It's been 28 years since I was a rank-and-file employee at the Chrysler Stamping Plant in Twinsburg, Ohio, but the painful memory of being jobless because the company was on the brink of going belly-up rushed over me this past weekend.
The trigger for this gut-wrenching flashback was seeing someone over the weekend that I'm pretty sure worked at the plant the same time I did. Our lives took two different paths. I left Chrysler and pursued a journalism career, and somewhere along the line my Chrysler colleague went to the street corner clad in a sandwich board hawking a furniture and mattress closeout sale. The $6 million government bailout for Chrysler orchestrated by industry evangelist Lee Iacocca might have saved my buddy in 1979, but downsizing finally stole his dignity.
Fast forward to 2007, and Chrysler once again found itself in need of a bailout. This time it wasn't as flamboyant as Iacocca's pleading appearances in Congress, but just as effective. In an unlikely turn of events, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management bought Chrysler from aloof and absent owner Daimler-Benz. Amazingly, Cerberus bought Chrysler not to dabble in the business or milk Chrysler dry, but to do the unthinkable: turn Chrysler around.
To do this, it has assembled what can be called a dream team. Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli was able to poach three leading auto executives led by Jim Press of Toyota. Press, who was Toyota's top-ranking American executive, does not have the brashness of Iacocca, but he more than makes up for it with true concern and strategic thinking for Chrysler's forgotten and demoralized dealers.
Why would these industry stalwarts join ailing Chrysler? The reported $50 million that they're paying Press doesn't hurt. But to his credit, Press has expressed that he wants to not only help turn Chrysler around, but also to help the U.S auto industry stage a comeback.
If anyone on the team is suspect, it's Nardelli, the former embattled CEO of Home Depot. With no automotive credentials, he needs to slide over to the passenger seat and let Press & Co. do the driving. When Nardelli takes the spotlight, he sucks the confidence out of the room. In early September, he said he needs three years to turn the finances around and 10 years to turn the products around. That had to be enough to make Iacocca roll over in his Vividus bed.
Tom LaSorda, who was passed over in favor of Nardelli, might have the toughest job because he will be responsible for making desirable and reliable vehicles. It won't be easy. With few exceptions, the present product lineup was seemingly inspired by an American Motors' séance.
To that point, with the recent GM-UAW settlement, Chrysler (Ford and GM) will be in the position to catch and surpass the imports. For years we have heard the American OEMs complain that they can't be competitive because of high health care costs for their employees. I have argued repeatedly that they didn't build better cars because they didn't want to build better cars. With the health care burden shifted to the workers, the OEMs now should put up or shut up.
Next year I will buy my 10th Chrysler vehicle and it will be one that is assembled in the U.S. It's the least I can do to help keep fellow Americans off the street.
Larry Silvey, Editor-in-Chief/Group Editorial Director [email protected]
