What is Cerberus doing with Chrysler?

With their recent recruitment of top level management from competitors (most notably Jim Press from Toyota), is Cerberus actually trying to make a long-term go of it in the sickly US auto industry? Will they gut the company of slow selling lines, its bloated dealer network, expensive labor obligations, and whatnot to make it a leaner, more competitive organization? That seems to be a daunting if not impossible task in Detroit. Or is this just a tactic to return Chrysler back to short term respectability/profitability so they can sell it off wholly or piecemeal? Jeep would do quite well on its own, in my opinion.

I abandoned the domestic automakers over 10 years ago, when my last vehicle (a new Chrysler) was in the shop 27 times in 24 months for various quality and build issues. But I still casually watch the big three (or is it 2.8?) from afar, hoping one day they’ll get their shit together and be competitive with the imports on their home turf. I gotta admit, it’s hard to imagine anyone being able to reverse the death spiral the American auto industry is in. That’s why I can’t figure out what Cerberus is doing.

I drive one, but other than that, nada. :smiley:

You must mean those other Cerberus people.

Personally, I would be interested in hearing why you had to take your car to the shop 27 times in 24 months for " quality and build" issues.

I’ve been driving the same American-made car for over 10 years and it has been in the shop exactly twice. ( I love having a like-new car and no car payments for over 6 years!).

Anyway, if they are legitimate issues that keep the car from being driveable, fine. But if you are one of those people who feel that because they spent their “hard-earned” money on a car they should not have to put up with a squeaky trunk lid, and run it back to the dealer because they can’t figure out how to use a can of WD-40, then you get no sympathy from me.

Well, I should have known some idiot shitbag would stink up this thread by choosing to nitpick the trivial personal details I added, while ignoring the real questions I posed…

Wow, what a jerk. Overreact much?

Anyway, I don’t think that “my last vehicle (a new Chrysler) was in the shop 27 times in 24 months for various quality and build issues” is irrelevant at all. Or maybe it is, who cares - have you not heard of lemon laws?

Joe

Personal insults are forbidden in this forum, Bad Samaritan. Don’t do this.

Apologies to the board.

Might as well lock this thread, nobody’s interested in repling to my original question anyway.

Firstly, I think this was a cool post, Samaritan. Second, I agree that it pisses me off when people can’t even frame a response around the OP as well, and then insinuate something negative about the poster on top of that. I don’t much care for it either, but as posters here are wont to do, the first responders are almost always crass, off topic, and less than helpful. Combining that with the abundance of criticism against domestic car manufacturers on here, you shouldn’t expect to get a whole lot of conversation going on the domestic automobile industry, but it won’t help you much to use coarse language against thread hijackers. I won’t go so far as to call names, but for the record, Zambini, you were called out because your post was an utterly useless and presumptuous hijack.

I’ve been wondering the same thing about Cerberus myself, having heard some talk of it on the radio and in the news. Chrysler is not only bloated, but lacking direction. The 300 was their halo model, but only a select group of people is interested in that sort of car. What Chrysler lacks is the mainstream breadwinners in the compact and midsize segments. Every other manufacturer has one, in my opinion. The Ford Fusion is a competent (though unproven) contender and GM’s upcoming Epsilon-platform offerings (the Saturn Aura and upcoming Chevy Malibu) are very strong domestic entries. In my opinion, Chrysler never had a car like this … the Sebring could not escape the market association as a woman’s convertible, and its sedan variants (Intrepid/Avenger) could not distinguish themselves in recent years as competitive against the more tightly-engineered midsizers. Chrysler tried to make up lost ground with the Charger and 300, but probably shot themselves in the foot again. The Neon, even though it was engineered poorly compared to its competition, was at least still identifiable as a compact. They replaced it with the rather obscure Calibre as their sole entry in the compact market. Nearly all of Chrysler’s entries are essentially two things: not engineered to be competitive, and not mainstream enough to be on the shopping list of people looking at a Civic, Accord, Corolla, Camry, Focus, Taurus, Fusion, etc.

