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Bull****. Chrysler was the most profitable automaker in the world per vehicle sold during a period from 1994 through 1998, when Daimler took over. At one point they were earning $1B per quarter. No, not per year. PER QUARTER. They were so successful that unlike GM and Ford, whose market shares peaked in 1962 and 1961, respectively, Chrysler's market share peaked in 1996 -- and they were so profitable that they had up to $12B in cash reserves stashed away for a rainy day. Daimler didn't want to "save" anything other than their own asses from a takeover, which is why they seduced Robert Eaton into "merging" with them. Chrysler had the biggest treasure chest of any automaker, and when Daimler took over, they promptly wasted Chrysler's cash reserves on shares in Mitsubishi and Hyundai, plus buying Freightliner outright. This half-baked automotive empire that Daimler cobbled together with Chrysler's cash was done to make Daimler impervious to takeover by outside interests. Chrysler didn't need to be "saved" by anybody. They were doing just fine on their own, and the $1B quarterly profits and all-time market share peak in 1996 are proof of this.
Bull****. Chrysler was the most profitable automaker in the world per vehicle sold during a period from 1994 through 1998, when Daimler took over. At one point they were earning $1B per quarter. No, not per year. PER QUARTER. They were so successful that unlike GM and Ford, whose market shares peaked in 1962 and 1961, respectively, Chrysler's market share peaked in 1996 -- and they were so profitable that they had up to $12B in cash reserves stashed away for a rainy day. Daimler didn't want to "save" anything other than their own asses from a takeover, which is why they seduced Robert Eaton into "merging" with them. Chrysler had the biggest treasure chest of any automaker, and when Daimler took over, they promptly wasted Chrysler's cash reserves on shares in Mitsubishi and Hyundai, plus buying Freightliner outright. This half-baked automotive empire that Daimler cobbled together with Chrysler's cash was done to make Daimler impervious to takeover by outside interests. Chrysler didn't need to be "saved" by anybody. They were doing just fine on their own, and the $1B quarterly profits and all-time market share peak in 1996 are proof of this.
In all honesty, Chrysler's fortunes have always been very volatile. Barely a decade after Lee Iacocca's bailout (govt-guaranteed loans), Chrysler was on the ropes again in the early 90s. They turned it around again with the LH platform cars, and the redesigned minivans and Rams. But people were only half-joking when they referred to the LH as "Last Hope."
What you call Eaton's disloyalty was arguably just business. Chrysler had (again) peaked in 98. When is the best time to sell? At the peak. CEOs have a fiduciary responsibility to find the best value for their shareholders. In retrospect, anyone holding on to DCX probably wouldn't have done too well, but those who cashed out did.
To say "They were doing just fine on their own" is to take one snapshot in time and ignore the history of all the previous times they did well, got complacent and then came tumbling back to reality. They are not unique to this; at various times GM, Ford, Toyota and Daimler all got complacent and paid the price. But Chrysler's history has been one of the most volatile.
The Dodge lineup in 1998 - vehicles untainted by Daimler:
Avenger - regular crappy Dodge midsize car
Caravan - already far behind Honda and Toyota minivans
Dakota - crude cheap truck
Durango - thirsty and rough riding mid-size truck based SUV
Intrepid - sleek body, otherwise ordinary
Neon - crude and cheap, never close to best in class
Ram - popular with Dodge loyalists but far behind Ford/Chevy
Viper - awesome
Stratus - completely average or worse
Chrysler:
Cirrus - a nicer Stratus
Concorde - a nicer Intrepid
Sebring - awful then and now
Town and Country - a nicer Caravan
Jeep:
Cherokee - popular but never reliable
Grand Cherokee - same as with Cherokee
Wrangler - off road king
I'll ignore Plymouth.
Of all the vehicles above - I think only the Viper and Wrangler are standouts. The Grand Cherokee was a good choice for a mid-size with offroad capability. But it wasn't reliable.
In all honesty, Chrysler's fortunes have always been very volatile. Barely a decade after Lee Iacocca's bailout (govt-guaranteed loans), Chrysler was on the ropes again in the early 90s. They turned it around again with the LH platform cars, and the redesigned minivans and Rams. But people were only half-joking when they referred to the LH as "Last Hope."
What you call Eaton's disloyalty was arguably just business. Chrysler had (again) peaked in 98. When is the best time to sell? At the peak. CEOs have a fiduciary responsibility to find the best value for their shareholders. In retrospect, anyone holding on to DCX probably wouldn't have done too well, but those who cashed out did.
To say "They were doing just fine on their own" is to take one snapshot in time and ignore the history of all the previous times they did well, got complacent and then came tumbling back to reality. They are not unique to this; at various times GM, Ford, Toyota and Daimler all got complacent and paid the price. But Chrysler's history has been one of the most volatile.
Chrysler didn't get complacent in the early 1990's. They bought AMC in 1987, and were adjusting, figuring out which assets of AMC were worth using and which ones were not. This reevaluation process tends to cost extra money, and also delay product development by a couple of years. This is why Chrysler's product lineup became stale by 1991, but then had a string of successes beginning with the Dodge Viper in 1992.
