In a letter sent to Chrysler employees today, CEO Tom LaSorda encouraged workers to continue to “produce great cars and trucks,” but refused to deny rumors of a possible sale or spin-off of the Chrysler Group from DaimlerChrysler.
“Journalists and analysts have been busy conjecturing over what will happen,” LaSorda wrote. “We simply cannot respond to these reports. The Board of Management has a duty to consider all options; but while this process is ongoing, the Board – including myself – can’t comment on developments because of strict legal requirements.”
“It may take weeks or months before official comments can be made on some issues.”
LaSorda’s comments seem to confirm drastic strategies are being considered by the automaker. Recent rumors have suggested General Motors is seriously considering acquiring the Chrysler Group and integrating it into its family of brands and products.



02/22, 12:33 PM
posted by:
brcart3r
who cares
02/22, 12:53 PM
posted by:
Vroom
Um, maybe the 30,000 employees who still work for Chrysler? Bonehead,
02/22, 1:49 PM
posted by:
BAMF
hey, is the site functioning improperly for anyone else? i cant seem to see the pictures that normally appear in the top right corner of the article.
02/22, 1:50 PM
posted by:
Ricardo Head
Don’t those employees first need great car and truck designs before they can build great cars and trucks?
02/22, 1:52 PM
posted by:
BAMF
good burn ^^^^^
02/22, 2:14 PM
posted by:
rey323
Go ahead and continue building great cars guys while i contemplate whether you will all lose your jobs. Nice message LaSorda.
02/22, 2:21 PM
posted by:
CARnut
Hey BAMF,
I’m having the same problem as well.
02/22, 2:22 PM
posted by:
Stuart
The making part is debatable but the actual design is total crap. You can blame daimler for everything else but the designs are done by chrysler. Who ever thought the sebring looked good needs glasses along with every other car except the challenger
02/22, 2:23 PM
posted by:
Piablo
^… seriously. Nothing like being kept in the dark while senior management works out their mega bonuses.
02/22, 2:23 PM
posted by:
Stuart
And the designers need the sack starting with the head of design. MAKE GILLES HEAD OF DESIGN. More 300C and less sebrings
02/22, 2:26 PM
posted by:
hockeygod1331
Chrysler design team is dropping the ball, especially with the Sebring and Avenger. Stop taking the same damn styling cues and pasting them everywhere..less is more.
02/22, 2:27 PM
posted by:
A4
id be mum too if my company was viewed as a mistake
02/22, 2:35 PM
posted by:
Kaptain75329
BAMF – same issue here. Looks like a LLN problem. I would assume they’re working to fix it or perhaps they decided to change the format a little bit.
.
rey323 – Yea no kidding. I know the corporate execs want to calm the fear of the unknown by at least appearing to keep people in the loop. But when you know as much about what’s going on after reading such a memo as you did before, it’s kind of pointless. They need to say something, not more of nothing. The rank and file doesn’t appreciate being told they’re in the loop when no one would be stupid enough to believe that. But management does it because they need to something, anything, even if it means ultimately saying nothing. I don’t envy the execs any more than This sucks for everyone over there, no matter who they are or what they do. Not pretty.
02/22, 4:57 PM
posted by:
buenos
Interesting. The other day there were interviews with Chrysler workers at the Brampton Ontario plant about the possibility of the sale to GM. More than one of the comments were (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Well, they’ve got to be better than the assholes that we work for now ” Yup. Loyal CAW workers. That’s JUST the person I’d want doing a fine job on assembling my quality Chrysler product.
02/22, 5:14 PM
posted by:
brcart3r
My first comment was somewhat a joke. I’m not completely that ignorant, I am a business major and understand that these people are working and know that there jobs are about to be lost. It’s just like the movie Roger and Me made by Michael More. The people of Flint Michigan went through the same thing working at the GM plant. However this is all just part of business, but it does devastate the working population. Not every car company can have great success; this is all part of business.
