, Nitro) and horrific redesigns (Avenger, Sebring) and overproducing could take Chrysler from hero to zero in virtually one year. They pretty much pissed everything they had going for them away.

It is a real shame. The minivans are alright, the new Ram looks fantastic inside and out, the Challenger has finally arrived and it’s one of the best looking cars on the road, the Wrangler finally has four doors, the Viper has outlapped pretty much everything else on the ‘Ring and their fullsize cars are still good years after they released. But everything else they make now is highly undesirable and almost Chinese-like in their quality and embarrassing styling. I can’t believe it’s come to this.

The 1993 LH sedans (Intrepid/Concorde/LHS) were very well received upon their introduction, but issues with the 2.7L V6 sludging and the severe cost cutting that led to issues made sure that even after the refresh this car could never keep momentum

The first (1994) Neon was a slap in the face to the compact world. It competed with the class staple, the Civic, on almost every level. Once again, severe cost cutting and this time an issue with the head gasket on the 2.0L I4 made sure this car also couldn’t keep momentum. The second Neon in 2000 was a better quality car, but the driving dynamics of the Neon (the part that made the first one great) were just gone. I think we got a picture of what could have been with the Neon SRT-4, but the damage was already done by that point.

The “Cloud Cars” (1995 Stratus/Cirrus/Breeze) were also well received (MT COTY 1995, C&D 10 Best 96/97), but they suffered the same cost cutting as Chrysler’s other cars of the time. This time around they let the car die on the vine. As the new Altima, Camry, and Accord came out, Chrysler literally did NOTHING with the car to keep it relevant. The Stratus/Sebring refresh in 2001 was way too litte, way too late.

The 1994 Ram and 1996 minivans are also good examples.

The neon-based SRT4. This was an honest car that set out to be a fast, decent-handling compact car. It succeeded, being faster than the Mazdaspeed Protege and Cobalt SS in a straight line. Its unfortunate that the new SRT4 doesn’t seem to be any better.

My wife and I were particularly intrigued by the Pacifica, because it was a cross between a minivan, wagon, and sports car — an un-SUV. Heck, we even considered a Dodge Caravan, but all they are selling these days are *Grand* Caravans, and the reskin in butt-ugly. Oh, well, we went with a Mazda 5 instead.

Way to misjudge the marketplace, guys. Their lineup is crap these days. What’s so shocking is that 2 years ago I thought they had the best lineup of the Big 3.

Not entirely true. Mercedes gave Chrysler some suspension bits and the five-speed transmission from the prior-gen E-Class: or, in other words, sloppy seconds. Everything else was Chrysler.

This rumour has been going on a long time. The LX cars were mostly done by the time of the merger, save for the rear suspension, which Chrysler was having some trouble with because they had little rear-drive experience outside of trucks.

the Dodge Sprinter,

Not a bad car, but not exactly an engineering wunderkind, either. Basically, they slapped a Dodge grille on a preexisting product.

A product, I might add, that hasn’t managed to make significant gains against the ancient Ford E-Series.

the Crossfire,

Or, as it was also known, a decontented, first-generation SLK with better styling amortized over a longer period.

This was a loser when it hit the market. It rotted on Chrysler’s lots and did nothing other than allow Mercedes to better it’s balance sheet with regards to the losing investment that was the SLK.

The best part of the SLK was Chrysler’s styling. Everything Mercedes about this car is a waste.

5-speed transmissions,

Which they would have gotten anyway, eventually. It’s not like Aisin or Getrag won’t sell you one, if you ask them.

engineering resources,

Pah! This is perhaps the greatest of the Merger Of Equal Lies.

Mercedes forced a ill-concieved software-and-process change down Chrysler’s throat at a time when they were in mid-design of several vehicles, resulting in Chrysler having to go back to the drawing board on the Sebring/Stratus and Neon/PT replacements. This torpedoed the small-car partnership with Mitsubishi and effectively put Chrysler five to seven years behind in development of it’s bread and butter vehicles.

Did you ever wonder how the five-year-old PT Cruiser could have been better than the Caliber, or how the Sebring could be so patently awful? That was Mercedes’ doing.

and cash.

How? In reverse? Chrysler had the healthiest stockpile of cash of the North American marques going into the merger. Mercedes effectively smashed the cookie jar to pay for their model expansion.

And they lost their ass selling the company

I think it’s more accurate to say that they wrecked Chrysler and couldn’t admit it was their own fault for a) doing so or b) not getting out quickly enough. Schrempp did the worst of it, and Zetsche was lucky to find a patsy in Cerberus to take it off his hands.

I have no pity for GM: where they are is purely their own doing, but Chrysler’s current state is about 80% Mercedes’ fault. I have no idea how Mercedes’ management hasn’t found itself at the business end of lawsuits and/or public-relations campaigns. What they did to Chrysler bordered on criminal, and Cerberus’ attempted parting out of the corpse pales in comparison.

Let’s not forget that it was Mercedes’ management that brought forth the Compass, Patriot, Caliber, Sebring and Avenger. Or that it was Mercedes who killed the ME Four Twelve because it would have made the AMG CLK and SL look bad, or that Mercedes benefited greatly from Chrysler’s (!!!!) QA and design work, turning the ML from Recall Queen of All Time to a reasonably decent performer.

I’ve also driven the Magnum and Nitro as rentals, the Nitro w/ 4WD, and been less than pleased.

I’ve ridden in a Hemi 300c and thought it was a nice car.

I thought the Nitro handled like a giant barge-mobile, and was appalled to find how unsteady this 4WD vehicle was when ice began to form underneath overpasses. Later, I was shocked when I parked my Subie next to one and found the “barge-mobile” wasn’t much bigger.

The Magnum was an involuntary “upgrade”, and it just pulled gas station dollars from my wallet offering nothing in return.

In the past I’ve also had rental companies inflict the Neon on me. What an execrable piece of crap. I guess that one pre-dates Daimler.

I thought that a front wheel drive Patriot with a manual trans might be okay also, as a used car bargain.

If I were buying new, though, it would be the Hondas every time.

I think that’s Chrysler’s problem exactly.

Sadly your experience is not an endorsement for Chrysler, the coupe was a rebodied Mitsubishi Eclipse (the sedan was completely different, but also pretty decent, with a theoretically better double wishbone front suspension.).

Recently rented a 2008 Sebring for a 10-hour trip: AWFUL, HORRIBLE… I actually became nauseous in that car because of the Grey plastic everywhere. I can’t look at that car now because it really, genuinely turns my stomach.

My wife and I rented same car a while back. My wife, who pays little attention to cars, got in, looked around and said “who makes this crap?” Nuff said.

Oh, and with about 3000 miles on it, the washer reservoir leaked, the turn signal stuck, and the front end rattled. Mmm-mmm, quality product.

John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09lTp0cOWa4&feature=related

Or this advertisement: “Dr. Z — what are the benefits of the merger between Daimler and Chrysler?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GwZbRs57Yw&feature=related

Then there is this, Dr. Z finding his real calling as a bartender in January 2007! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cPTRgLlIyo&NR=1

npbheights: I agree with you, the infusing of AMC talent into Chrysler made a huge difference for the good. It is similar to the way in which VW’s acquisition of financially struggling Auto Union (Audi, etc.) gave them the know how to build modern front wheel drive, water cooled vehicles which was absolutely essential for VW’s progress. VW had ridden the rear engine, air cooled technology horse at least five years after it should have been put out to pasture.

yeah, i saw that 300 wagon in a magazine, in SRT8 trim no less, and i have to say, while i’m no Chrysler fan, i thought that car looked great