Bloomberg: Cerberus Wants to Sell Chrysler
Ever since Cerberus bought Chrysler, they've said they're in it for "the long run" in spite of the private equity firm's reputation as a "strip and flip" operation. On the other hand, we've maintained they'll unload the moribund automaker ASAP, in spite of what the three-headed-dog keeps barking. Apparently Bloomberg agrees with us. In an article about Nardelli's draconian measures to make the company profitable, the news org declares "Cerberus, a private-equity firm, would like to make a profit by selling Chrysler within two or three years. That means turning the ailing automaker into a tightly managed operation that generates cash instead of burning it." What's not clear: if the "two or three years" begins now, or if it started at the time Cerberus took control last May. Either way, look for Chrysler's sale to open the door to the U.S. market for a Chinese or Indian automaker.
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As appealing as Jeep is as a brand, it would absolutely fail if sold to an overseas company. A foreign Jeep would alienate most of their loyal buyers and would have people screaming bloody murder. Look at how passionate they are over the shape of a headlight. A Chinese Jeep would not sell. The HD idea is very intriguing. If all they focused on were Jeeps, maybe just a Wrangler and Grand Cherokee, it will be a good fit and they would add an American Icon to the HD brand. Not to mention they could ditch the bloated dealer network in place as part of the sale and sell them out of Harley Dealers. HD dealers are known for good customer service and often hold community events for owners. This type of culture fits right in with most Jeep owners. I don't see it as a bad fit, but I highly doubt Harley is looking to get into the auto business.
Why would anyone bail out Cerberus, I mean buy Chrysler? Wouldn't they rather wait until it goes Ch 11 and actually gets rid of all the dead weight? At this point there is a lot of work to be done to get Chrysler profitable, especially for green automaker that doesn't have product to just drop a badge on.
@ edgett (Roughly) Marantz was bought by Philips (which, as far as i know, is a dutch firm) then became japanese (the global brand being bought by the japanese subsidiary) and Philco was partly bought by ... Philips (again), Ford and a brazilian bank. And Westinghouse nows belongs to Toshiba. I don't see a lot of chinese in those... Well, Chinese rocks anyway
@ kericf Jeep, then part of AMC, was quite french at the beginning of the eighties. It didn't seem to stop Proud American Buyers. On another note, the Carlos way seems the most plausible one, both in terms of complementarity and image. I guess in termsof PR it will be easier to sell Chrysler to a french-japanese entity rather than to some chinese .