Comments on: Report: DaimlerChrysler could sell Chrysler Group

By: donnymega

donnymega — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:57:10 +0000

I guess This is how the industry is going the way of everything else good in this country. All the outrage a few years back when we went to war over those would question the president and now the feeling is we should have listened to them atleast for input. Good thing for some of you we have free speech in this country because demoralizing part of the organized labor movement that built our prosperity is about as close to economic treason as you can get. Just because you went to school and came out working at Wal-mart as a dayshift manager don’t you dont need to complain about someone else gains made over years of negotiation. Remeber that the free market crowd says we should all get what the market will allow. And these “dumb” autoworkers you speak of were going up against these billion dollar companies with their million dollar lawyers and came out with these signed contracts. Jealousy and lack of backbone to pay a little more for a product that suppots your countries economey is behind all the slanderous comments. As Far as quality the Uaw does not set the quality standards at the plants, the company does, period. Chrysler is the only one of the big 3 that gets it, no one wants to buy an ugly car, ford is catching on but gm is still in the dark. Japanese and european cars are attractive and the us guys got lazy. And the us guys i mean are the companies and engenieers, the uaw does not design anything, they have no say. Basically they work out an agreement and “try” to enforce it on work safety and quality of life benefits. The Uaw’s only problem is not going after these scab plants and import plants in the us and bringing them in for a fair playing field. Wal-mart has no union and gues what else a significant amount of their workers are close to poverty and qualify for goverment medical benifits. If this is what a succesful company is made of then success is creating a 3rd world economy, with no middle class. So I will keep support the UAW that help all of us rise out of the depression and into a superpower. As far as those of you who want to put the Uaw and those who support them down, realise its a jealousy thing and maybe you can get past it. because when these plants close so do the stores around them, the resturants and the housing market will bleed downward. As far as the media being so against companies and chrysler made more in 06 than in 05 but didnt make what they wanted to, well who does. There is a new race to the bottom in american business and this will be the first step toward an economy like the early 1900′s if we dont stand up to these companies. I could right more but im sure no one has read this far unless they agree so if you do please post somthing positive about the labor movement because the only one that seem to have the time are the jealous ones on shift change at the carwash.

By: mrtrainernicehands

mrtrainernicehands — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:35:17 +0000

I have a 1999 Dodge Caravan. It has 300,000 miles on the same engine. Only replaced the trans once. I sold Dodges for 6 years before and during this time. Something happened with quality and performance of the 2001 to 2007 models. Cheaply made and $5000 in the glove department to get people to buy these Vans. I though Mercades would of help Chrysler with their quality issues and make them a better car. Also I feel the styles of many of their car and trucks are not appealing the American people. I am sad!!! I love my Dodge Grand Caravan. I just got done completely repairing and replacing bad parts. The van rides wondefull and gas mileage is good. Also I change to flex fuel!!! I wish I was a zillion aire. I would buy the company myself. Scrap all the people that are not doing well and find out what can be done to make the product better in quality and more fuel efficent. More stylish for the american people!!

By: DialM4Speed

DialM4Speed — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:48:46 +0000

What is really sad is Americans don’t seem to give a crap that yet another industry that they once dominated is going down the drain before their eyes. Oh well…. keep buying those imports!

By: sportsterboy

sportsterboy — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 13:21:26 +0000

First of all: the company is called DaimlerChrysler (before the merger Daimler Benz) sfter the 2 founders Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz more about 120 years ago. Daimler is not owned by Ford, but Jaguar an XJ Daimler, which is more like a trim than anything else. They are alowed to use that name from an old assembly licence of Daimlers in the UK.
And yes, Chrysler did get a lot of support from DC to the point of straining resources everywhere in the DC Group.The Company would be viable if it weren’t so dependent on the US market, where it sells 90% of the product. That market is a killer(look at GM and Ford). The market swings are tremendous, product is key and Chrysler has some great product in the pipeline for that market. Let’s hope they overcome the volatility.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:30:47 +0000

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/10/03/study-domestic-automakers-losing-money-on-every-vehicle/

Says it all

By: Veda

Veda — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:55:24 +0000

I had my share of being an employee in US as part of my “training” and I must say that even in non-union global companies we got plenty of “retards”. So you can imagine what it’s like to have a whole gang of worse retards who are making more than anybody else sucking the big three dry. The big three make the mistake of not making cars people want while they have this big anchor called the union pulling them down.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 10:42:11 +0000

They are retards because they are people that are holding back the big three from making good products. To make good products you need money which the big three are short on at the moment and stupid costs like these make it even worse when you add $1500 to each car before it even started.

