Paladin06

The new Cuda, Just kidding...

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/14/b...ly-agreements/

RLSH700

Certain revised lyrics are ringing in my head about this: "People live and learn but you're not learning, have you lost your mind?"

This just blows my mind. How many times does Chrysler have to make foolish ideas like this before they get it that this is a formula for failure. For years they did this with Mitsubishi, and the model didn't sell very well. They have tried this with MB and the only one that was half way successful was the LX cars; meanwhile, the Pacifica and Crossfire failed. Chrysler does the best when they do things on their own, NOT when they rely on another company to do the work for them. On top of this, I'm worried about the powertrain that will be used. Although the Nissan VQ engine is an excellent design, their I4 line hasn't had the best reputation and could cause trouble. On top of this, this almost guarantees that Chrysler will use CVTs (since they already are using their CVTs in the Caliber), which not everybody likes.

Has it ever occurred to them that sharing their truck with Nissan is a path to failure as well because that will more than likely eat away from their sales and give Nissan the profit from it. Considering how valuable the Ram is to Chrysler's current success, that is the last thing they need to be sharing just like it is a bad idea to be sharing the Caravan with Volkswagen. It makes no sense whatsoever to make a "sharing" deal with one company for one of their second rate (if not third) rate products that are hardly their "bread and butter" and in exchange you will let them utilize your "bread and butter" products with them. It is just plain foolish. Just look at what came out of the Grand Cherokee being shared with MB deal. MB got the best platform Jeep had available, Chrysler got nothing but leftover technology and interior when it was MB's turn to share. Urrrggg![:@]

Okay, I'm done complaining about Chrysler not learning from their mistakes.[sm=rant.gif]

mopar2ya

So RLSH... any thought that this could be a big lead into selling off Chrysler. Maybe the current group that owns Chrysler has no intention of holding onto it for long. Any possibility, based on your observations, that there might be an effort being made to capitalize on an opportunity to share and then make a bid to sell seperate divisions off to thier new found partners? Just a thought provoked by your observations...

RLSH700

I've heard of that possibility before and honestly I hope that doesn't happen. These mergers generally do not result in success, it is generally wiser to keep free of mergers because they rarely reach the desired synergy, it normally leads to what happened back in with MB all over again. One member normally takes over and is given the top priority and the other gets no effort at all. The best way to success is being self reliance. Use Toyota and Honda for an example, they got where they are today not buy mergers and acquisitions, but by sticking with what they were good at and expanding on it and let GM's and Ford's bloated size work against them later.

The fact of the matter is if Cerberus didn't want to keep Chrysler, they shouldn't have invest in it in the first place. Another boss who has a half-minded effort planned into the company to get rich quick is generally another formula for trouble as they don't work very well in the long term. MB thought they were going to be able to pull something like this off, and they paid for it (literally) when they went to sell them off.

I especially hope that this does not lead to Chrysler being sold in parts or whole to that group because they aren't doing the best in quality and their strategies are very short-term focused and not long-term focused.

Yankee

I dunno if I'd read a whole lot into this. Automotive mergers have been going on for decades, and they don't show any signs of abating anytime soon. Nissan and Ford merged for awhile (I remember people wondering if this would eventually spell doom for Ford - unfortunately that didn't happen lol), they even had a minivan together back in the early 90s - remember the original Nissan Quest and Mercury Villager? And of course you already mentioned VW, who, of all people, is now using a version of the Dodge Grand Caravan - guess Chrysler still has a thing for German car companies.

Even Toyota and Honda have relied on other divisions - Toyota and Pontiac have a version of the Corolla (the Matrix), and for years Honda relied on Isuzu for an SUV (remember the Passport? A rebadged Isuzu). While I'm certainly not for any type of Chrysler/Nissan merger, I guess I'm willing to take a "wait and see" approach if it in fact does happen.

RLSH700

Yes, I unfortunately remember those things. You'd thing that Ford would eventually figure out the minivan (in fairness they did somewhat with the Windstar, they just messed it all up by giving it an engine that still had head gasket issues that were unresolved in the early years and a transmission that could not hold up no matter how well it was maintained). I actually believe that was either a partnership or a joint venture and not necessarily a merger. What I meant was that Toyota and Honda did not purchase other companies like GM or Ford has done. GM owns so many different Japanese and European companies, while Ford owned many European car companies.

Although you are correct about the joint venture that happened between GM and Toyota, they were still pretty much using Toyota's technology and platforms and these operations still haven't been extremely successful on GM's part. The Prizm didn't sell half as well as the Corolla. The Vibe has kind of been successful. The Passport was pretty much a failure in the case of Honda, they learned their lesson pretty quickly.

The fact of the matter is this sometimes works decently, but it is normally better to DIY when it comes to building cars.

joeyr

I'd wouldnt mind Nissan/inifinti helping to design the interiors of some of the Chrysler products. Maybe will get the Hornet concept out of this.