Iacocca rips auto industry, warns: Don't sell Chrysler

Iacocca rips auto industry, warns: Don't sell Chrysler
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/BUSINESS01/704120348/1014

Former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca tears into the Bush administration and
the U.S. auto industry in a new book, saying America's political leaders
have failed the nation and urging voters to pick more carefully in 2008.

The 82-year-old Iacocca -- who was urged to run for president in the 1980s
after turning around Chrysler -- also says he's for higher federal
fuel-economy standards, warns that Chrysler could become a "shattered
remnant" if sold and offers suggestions for Detroit's automakers to turn
their businesses around.

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"We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a
cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind and we can't even
clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car," Iacocca and
coauthor Catherine Whitney write in the first page of "Where Have All the
Leaders Gone?"

"I hardly recognize this country anymore," he wrote.

The book, Iacocca's first in more than a decade, combines a name-dropping
memoir, business advice and harangues about politics and the state of the
U.S. economy that sound more like filmmaker Michael Moore than the man who
shot campaign ads for Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos last
year.

Iacocca, who did not return a message seeking comment, eases up on the auto
industry, critiquing its decisions but praising General Motors Corp.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner and Chrysler Group
President Tom LaSorda. He even calls GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who chafed
when Iacocca passed him over for the top job at Chrysler, a "savvy veteran."

He saves his most blistering criticisms for former Chrysler Chairman Bob
Eaton and Juergen Schrempp, the former head of Daimler-Benz who oversaw the
DaimlerChrysler merger. Iacocca describes the morning in 1998 when he found
out about the merger as "the lowest low. ... I gave 15 years of my life to
saving that company, and now I wondered if it was worth it."

He admits to scaring Eaton by supporting billionaire investor Kirk
Kerkorian's 1995 bid to take Chrysler private. Eaton and Chrysler's board
fought off that bid, but Eaton was concerned that Chrysler needed a partner
to survive and Daimler-Benz was the most willing alternative. Iacocca says
Eaton was outmaneuvered by Schrempp and gave up Chrysler's heritage too
easily, allowing Daimler to buy Chrysler rather than form a true merger of
equals.

Those feelings eased a bit when Dieter Zetsche arrived as chief executive at
Chrysler in 2000 and sought out Iacocca for advice. Iacocca praises Zetsche,
but warns that the damage done to Chrysler may be irreversible.

"I'll always believe that if I hadn't chosen Bob Eaton to succeed me as
chief executive at Chrysler, it would still be a strong, profitable,
American car company," Iacocca writes. He warns that if Chrysler "is kicked
to the curb, it will be a shattered remnant of the great American car
company it once was."

Eaton could not be reached for comment.

As for the rest of the auto industry, Iacocca advises several strategies for
turning business around, including building smaller cars and hiring smarter
executives. He says higher fuel-economy standards and a gas tax would help
reduce oil consumption, and that the Detroit automakers will not succeed in
the long term without agreements from the government and the United Auto
Workers on pensions and health care costs.

Since retiring from Chrysler in 1992, Iacocca has dabbled in several
ventures, from electric bikes to olive oil, never shying from the spotlight
or the occasional stunt. Before Chrysler resurrected his career as an auto
pitchman in 2005 with ads starring him and rapper Snoop Dogg, Iacocca had
freelanced, riding one of his electric bikes around TV talk-show host David
Letterman's studio in New York.

Iacocca's political history has as much seesawing as his post-Chrysler
career. He was a good friend of Ronald Reagan, but became an avowed Democrat
after Republicans opposed the Chrysler bailout in 1980. He turned down
Democratic offers to run for president and attacked Al Gore's environmental
positions in 2000, but backed John Kerry in 2004 and praises Bill Clinton in
his book.

Iacocca admits that he campaigned for Bush in 2000, because he was a friend
of his father, and discussed becoming ambassador to Italy with the White
House. But the first 20 pages of the book are devoted to a blistering
critique of the president and his policies on Iraq and other issues.

"George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites,"
Iacocca writes after listing his "nine C's of leadership" and the ways in
which the president fails on each. Bush "prides himself on being
faith-based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I
don't know what will."

White House spokesman Alex Conant said the administration "does not do book
reviews."

--
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and
comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great
devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best, knows the
triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least
fails while daring greatly.
T.R. April 10, 1899

 

I have been saying "where is Lee Iacocca when we need him" since 1998!
I can't wait to buy his book!

 

I have been saying "where is Lee Iacocca when we need him" since 1998!

Rover could have done with someone like Iacocca......

A

 

Iacocca had his day of glory. He now sounds like so many business people
who think they can jsut parachute in run government.

On the whole they can't.

Politics is a wholly different ball-game, dealing with fundamentally
insoluble problems. (E.g. do I build a road or an hospital?)

DAS

For direct replies replace nospam with schmetterling

 

If only he was young enough to lead Chrysler out of the swamp.

Of course it was a take over, in which Daimler drained Chrysler to save
Mercedes and got Chrysler into a very limited dying market.

Well now, this says it all.

 

Politics isn't about choosing between roads and hospitals, it's about
self-preservation and getting ahead in the game.

But that's a different newsgroup...

 

It's really not clear he could. He was *exactly* what Chrysler needed
in 1980 -- he had his finger squarely on the industry pulse, and was
able to market the designs that were in the pipeline when he came in
perfectly. What we don't seem to remember now is that over the next
decade the market changed, and he was as wrong for Chrysler by 1990 as
he was right in 1980; his zillions of K-Car variants... I don't think
the market has changed back to what he was right for.

 

How about the many Caliper variants coming out?
Just todays K car, I hope!

 

When you see a major magazine reivew of the new Jeep conclude "Jeep =
Cheep"; you know something has gone very very wrong.

When the suits at the company think it is OK to remove top tinted glass and
most of be bulbs behind the switches you know something has gone very very
wrong.

Do we see direct fuel injection being offered to lower fuel use and increase
performance; no.

I don't like the new Chrysler products hitting the street; cheap plastic,
thin carpets and cheap leather. Don't look for digital AM and FM or
multi-channel sound; but the suits think we need two DVD monitors and
Satelite TV and tables. Something has gone very very wrong.

Take my beloved PT Cruiser, a unique vehicle, and restyle the interior to
give it the general corporate look and remove the one front style element
that made it stand out. Something is very very very wrong. Dont' get me
started about the short warranty now offered and the fair to poor customer
support.

Richard.

 

So I should keep my oldie Chrysler until they smarten up or should I
just go Toyota where they are smart?

 

If I purchase a replacement mini-van or PT Cruiser Chrysler does not offere
me the best warrenty, customer service, fuel economy, reliablity, feature
list or performance for my money. They have take their vehicles in the wrong
direction, IMO. But it's your money and you make your own decisions. I feel
kind of sad but Chrysler has likely seen the last of my money.

Richard.

 

Politics are not just cynicism.

DAS

For direct replies replace nospam with schmetterling
---

 

Maybe not _all_ cynicism, but perhaps around 85% or so?

 

The non politicians are the cynics.