That $1500 per car that toyota has to spend on improving quality over the big three. With that you can improve the interior, extend warranties and product life and obviously profitability. They could even pay more bonuses to the workers after but I guess not.

The sooner they move proiduction to china the better. Should teach these pricks a lesson or two.

p.s. All Daimler name brands started life with Gottlieb Daimler. He produced the cars and solds the rights for each company to their countrymen. When he was asked to design a racing car for Emil Jellinek, he realised that they has made a mistake by selling the rights for daimler name to other people so couldn’t use the name. Its then Emil Jellinek suggested using his daughters name for the car which was Mercedes. The company Mercedes then merge with Benz to become Mercedes-Benz after the couldn’t survive alone after the first world war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_Motoren_Gesellschaft

By: Lucifer

Lucifer — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 03:34:01 +0000

daimler (pronounced day-mler) and diamler (pronounced die-mler). both used to be the same company. the former was gottlieb daimler’s subsiduary in england, together with astro-daimler was in austria. today the geramn part is mercedes, the english part is jaguar. they have nothing in common.

By: norby413

norby413 — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:19:08 +0000

stuey,
Despite your butchering of the english language, I think I get your meaning.
Yes, healthcare costs are a problem. Problem for EVERY business in America, and not just union. Do you really think the key is getting Walmart level idiots building the cars for $7 an hour? Yeah, that’ll help quality.
Did you stop to think that if they built cars people actually wanted, they could easily sell them for 1500 more?
And why are hard working Americans, some going back 4 generations with the company, “retards”?
Why do you hate America so much??

By: 1c3d0g

1c3d0g — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:16:35 +0000

Mujician: what? Are you braindead?!? LMAO! How about the shitty Powerstroke V-8 Diesels with broken turbos etc. They were SO BAD that Ford CANCELLED International’s development of a new engine. But don’t take my word for it, just look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navistar_VT_engine

And who’s talking out of his ass again? It’s certainly not me, pal…you better get your facts straight!

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 20:28:30 +0000

Hey norby 413

You ain’t got a clue what you on about do you? You remember the article a couple of weeks ago that said that health care cost put like an average of $1500 on each car they sold.

Well they have to cut cost elsewhere to make up for the money lost paying out for these retards. They normally cut back on development costs to lower cost to make the products price competitive against the non domestic (no uaw cost included) brands.

I can guarantee if the UAW cost were not a problem, Chrysler and GM would be in the black.

By: mujician

mujician — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 19:41:14 +0000

Hey 1c3d0g,
You obviously don’t know shit about cars. I will give you the stecs on the Viper, and styling of the 300. But it all ends their……… Dodge trucks are the biggest peices of crap I’ve ever worked on, and the powertrane on the 300 sucks also. Please, you are going to have to show me some proof to your Dodge is boss on reliability. Everyone in the car business knows that Chrysler has the most tranny problems across the board, Ford has the Dodge diesel by a longshot.

By: protonzdead2me

protonzdead2me — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 07:11:16 +0000

Once upon a time Mercedes’ Daimler wanted to open shop in Britain, the flopped and Jaguar bought them out… thus, until this day the brand name Daimler belongs to Jaguar/Ford.

I think its a very real possibility for Chrysler to go out of business all together. Look at British Leyland once the 2nd biggest auto company in the world.

It would be sad to see them go. They have some good stuff. e.g. 300, viper, wrangler (classic) etc.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 06:48:32 +0000

Whenever Dieter Zetsche is done being the CEO of Mercedes, he ought to take over again temporarily for Chrysler. The current guy at the helm, Tom LaSorda is a union member who rose to the top through a manufacturing background. Doesn’t seem like the type of guy you need running a 21st century car company that’s trying to separate itself from the Fords and GMs. He’s definitely not a strong personality like Zetsche; he was just a tag-along.

By: norby413

norby413 — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:08:20 +0000

stuey,
why don’t you support your assertion that its the unions fault with some actual facts?
Why is it German auto workers are paid even more, yet they have the most profitable car companies in the world?
Perhaps you should reaim your rhetoric to the management that actually MAKES THE DECISIONS on what to build and how to market it?

By: InvisibleEcho

InvisibleEcho — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:05:07 +0000

Well, the article doesn’t indicate that they are considering selling it, just that their CFO says not to rule out anything. So I don’t really see that they will be selling it because the guy DID NOT COMMENT ON IT. From what I’ve seen, Mercedes makes the profits and then Chrysler racks up losses… Having driven around both Chrysler and Dodge products (and hating their crudeness, at least in their SUVs/Trucks) it seems like the only ones in the Chrysler Group worth anything are the ones that get their hand-me-down parts from Mercedes. Which means Chrysler Group doesn’t seem to be innovating anything worthwhile that Mercedes didn’t think of first. That doesn’t sound very much like a merger of equals to me. I don’t think they should sell it, but maybe, just maybe they should think about other means than just “Hand Chrylser all the Mercedes parts.”