The Sebring/Avenger of that time was the Mitsubishi Eclipse so they weren't even Chrysler/Dodge.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano
The Dodge lineup in 1998 - vehicles untainted by Daimler:
Avenger - regular crappy Dodge midsize car
Caravan - already far behind Honda and Toyota minivans
Dakota - crude cheap truck
Durango - thirsty and rough riding mid-size truck based SUV
Intrepid - sleek body, otherwise ordinary
Neon - crude and cheap, never close to best in class
Ram - popular with Dodge loyalists but far behind Ford/Chevy
Viper - awesome
Stratus - completely average or worse
Chrysler:
Cirrus - a nicer Stratus
Concorde - a nicer Intrepid
Sebring - awful then and now
Town and Country - a nicer Caravan
Jeep:
Cherokee - popular but never reliable
Grand Cherokee - same as with Cherokee
Wrangler - off road king
I'll ignore Plymouth.
Of all the vehicles above - I think only the Viper and Wrangler are standouts. The Grand Cherokee was a good choice for a mid-size with offroad capability. But it wasn't reliable.
Chrysler didn't get complacent in the early 1990's. They bought AMC in 1987, and were adjusting, figuring out which assets of AMC were worth using and which ones were not. This reevaluation process tends to cost extra money, and also delay product development by a couple of years. This is why Chrysler's product lineup became stale by 1991, but then had a string of successes beginning with the Dodge Viper in 1992.
The Viper is an iconic vehicle and I would love to own one. But it did little good financially for Chrysler.
But please - tell me what successes Chrysler Corp. had between 1992 and before Daimler acquired them?
I can think of only a few that were popular, respected, and sold reasonably well:
Cherokee and Grand Cherokee
Caravan minivan (and T&C)
Ram
Wrangler
That period included the end of the K-car derivatives, which were commercially important to Chrysler but were mediocre vehicles at best.
The Dodge lineup in 1998 - vehicles untainted by Daimler:
Avenger - regular crappy Dodge midsize car
This coupe was co-developed with the Mitsubishi Eclipse. (The joint venture was known as "Diamond Star Motors.") It was certainly the weakest product in Dodge's lineup at the time, which is why it never sold well in the first place. It was literally Dodge's only "miss" between 1991 and 1998.
Caravan - already far behind Honda and Toyota minivans
False. The Toyota Sienna was better than the Previa it replaced, but still wasn't considered to be as good as the Dodge Caravan. This was also when Honda took their first stab at selling a minivan in North America, and gave it four swinging doors.
Dakota - crude cheap truck
The Dakota was the only compact pickup truck available with a V-8. Furthermore, its payload and towing capacity were far superior to any other compact pickup truck at the time.
Durango - thirsty and rough riding mid-size truck based SUV
You just described every other SUV built in 1998.
Intrepid - sleek body, otherwise ordinary
Actually, the Intrepid was totally redesigned for 1998, and was considered to be the best full-size sedan sold in North America.
Neon - crude and cheap, never close to best in class
And yet, the Neon did for Chrysler what the Escort had never done for Ford, nor had the Cavalier ever done for GM: make a profit and contribute to the bottom line. Furthermore, the Neon had the strongest engine, the fastest acceleration and the most passenger room of any compact car sold in North America.
Ram - popular with Dodge loyalists but far behind Ford/Chevy
I laugh at this assessment. The Ram is why Ford and Chevrolet finally redesigned their pickup trucks. The new competition made them sweat. Furthermore, the Ram, like the Neon, had the most powerful engine in its class -- in this case, a V-10, which nobody else had.
Viper - awesome
No doubt.
Stratus - completely average or worse
Average.
Jeep:
Cherokee - popular but never reliable
The Jeep Cherokee was developed by AMC in the early 1980's, and was largely left alone until it was discontinued in 2002. Jeep customers really didn't care about what color the dot was that Consumer Reports assigned the Cherokee with. Besides, by 1998, the Cherokee had surely paid for itself, so Chrysler could sell it at whatever price they wanted. That's why it was such a tremendous value, and why it continued to sell so well with only minimal updates.
Grand Cherokee - same as with Cherokee
Only the Ford Explorer sold more, and no SUV was more profitable.
Wrangler - off road king
No doubt.
One thing that you never mentioned is that every one of those vehicles you listed, with the exception of maybe the "Diamond Star" Avenger, were profitable.
...tell me what successes Chrysler Corp. had between 1992 and before Daimler acquired them?
Profit. Profit. Profit. Profit. Profit. Profit. Profit. Between 1994 and 1998, Chrysler was the most profitable automaker in the world per vehicle sold. Oh yeah, and in 1996, they achieved their highest market share ever. Highest profit margin in the world + highest market share ever = SUCCESS!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano
I can think of only a few that were popular, respected, and sold reasonably well:
Cherokee and Grand Cherokee
Caravan minivan (and T&C)
Ram
Wrangler
You left the Dodge Intrepid off the list. They averaged about 150,000 of those per year, which was good for a full-size sedan. They, too, were profitable, like virtually everything else in Chrysler's product lineup at the time. Even the Neon sold close to 200,000 per year during this time, whether you respected the vehicle or not. And as I mentioned before, the Neon proved that an American automaker could make a profit selling a compact vehicle. (The prevailing knowledge prior to the Neon's debut was otherwise.)
By the way, all those vehicles you listed, plus the Intrepid and the Neon, accounted for, I would venture at least 80% of Chrysler's total sales during the time.
While Chrysler is not my favorite, They are always considered when I'm car shopping and I would buy one if they had something I liked better then GM or Ford.
They only real problamatic Chrysler product I can think of would be the 1998 - 2002 Intrepids with the 2.7 V6. Anybody that thinks they were good engines is plain crazy.
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