Detroit News columnist John McCormick in a piece posted on the paper's website today (10/16/03) ponders the fate of the former Chrysler Corporation in view of the fact the Germans have failed to update Dodge/Chrysler minivans (a vehicle concept Chrysler invented) and Jeep SUV's. Now, he says, better products are available from competitors such as Toyota and Honda. He speculates that if DC does go into a death spiral, the Germans will sell off the former Chrysler assets worth saving -- Jeep and Dodge trucks -- to someone like GM. Too bad Bob Lutz didn't get to lead Chrysler. He may speak German, but he sure as hell understands the American car market as well as Iacocca and certainly better than those Germans sent to Michigan to run Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep. The only one to benefit from the sale to Daimler was Bob Eaton, the last Amerian CEO of Chrysler, who made millions on the sale. He certainly didn't care about the long-term health of his company or he never would have sold to foreigners.

 

It gets better. Word in Detroit is that they're already parsing Chrysler for 2006 asset sales. GM has privately bid for Jeep, and a strong bid for the Dodge truck division was made by -- Honda.

 

So,
would that give us the "Hodge"?
or maybe the Donda? :-

Rich

 

Think if I had 160,000 for a car, I'd have the money for a lawyer that had the skill to recover some of my down time.