By: Zman

Zman — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:20:22 +0000

I agree with 1c3d0g,With all the trick cars and trucks Chrysler is putting out right now wich is top of the pile as far as I am concerned,they would be making a huge mistake.Wait and see what happens when Challenger hits the scene, they won’t even be able to keep up with production,guaranteed.

By: norby413

norby413 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:17:12 +0000

stuart,
Tell me, which vehicles of Chryslers did the UAW design and market?
Did the UAW decide what level of quality to put into Chrysler vehicles?
Which business decisions did the UAW make for Chrysler?
And, as a test of your knowledge, are the union workers at Mercedes paid more or less than UAW workers, and what kind of profit/loss did Mercedes as a stand alone entity make?

By: Bimmer

Bimmer — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:57:59 +0000

Daimler-Chrysler also include Freightliner.

By: F451

F451 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 20:14:47 +0000

90Z: Good points.

By: 90Z

90Z — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:59:58 +0000

@F451: I was merely pointing out that there are many factors that are contributing to the decline of the domestic auto manufacturers. At no time did I say that people buy vehicles by the Big 3 simply because they are American companies. Some do–sure, but some do because there are some good “values for the money” offered by GM. The G6, the Malibu, & the Monte Carlo/Impala are a few of them. The American trucks are top notch, too. I’ve driven domestic vehicles for years now, and I haven’t had a lemon yet. My daily driver will be a domestic vehicle until that’s no longer possible. I don’t see any reason to switch. And if you’re really worried about resale, lease your vehicle. Then, it’s not your problem. Leasing makes more sense anyway since everyone knows that vehicles are a bad investment. The only limitation is mileage.

By: F451

F451 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:36:26 +0000

90Z: It is sad to think that people basically support the BIG 3 because they are American, versus because they know how to properly run business. No wonder the US is becoming second-rate—we condone second-rate. The hard, cold fact is that people want value for their money—not excuses, poor resale, poor reliability; this is the reason other car companies are doing better: They simply provide better value for the money; America could have done the same. P.S. I drive an American car, but it’s getting harder to justify replacing it with another American car; my wife drives a foreign car, and until America does better, she intents to stay away from American cars.
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1c3d0g: Daimler can choose to sell the rights they wish, and retain all those they wish to get.

By: Fireresq157

Fireresq157 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:26:26 +0000

There goes Stuart again bashing unions what else is new. Why don’t the executives give up their multi-million dollar bonuses and kickbacks . I’m sure that will take care of the loses or at least put a serious dent in it. BTW the executives will still be making their millions in base salary. So don’t cry me river.

By: 90Z

90Z — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:18:46 +0000

@Sharif: You realize that the “Big 3″ have repeatedly asked to meet with Bush and he’s refused or canceled every time, right? The goverment is not going to risk alienating all the Toyota/foreign manufacturer lovers by helping out the domestic automakers. They will never risk losing all those votes at election time. Plus, a lot of people think that the Big 3 did it to themselves by letting the UAW dictate the contract negotiations over the past two decades. Unfortunately, this is partially true. The part people often forget is that Toyota & the other manufacturers have the advantage before even one car is sold because they don’t have the UAW in their US auto plants. Not fair, but it’s the reality. Additionally, the domestic automakers have been in business in the US for a century or so. The legacy costs are going to be higher simply because they’ve been around longer. It just makes it that much easier for the foreign manufacturers to pull ahead of the domestics & collect more profit.

By: bepsf

bepsf — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:17:28 +0000

Don’t look for the US Government to do another bailout for Chrysler or Ford – the US has a tough enough time selling their own debt on the international market to pay for this goofy war than to try and guarantee loans for mismanaged and self-serving American corporations who aren’t even keeping jobs in the US (How many GM/Ford/Chrysler assembly plants are in Mexico and Canada and how many US plants are they closing again? And how many Honda/Toyota/Nissan/Subaru/Hyundai plants are opening in the US?)

By: 1c3d0g

1c3d0g — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:17:01 +0000

No, selling Chrysler would be the last mistake Daimler-Benz will ever make. The Dodge Ram is boss in reliability with its I-6 Diesel, the Viper with its V-10 (which can be twin-turbo’d to 1000HP and 1200 ft-lbs. of torque, *at least*) is an amazing car for the price, the 300 with the 5.7L Hemi is the best sedan to come out of America since the ’60′s etc. They’d be a fool to let all of that go.

