Say what you will about Chrysler

[mwmorph]

Say what you will about Chrysler's products but the management is doing well from a business perspective.

Imagine you are given a company with completely uncompetitive products and a 3-5 year product cycle. Chrysler is by no way doing well or even adequate but management, through business decisions aren't exactly murdering it. It seems like they are legitimately trying to turn around and slowing the cash burn.

GM seems to be in self destruct mode. They use up cash like it's going out of style. Ford ill be fine. Decent products and good management. Chrysler though has horrible products and good management so the hemmoraging of cash isn't as bad as you'd expect. The business decisions that upper management is making isn't bad at all, it's just the product mix that's dragging them down.

All in all I think Chrysler now has talented execs as far as business goes. If they can turn around some good products, they'd be in pretty decent shape. Hell as of a few months ago, they had 10.9 billion in cash.

Cliffs: Chrysler could be much worse off with GM execs, the current execs arent bad with business decisions. If Cerebus didn't take over, Chrysler would be in much worse shape now.

 

[BassBomb]

They have been uncompetitive for long enough that they should have done something.

 

[Arkaign]

Chrysler needs to do this if they're going to survive.

Cancel EVERY vehicle they have outside of the Ram Truck.

Make three motors total outside of their truck lineup , and make them all very very good.

A ~135hp 2.0 4Cyl that has almost zero emissions and can deliver 40mpg mixed driving in a 3000lb car when matched with a newly designed 5-speed auto.
A ~240hp 3.0 6Cyl that meets the above, but delivers ~35mpg mixed driving in a 3500lb car.
A ~350hp 5.0 8Cyl that meets the above, and delivers ~30mpg mixed driving for their higher-end vehicles.

Make three lines of cars.

A great economy car, available in either coupe or 5-door hatch.
A great midsize car, available in either sedan or wagon. (make an SUV variant)
A great large car, available in either sedan or wagon. (make an SUV variant)

Forget niche cars, Dodge is behind the curve.

GET THE BASICS DOWN, then come back with the occasional curve ball. Focus on lightweight, simplicity, fuel economy, while meeting excellent safety goals.

The Big 3 have too many different overlapping models and configurations.

 

[evident]

chrysler needs to die. almost all their products suck. i'm not even trying to troll here. GM and Ford have legitimately shown some signs of improving and i would reluctantly give them bailout money. chrysler puts out ads that says Dodge Charger hybrid: it burns rubber and gas! while releasing laughable cars such as the avenger and killing the neon. fwiw, charger and challenger are cool cars, but sports cars alone aren't going to save the company.

 

[theeedude]

You can't cut your way out of having uncompetitive products. GM is coming out with great products, as is Ford. Chrysler is turning into LADA.

 

[ViviTheMage]

It would be VERY nice if all manuf. could do that Arkaign ...

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: evident
chrysler needs to die. almost all their products suck. i'm not even trying to troll here. GM and Ford have legitimately shown some signs of improving and i would reluctantly give them bailout money. chrysler puts out ads that says Dodge Charger hybrid: it burns rubber and gas! while releasing laughable cars such as the avenger and killing the neon. fwiw, charger and challenger are cool cars, but sports cars alone aren't going to save the company.

I pretty much agree, because outside of a total company revamp (listed above, and which would admittedly be expensive at the outset), they have no place in the modern marketplace.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

My Dodge Neon has been running fine. It's a 2002 with 62,000 miles. I can't really dog them yet.

 

[ponyo]

Robert Nardelli and good management? :laugh: Good one.

 

[Bignate603]

At least GM has some decent cars.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Originally posted by: Bignate603
At least GM has some decent cars.

About as decent as a 55 year old toothless hooker.

 

[Elstupido]

Bob Nardelli will drive this company into the ground....just like he did to Home Depot almost, and received 210 million dollars to do just that, and get paid that to leave.

He is the scum of the earth, and incompetent on top of that. Fucking bottom feeding asshole, but an obvious smart felon, as far as I am concerned

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender

Originally posted by: Bignate603
At least GM has some decent cars.