I’d like to see the change in ownership turn over a new leaf for Chrysler. I’d like to see them abandon the ghastly Calibre and develop a premium compact car that can compete with the Mazda3 or Volkswagen Golf; a small car that finally deserves to wear the upscale Chrysler marque. They also need a midsizer that isn’t platformed into four or more variants; a consolidation of the Avenger/Sebring lines into a single model in sedan and coupe form. Part of me wonders whether the Dodge brand is even viable in the marketplace as a traditional consumer brand, and whether it wouldn’t just do better as Cerberus’ commercial grade truck brand. Abandon the Dodge passenger cars and focus Dodge on what they’re best associated with: big ol’ trucks for carryin’ dirty stuff. Likewise as you suggested in the OP, auction Jeep off to the highest bidder; I really don’t think the brand could suffer any worse under independent ownership than it already has in the midst of the Chrysler’s recent trend towards “urbanizing” their models. The Compass? What in the world were they thinking with that hideous abortion? Neat idea, maybe … awful execution which is all too indicative of too many executives having a say in what the market wants.

I’ve watched the Big 2.8 as you have, and I really am impressed with the progress General Motors has been making. They are a few steps ahead of Ford (and light years ahead of Chrysler) in leveraging global assets to reduce engineering and development costs and get fresh products to the market very quickly. Unlike Ford’s ongoing floundering with making Mercury and Lincoln into standout brands, and Chrysler’s inability to define and differentiate its own brands against the competition, GM made the difficult decision very early on to consolidate brands by doing away with Oldsmobile. Regretfully, the marque faded away in an attempt to appeal to young and old alike during their stylistic turnaround in the 90’s. They ended up alienating older buyers with radical new styling, and yet they failed to win over younger buyers at the same time. GM knew they had to cut their losses and pull the plug to redirect their efforts toward strengthening Buick and Cadillac, and we are just now beginning to see the fruits of those efforts with the new Buick Enclave and 2008 CTS, both of which are genuine global competitors against the likes of Lexus, Acura, Infiniti, or even the German brands. The Saturn Aura and its new twin, the upcoming Malibu, are very strong entries in the midsize category; incredible values with great style that can’t be found with Toyota or Honda. The only thing GM needs now is a really competent compact car with quality internal materials to go against the tightly-engineered small cars from Germany and Japan. At Chrysler, it seems like this very competitive slice of the market isn’t even on their fucking radar, and it’s pretty sad.

Like you, I really hope we can see something decisive and fresh in the coming years as a result of the change in ownership. The way things are, Chrysler cannot continue to rely on the halo effect of the 300 to make the rest of its models into reliable breadwinners. They need to target a market that’s just slightly above “mainstream” but not quite “luxury”. Mazda and Volkswagen are good examples of unique brands with character and quality at a good price. Chrysler needs to study them and produce something competitive, attractive, well-built, efficient, sleek, sensible, restrained yet sporty with a uniquely intangible American-ness to it … all that as opposed to something ostentatious, unrestrained, poorly-built, bloated and wasteful like the 300. Don’t get me wrong, I love the 300, but it’s a niche product that will never make Chrysler profitable. Build what I described and people will buy it, simple as that.

As has been well documented in my “I hate my car” thread, I’m in the midst of a Chrysler Screwjob (maybe that should be the moniker for their next vehicle, make it something like Mr. Garrison’s “IT” from South Park, that’d be appropriate) myself, my well maintained '02 Neon is suffering from “Leprosy” and is basically rotting out from under me, and Chrysler, and my dealership won’t lift a finger to help me because my bloody rust-through warranty expired in April, bah, April Fools to you too, Chrysler

so, my ex-dealership is losing a regular customer, and Chrysler has made a lifelong enemy, no more will Chrysler vehicles darken my door, and if my hatred of Ford is any indicator (also got screwed by them, won’t buy another ford ever again), i’ll never miss an opportunity to bash them

if Chrysler goes out of business, i won’t shed a tear, i’m done with them, good riddance

Ten posts in and I’m still the only person who’s responded to the OP. :rolleyes:

Samaritan, it’s interesting and perhaps coincidental that just today there’s news about Jim Press …

Business Week - Press says Chrysler may trim models
Detroit News - Chrysler executive sees vehicle tuneup
AutoWeek - Looking for a savior

