Would you buy a used carmaker from these men?

Posted 12/6/2006 10:46:09 AM by Todd Lassa
Filed under: Editorial, Motor City Blogman, Chrysler


Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers are rejoicing today at news that Joe Eberhardt has stepped down as executive vice president for global sales, marketing and service for Chrysler Group. The dealers largely blame Eberhardt for foisting large, unwanted quantities of unsellable trucks and SUVs on them.




Eberhardt, shown above at the recent Beijing auto show, isn’t leaving DamilerChrysler, though. For his loyalty to the company, the German-born 43-year-old is getting a post at a Mercedes-Benz dealership until the Daimler side can find a good spot for him. That’s right, he’s going to sell cars. Obviously, he’s a favorite of Dieter Zetsche, who brought him over from the Benz side of business when Zetsche was running the Chrysler Group.

Eberhardt ran things counter to the way the company that everybody looks at for success, Toyota, has sold cars in this country. Eberhardt’s counterpart at Toyota is Don Esmond, who is known for his ability to supply North American dealers with just the right number of cars. Which is to say, slightly fewer than demand, which makes dealerships fat and happy and customers frustrated at not finding the new Camry or RAV4 he or she wants for much less than sticker price.

Anyway, Eberhardt’s sales staff will report directly to Chrysler Group president and CEO Tom LaSorda until Zetsche can find a suitable replacement. That ought to tell you how desperate Chrysler Group is right now. Rumors of Eberhardt’s demise have been swirling around Detroit for months, and yet, management hasn’t had time or personnel to find a suitable replacement (or a suitable job for Eberhardt). One scenario has Zetsche bringing back Wolfgang Bernhardt, who has been on the bubble at Volkswagen AG since Bernd Pischetsrieder lost his job there to Martin Winterkorn a few weeks ago. Although Bernhardt and Zetsche are friends, Chrysler Group didn’t have a position for Bernhardt when Pischetsrieder left. It still doesn’t … Eberhardt’s job would be considered a step down. But if LaSorda finds himself shuffled out, as rumors that will happen continue to fly, Bernhardt will have his job.

The upshot of all this is that this implies Zetsche will continue to call the shots. He’s well liked and considered the guy who brought profit back to Chrysler, which propped up the rest of DaimlerChrysler for a short while. But it was short. It would be hard to blame everything that’s happened at Chrysler since Zetsche left Auburn Hills on his successors. Much of the new product would have to have been in place by the time Zetsche left for Stuttgart. Despite DaimlerChrysler’s denials it has any interest in divesting, the financial community in Stuttgart sees Daimler’s selling off of Chrysler the best thing that could happen to the company right now. Never mind other money-suckers like the company’s involvement in Airbus and the fact that smart division, which has been around for about as long as Daimler has owned Chrysler, has never made a euro.

So, best-case/worst-case. In the worst-case scenario, Daimler tries to unload Chrysler Group at a fire-sale price and finds a non-automotive entity that guts it and perhaps keeps Jeep running. (Worse, yet, it’s Kirk Kerkorian.) Don’t laugh; it’s not much different than what Chrysler Corporation did to American Motors in the late 1980s. And Chrysler relies on platforms and engines that belong to, or are shared with, other companies. The Chrysler 300/Dodge Magnum/Charger/future Challenger all have Mercedes parts in them. Virtually everything smaller, except the PT Cruiser and Jeep Liberty/Dodge Nitro are based on a Mitsubishi-shared platform. All its new four-cylinder engines were designed and are built in cooperation with Mercedes, Mitsubishi and Hyundai.

Trucks an

 

i know that when i worked for dodge, DCX used to send tons of trucks and other unwanted vehicles to us out of the blue.

 

The Chrysler Group is part of the solution, not the problem. The problem is they need to get rid of STUPID (aka SMART) and their connection with Airbus. They need to offer more fuel efficient cars to choose from to make them work and they need to invest more in Chrysler engines and transmissions to where they can compete in both power and fuel economy.