About as decent as a 55 year old toothless hooker.

Yes, the new CTS is a horrible car. Same with the C6 corvette and that ZR-1 is TERRIBLE. Who would want one? And motor trend must be on crack to think the Malibu was the car of the year. The solstice and sky completely missed the small and sporty market too :roll:

Your comment is a few years too late.

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender

Originally posted by: Bignate603
At least GM has some decent cars.

About as decent as a 55 year old toothless hooker.

Yes, the new CTS is a horrible car. Same with the C6 corvette and that ZR-1 is TERRIBLE. Who would want one? And motor trend must be on crack to think the Malibu was the car of the year. The solstice and sky completely missed the small and sporty market too :roll:

Your comment is a few years too late.

corvette was always an awesome car though, that proves nothing

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender

Originally posted by: Bignate603
At least GM has some decent cars.

About as decent as a 55 year old toothless hooker.

Yes, the new CTS is a horrible car. Same with the C6 corvette and that ZR-1 is TERRIBLE. Who would want one? And motor trend must be on crack to think the Malibu was the car of the year. The solstice and sky completely missed the small and sporty market too :roll:

Your comment is a few years too late.

corvette was always an awesome car though, that proves nothing

Yes, and that's why I included other cars. While I'm thinking about it the Cobalt SS isn't exactly my kind of car (too boyracer) but it is a quick little cheap car that's gotten very good press. GM's truck line up is solid and in my opinion the best looking out of the ones available.

I'm just fed up with people that don't have a clue about their current lineup or their vehicles in the pipeline saying that they don't make decent cars. They just spent the last decade making what America wanted, huge SUVs. That's what people were buying. Unlike the foreign car companies that already had the basis for their small car designs (redesigning for a new market is cheaper than building from the ground up) which were the bread and butter vehicles overseas the American manufacturers were dumping their R&D dollars into the vehicles that were selling here and pretty much only here. Moving their focus from big trucks to small cars is a hard transition but the American car companies were on their way to pulling it off until the economy turned sour. Bad credit markets and layoffs mean low sales.

Personally I'd rather see $25-35 Billion going into keeping American jobs than $700 Billion into buying out people that made really stupid financial decisions. The banks were bailed out with almost no forethought but the automakers are being raked over the coals.

 

[Fenixgoon]

personally i think chrysler has the worst product portfolio of the big 2.5/3.

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender

Originally posted by: Bignate603
At least GM has some decent cars.

About as decent as a 55 year old toothless hooker.

Have you been in the new CTS? Or the new Malibu (which is 90% German Opel Insignia?) Or the new Corvette? Or the new Camaro, which offers 306HP, full independent suspension, and a 6-speed manual or automatic gearbox for under $25,000?

It took them a while and many of their cars are still rubbish, but GM is definitely showing promise. Of course, outside of the Malibu and Astra (which are both from the German GM division, oddly enough) they haven't got much in the way of mass-market cars I would buy - but they've definitely shown they can make them.

Originally posted by: evident

corvette was always an awesome car though, that proves nothing

No, it wasn't. Corvettes of old would handle like a moose, and the C4 corvette's anemic V8 simply couldn't keep up with the turbo six you could get in a Supra.

However, even Jeremy Clarkson - who loathed Corvettes of old - liked the C5 corvettes. And the C6 corvettes were more of the same, but with bored-out engines for even more power.

 

[woodie1]

It really doesn't matter what the big 3 are producing now if no one is buying them. I've read great reviews on some of the new models but without financing and buyers the showrooms are just gonna fill up with more unsold vehicles. Even Honda and Toyota are feeling the slowdown.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender
My Dodge Neon has been running fine. It's a 2002 with 62,000 miles. I can't really dog them yet.

My dog pissed on a Neon once...therefore they must be good.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender

Originally posted by: Bignate603
At least GM has some decent cars.

About as decent as a 55 year old toothless hooker.

