Deal Book – February 16, 2007:
Days after Chrysler’s parent company said it would not rule out a sale of the struggling unit, there were two reports Friday that rival automaker General Motors was negotiating to buy it. Shares of G.M. fell as much as 2.2 percent following the first report, from the Automotive News, but soon recovered. Shares of DaimlerChrysler, which owns Chrysler, rose 3.6 percent. Citing unnamed sources, Automotive News said that G.M. and DaimlerChrysler executives have held “high-level” discussions beyond teaming up to design a large sport utility vehicle together. Instead, it said, G.M. may buy Chrysler outright.
Reuters also reported Friday that G.M. was in talks to acquire Chrysler, citing its own, unnamed sources.
German magazine Manager-Magazin reported the two automakers were in talks earlier this week.
In September, Automotive News reported that G.M. was holding merger negotiations with its other Big Three rival, Ford Motor.
“I’m Ted Stevens, and I approve of those boobs.”
Update: Jsforbes has found a very good article about the problems facing Chrysler.
Wow, I’m surprised by the anti-union sentiment on what I thought was a libertarian / egalitarian board. Are we forgetting the obscene compensation auto execs used to get? I’m sure if they’re paid more than, say, double or triple what the average line worker gets, they’re getting paid too much.
I too have a Chevy truck (2001) and it’s the best car I’ve yet had (knock wood). But I’d feel better knowing whether the car had at least been assembled here. I am my brother’s keeper to that extent, methinks.
#33. Thanks for reading right from the manifesto. When you get off your Marxist soapbox let the rest of us know. The fact is, the unions ARE killing the automakers. The quality issues are largely a misperception that is a holdover from the 70’s. I don’t see how anything #29 or #5 wrote is related to talk radio at all.
#31 is closest to the truth? Yeah. sure. you’re reading rigth from the script. The LAST thing this country needs is socialized healthcare. Oh, i could see it now. The long lines, the indifference, the bureaucracy, the passing the buck. the lowest common denominator being catered to.
Do YOUR research before spouting off Hillary’s talking points.
31. “With nationalized health care, it would be easier for companies to keep jobs here.”
Which is exactly why so many “American” cars are actually made in Canada.
When you only have a hammer in your tool box every thing begins to look like a nail.
We got too many people with “only a hammer in their tool box”.
The reason Detroit is not making it in the market is because their products don’t sell as well as Toyota and others.
Why doesn’t Detroit cars sell? The only tools Detroit management have in their tool box is 1.) close, 2.) slash and 3.) merge (anorexia or bulimia, chose your poison); that doesn’t make me want to buy a poorly designed car.
I own a 1997 Audi A4 Quattro with a 150K. Great car but expensive and irksome to maintain well. I am looking to buy a new car. I look at Consumer Reports and it ranks Ford Focus, all wheel drive, with high marks. I test drive it. The impression I have is
1.) excellent drive train
2.) poor interior fit and finish, the design of the dashboard looks like something designed by Mattel, toy manufacture.
3.) The door doesn’t close solidly. My 1997 150K Audi door closes more solidly then a brand new Ford Focus.
4.) Bare bones cabin climate control, a toy for a radio, no digital compass in the rear view ….
5.) No 100K warranty like GM.
6.) And to really kill the deal, the Sales force opens their ignorant mouths.
Unions isn’t killing Detroit. Detroit Management is killing Detroit. Instead of focusing on labour Detroit needs to focus on product design.
For now I am sticking with my 1997 Audi A4 Quattro with a 150K.
OK Alix, for “normal people” substitute “people living the only lifestyle to be aspired to”. 😉
There would be much improvement to society on the whole if a law were passed making it illegal to build anything smaller than the Avalanche and a felony to drive anything to small to haul 4×8 sheet goods for anything other than occasional recreational purposes.
Again the clueless nature of the US car industry which used to be the basis of the American economy.
“What is good for General Motors is good for the country’.
The American auto executives should be shot.
Beyond clueless.
Energy crisis.
Foreign compeition.
Entry level cars for new buyers entering the car consumer market – to build brand familiarity in a market based on reliability and not taking chances with your basic transportation ???
Instead “Lets evade the rules on gas mileage and safety. Lets take big old trucks that were paid for years ago. Load them up with options.
Charge a fortune. Make a lot of money. Promote with all our marketing muscle that to buy these trucks loaded with options is “cool”.”
The girls in the ads are for the dealers to have fun with not the car buyers.
Both the auto executives and the greedy unions should be shot.
In the end what is the answer- Chrysler is going to start importing economy cars into North America from China.
In the end something of something is better than nothing at all.
See what greed and stupidity will get you.
#35………”Marxist soapbox”???? I thought your buddy Ronald Reagan took care of the Marxists, Communists, etc. years ago.They’re no longer a threat, why are you so worried about them?
#40 – It’s in the rules for right-wing argument. If you can’t win by logic or deflect with sneer-and-smear, divert with ad hominem attacks, shout irrelevancies, try to make people fearful, or appeal to other base instincts. Unless none of those would work, in which case try to ignore it (see recent item on Republican approach to debate on Bush Iraq “plan”).
Does this mean we’re gonna get cars with those obscenely hugh tailfins again?
I suspect the day of the huge, sprawling bureaucratic corporation is about done, just like the huge, sprawling bureaucratic nations.
Nationalized health care would solve some of Detroit’s problems but they owuld still lose out to Toyota which has designers. Unions are a big problem given the contracts they’ve negotiated in the past. GM has to pay for hundreds of thousands of people’s health care who aren’t even working for GM right now.