He comes to Chrysler after almost four decades with Toyota, many of those years spent as a product planning executive. His involvement with Toyota even includes the development of the hybrid drivetrain used in the first generation Prius, as well as the development of the Scion brand in America. I don’t care much for Scion (it’s just Toyota trying to be cool because really, everyone knows they aren’t, so they needed a “youth product” to get into a younger market) but it’s still a successful brand that has taken off very well in America, and a lot of the initiative to make it a reality belonged to Mr. Press when he was chief officer of Toyota Motor Sales. Now he’s the president of Chrysler, and he’s intent on shaking the company up in much the same way Bob Lutz did when he moved from Chrysler to General Motors, although perhaps not on as grand a scale. Interestingly, Press acknowledges most of the same things I said in my post. He realizes that the company’s product lines are over-lapped and under-engineered, and that it needs to change. The new ownership under Cerberus gives Chrysler a substantial pool of resources to draw from, both financially and in terms of manpower, and I think it’ll make them a “lighter” company at the top as a result, able to take decisive actions which are more responsive to market conditions.

Why I wrote all this, I don’t know … nobody ever talks about the industry in these threads, Samaritan. They come in to rant about the expiration of a rust warranty on a cheap car that everyone and their aunt knows will rust easily, or to praise their fifteen-year old econobox because it’s paid off and still runs. I guess I was just hoping to tell you what you wanted to know, but you probably already know it. I agree with most of what you originally suggested, except maybe the part about wholesaling of the company if it returns to profitability. I think these articles are at least a small indicator of what Cerberus is up to.

Thanks for the links ananmesis. I liked what he had to say in the articles; hopefully Cerberus is going to let him get it done without the usual Detroit bureaucracy getting in the way. Press looks like he’s doing a Frankenstein impression in the Detroit News link, by the way.

I agree they need better small & midsize cars. The Caliber is butt ugly, and its Compass twin is a disgrace to Jeep’s good name. Sebring/Avenger have already been tainted as rental fleet queens. The Chrysler brand needs to be pared down just to the 300, the new minivan, and a much needed replacement for the PT Cruiser. I think the 300’s appeal is played out, but that’s the flagship model for the time being. Just about everything else in the Chrysler lineup is a less successful rebadge or a dreadful seller. A well engineered hybrid would fit best into Chrysler than the other brands. I don’t think Chrysler pulls off the near-luxury image with any measure of success (the 300 is more like ghetto gangsta bling) so they have a ways to go there.

Dodge seems to be doing better, but they need to pare down the SUV’s that compete with Jeep. Everybody bags on the Charger, but I see tons of those on the road. Kill the Avenger, Caliber, Magnum, and Durango. The Challenger will capture short term sales magic, but that’s it. I say focus on the sporty car and trucks for Dodge and that’s it.

I actually think they should keep Jeep, it’s clearly their standout product. I agree that they need to re-image Jeep back towards it’s off-road roots, but overall their lineup is not bad to me. Selling it off would probably be better for Jeep but it’s probably Chrysler’s best current source of income. GM has been selling off its profitable assets (Allison Transmission, GMAC) just to stay ahead of their current cash burn rate, but Cerberus shouldn’t be that short-term focused.

These are pretty broad changes that I don’t see Cerberus making in the near-term, but they can start down the right path. If they follow through with the promised cash infusion, and Press is given free rein to reinvent the company brands as he wants, they just might have a chance. These plans will take years to develop though, and as you probably know, Cerberus has a reputation as a turn-around and sell-off company, so I still want to question their intentions. Surely Press wouldn’t give up his stellar career at Toyota for a big payday?

Surely I can’t be the only one who honestly thought this was about Chrysler using a comic-book aardvark in their ads!

I agree with the idea that emphasis should be placed on the small and medium size car segments of the lineup. The difference here is I believe that Cerberus actually may do it.

One of the issues with a lot of people heading up the Detroit players is that the emphasis is placed on being a “car guy” or coming up through the industry. Sorry, but car guys do not car about econoboxes. Car guys do not drive Corollas. However, everyone else does drive them, and I think Cerberus is smart enough (and driven by profits rather than ideology enough) to realize that.

Something that is nifty and cute (like the Neon was when it was released) but with the build quality, interior workmanship, and reliability of a Corolla would be a huge hit, methinks. American cars have always had style, so if one of the big 3 could build an American-styled car with Japanese reliability and fit and fnish, I think a billion of them would sell. Just look at the Focus in Europe. I rented a turbodiesel one while I was in Paris, and that car was awesome. I would seriously consider buying something like that if they brought it here, and I am decidedly not an econobox guy.

A small car like this could be a “killer app” if Cerberus could bring it to life.