Yes, the new CTS is a horrible car. Same with the C6 corvette and that ZR-1 is TERRIBLE. Who would want one? And motor trend must be on crack to think the Malibu was the car of the year. The solstice and sky completely missed the small and sporty market too :roll:

Your comment is a few years too late.

corvette was always an awesome car though, that proves nothing

No it wasn't. Mid 70s-early 80s ring a bell? They were complete crap...actually, they were complete crap up until about a decade ago IMO.

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: woodie1
It really doesn't matter what the big 3 are producing now if no one is buying them. I've read great reviews on some of the new models but without financing and buyers the showrooms are just gonna fill up with more unsold vehicles. Even Honda and Toyota are feeling the slowdown.

The argument could be made that customers needing cars will turn away from the higher priced Hondas and Toyotas (which have been slipping in quality over the last few years) in favor of a fresh domestic model with glowing reviews behind it, lower MSRP than a comparable H/T model, and rebates available on top of that. It's easier to get financing for a $18k Chevy than it is for a $25k Toyota. And remember, GM is still tops in overall sales.

 

[Falloutboy]

I think GM is the only one doing things right. they just got burned by the econmic turndown, they made major moves to fix there labor issues, they have put ALOT of money into R&D of the right products, (there small engines are basically the best in the industry). the Volt while a "proof of concept" is a real revolution on the level of the original prius was, and is forcing Japan to adapt to GM, not the otherway around. Caddy with the new CTS plus new varients, an the new Alpha (BMW 3 series killer), the DT7( STS/DTS replacement) was put on hold unfotionally do the econmic client, Many slag the caddy brand but its GMs only hope for a high margin vehicle since SUVs/Trucks don't see nearly as well as they used to.

if GM can limp buy till 2011/12 they will be fine and return to profitabilty.

GM does need to figure out what its going to do with its brands though. SAAB doesn't really make alot of sence atm, there just is not a market for a front wheel drive lux sport sedan. Saturn is nothing more than some badge engineered Opel cars now for the most part. Buick is well Buick and seems kinda pointless.

 

[Falloutboy]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: evident
chrysler needs to die. almost all their products suck. i'm not even trying to troll here. GM and Ford have legitimately shown some signs of improving and i would reluctantly give them bailout money. chrysler puts out ads that says Dodge Charger hybrid: it burns rubber and gas! while releasing laughable cars such as the avenger and killing the neon. fwiw, charger and challenger are cool cars, but sports cars alone aren't going to save the company.

I pretty much agree, because outside of a total company revamp (listed above, and which would admittedly be expensive at the outset), they have no place in the modern marketplace.

yup I love alot of the newer chrysler body styles, and have cought my self thinking they might be a cool car, but then I look at the interiors (GM/Ford isn't great but they are miles ahead of Chrysler) then I remember what Chrysler uses for powertrains still and I forget about that idea pretty quick.

 

[woodie1]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Originally posted by: woodie1
It really doesn't matter what the big 3 are producing now if no one is buying them. I've read great reviews on some of the new models but without financing and buyers the showrooms are just gonna fill up with more unsold vehicles. Even Honda and Toyota are feeling the slowdown.

The argument could be made that customers needing cars will turn away from the higher priced Hondas and Toyotas (which have been slipping in quality over the last few years) in favor of a fresh domestic model with glowing reviews behind it, lower MSRP than a comparable H/T model, and rebates available on top of that. It's easier to get financing for a $18k Chevy than it is for a $25k Toyota. And remember, GM is still tops in overall sales.

As I recall Honda and Toyota are not asking for taxpayer money to stay in business.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender

Originally posted by: Bignate603
At least GM has some decent cars.

About as decent as a 55 year old toothless hooker.

This kind of shows the problem Ford and GM have. It doesn't matter how good the cars they're producing today, a lot of people still have a view of them as utter garbage. And as another poster pointed out, you can get a Chevy for a lot less than a Toyota, which ultimately hurts GM. Their cars, except the Cobalt -- which desperately needs to be replaced by the Cruze -- have been made to be very competitive with their quality and reliability, but they still have to take big hits to sell them largely due to the perception.