02/22, 5:50 PM
posted by:
Bobzooki
Has the site been hacked by 1952 MG TD because he/she didn’t get his/her little ole hillbilly way?
02/22, 6:46 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
BAMF: yeah, same here. We’ll see what management has to say.
Anyway, I really hope that Chrysler won’t be lost to a company that doesn’t care about their excellent lines of vehicles. The RAM, Viper, 300 etc. MUST live on, otherwise they might as well close up shop and cease production.
02/22, 9:47 PM
posted by:
Sharif
i think this is a GMnubmer1fornottolong is trying to turn this into a GM fansite
02/22, 10:04 PM
posted by:
Sharif
typo, remove “this is a” from my previous post ^
02/22, 10:28 PM
posted by:
toyota#1forever
brcart3r… you watch michael moore Crap????? wow??? now theres a historicaly unbiased fact finding news reporter (sarcasm obviously). the guy spews nothing but easy to sell liberal propoganda. i’m assuming you are still in your college (gullible) years or younger.
Kaptain75329… well said.
bobzooki… what with the racist comments? racist pig
re this article imo of course those involved in negotiations cannot speak about sensitive topics. *some* things have to remain secret in business. interesting times ahead
02/23, 4:55 AM
posted by:
akzero
Bad design is Bad design. Who buys a vehicle they do not like nowadays? Also, is it a bad thing if Chrylser is ’spun-off’?
02/23, 4:00 PM
posted by:
Fatstrat
This was a risky experiment from the start IMHO. The cultures just did not seem to integrate very well. The Chrysler fans that hoped for lots of german engineering to work its way over were disappointed, and the MB fans that were aftraid of it channeling the other way didnt have anything to worry about. MB quality did slip significantly during the partnership though I am sure it wasnt due to Chrysler standards migrating to MB factories.
I would like to see Jeep independant of any Parent company, and trim the model menu down and ramp up the creativity and Jeep image. The same for Dodge.
As far as Chrysler in general goes, well, they have a long and important heritage. I would hate to see them go away all together. There is a lot of manufacturing capacity there for the taking if some company has the courage and innovation.
PS.
I think Tommy LaSorda should get out of the car business and back to the Dodgers where he knows what he is doing.
02/24, 8:57 AM
posted by:
young insight
so should one struggling auto maker, with a possibility to turn itself around buy another? it seems the only reasoning is to eliminate competition.. but chrysler pretty much sucks… sell it to the chinese or koreans.. maybe theyll play with it and make it profitable.
02/24, 10:48 AM
posted by:
LamborghiniZ
I can’t believe anyone here actually is considering the concept of GM buying Chrysler. Think about that General Motors, the once great and mighty car company that is now in a huge state of decline, losing thousands of dollars on each and every vehicle sold, the car company that, inevitably, will fall from power into bankruptcy, is talking about buying ANOTHER domestic company with almost as many problems?!?! BULL****. General Motors is simply talking like they have interest in buying Chrysler because it is diverting attention from the fact that they are slipping, and slipping fast. This is a media move, they’re gaining attention, making themselves seem like they have the power to do such things these days (they don’t), maybe they could in the good ol’ days, but not now, hell no not now. This PR move is getting everyone worked up, people are thinking GM has some power again, that they could make a big move and do this and that blah blah blah, but really GM is in NO state to make a deal like this, and guess what, THEY WON’T!
02/24, 10:53 AM
posted by:
LamborghiniZ
Conceptualize: GM has roughly $300,000,000,000 in debt. Look at that number. Look at it again. That’s $300 BILLION DOLLARS. GM is not, hold on scratch that, GM will not buy Chrysler. They can’t afford it, handle it, etc.
02/24, 4:34 PM
posted by:
young insight
very true, imagine how bizarre itll be to have a GMC Ram, Chrysler Cobalt or a chevy sebring.. lol.. why not consolidate the worlds ****tiest automakers before they go bankrupt.. haha
02/26, 6:45 PM
posted by:
smelly
grrr