By: F451

F451 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:16:58 +0000

Sharif,

There is no way in absolute hell that my tax dollars are going to intervene to save those who could save themselves. If Chrysler goes down for the count this “second” time around I’m making plans to attend the funeral.

Ford is contemplating going private, which is what they need to do.

GM is a jeweled juggernaut that only stands a chance by pruning at the top executive levels, implementing a desperately needed succession plan of its execs, reviewing its holdings and selling them off. GM’s ills started decades ago, and now you have what’s seen today.

By: bepsf

bepsf — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:11:38 +0000

Re: Daimler. No A4, Daimler is a Europe-Japan-only brand for top-of-the-line Jaguars (our Super V8 here in the States)

By: Sharif

Sharif — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:19:25 +0000

When will the government intervene to stop all of this madness. Seriously Chryslers in trouble, Ford might be bankrupt by 2010, Ford reported a $5.8 billion loss last quarter, and they are predicting things will get worse before they get better. That is $5.8 billion in 3 months. They only have $23.6 billion left on hand, that is equevalent to another year of similiar losses. Plus GM is doing bad, but the are doing better than they were last year.

By: Doogs

Doogs — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:04:26 +0000

As long as someone ensures that the Jeep Wrangler keeps being built with two solid axles, I could care less what happens to the rest of the Chrysler Group.

By: Ricardo Head

Ricardo Head — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:55:30 +0000

The UAW is flush with union dues and lead by people who claim to know how to run an auto company. I say sell Chrysler to the UAW and let the Union prove its claim of business saavy by turning Chrysler around and building the best cars in the world (like the UAW claims their workers do).
.
.
.
.
cough cough

By: Bobzooki

Bobzooki — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:18:25 +0000

Good riddance to bad rubbish. Dump the lame duck Mercedes.

By: TimG

TimG — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:59:07 +0000

Uebber’s comment was taken out of context. The question was posed and he answered it. They may or may not and that’s big business. One has to wonder what the attraction was in the first place. Nothing against Chryco, but isn’t it the lesser of the 2 “equals”?

By: mujician

mujician — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:56:43 +0000

Who said their trucks are good??? They need a good back hand! Their trucks are and have been the biggest peices of crap for the past 12 years. What is the percentage of people that have owned one that has not had tranny problems, 15-20%? That goes for their crappy cars too. The only thing Chrysler has going for it is their style, their diesel, and the caravan. No one that has owned one can argue that with me, the one person that did had their tranny go out four days later,LOL!!!

By: GL1

GL1 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:53:48 +0000

i agree the big three will ALWAYS be around in some form or another, something that big won’t just fold and never be heard from again..

By: GL1

GL1 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:51:38 +0000

God I HOPE NOT… they were just getting good, they are WAY better than Ford is thats for sure. They are coming out with the Challenger next year I think, I HOPE , i want to see that car it looks GREAT to me.. I hope they’re still in business… jeeezzzzz…

By: nowei

nowei — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:49:27 +0000

I’m actually curious to hear what anybody knows about the nature of the Daimler name in Europe. Because the new Daimler is clearly heavily based on the Jaguar XJ, which leads me to believe that Ford somehow owns the Daimler name. But I don’t know.

Also, I know a lot of Chrysler’s new products are heavily dependent on old Mercedes components, so how would that play into a sale of Chrysler?

The thing is, no matter what happens to companies like GM, Ford, and Chrysler, these manufacturers will probably always be around in some form or another. Even if they go completely bankrupt, someone will end up owning them, and someone will end up starting them back up. Might not be the same as now, but maybe that won’t be a bad thing. Change is inevitable.

/no

By: lanapat7

lanapat7 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:36:10 +0000

Merge with Nissan/Renault.
Nissan needs a good minivan.

By: chris2

chris2 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:46:16 +0000

Now’s Kekorians chance to buy it back!!!

By: angelo

angelo — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:44:20 +0000

Dodge has some value because of its truck sales. The Chrysler 300 brought back the American sedan as it’s supposed to be (Cadillac did too, but the 300 did it in the right price-range for everyone to enjoy). It’ll be a sad day if we live to see Chrysler die.

By: F451

F451 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:35:59 +0000

If anyone had been following the business aspects of this merger from the very beginning—not only from the US side, but from the Germany side—none of this comes as a surprise. Chrysler has always been an albatross that was used for other purposes….and now its purpose is done. Really no great loss for a company who saw its day decades ago.

By: Renton

Renton — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:27:50 +0000

Wow, just when the cars were getting good.

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:14:23 +0000

Doesnt it include Daimler too.. just in the european market