dodge guy wrote:
The specific references are in all the links everyone has given. FCA wants to buy or partner with other manuf. they don't want to sell! And yes GM is hurting. Look what they have sold off in the last few years!
As far as how well Chrysler is doing, we'll just look at what FCA has done for the company since its purchase. It has turned it around into a well run company.
As far as Daimler was concerned, they ran a great company into the ground. When Daimler purchased Chrysler back in 98 Chrysler had money laying around. Daimler came in and tore through it like a starving bear!!!! Then left Chrysler with nothing. Cerberus just didn't know what they bought when Daimler sold Chrysler to them. Thankfully FCA came around and ponied up and bought it, then proceeded to buy out other shares. As of right now Chrysler is doing well as can be seen by all the new Mopars on the road. A company that isn't doing well just doesn't go out and invest in new products unless they know they will sell. Take the Hellcat SRT's they can't make enough of them.
You guys really need to do some research before you go talking about something you know nothing about!
Chrysler saved Daimler from failing, yes Mercedes was going down. When they had stripped most of the liquid assets, sold it to the normally well managed Cerberus. Me thinks that somehow idiot nardelli and his hundred million played into this purchase. Lets not forget that Daimler forced the whole LX line down Chrysler's throat.
Which brings us to Fiat. Fiat didn't pony up and buy nuttin. chrysler went through a bastardized bankruptcy and the company given to Fiat. FCA is being saved by Dodge and Chrysler and the booming US market. Did you happen to notice that Chrysler never went public as promised? That was because in spite of public statements they were making money, when GAAP was applied to the corporate financials, they were losing money.
Dodge has a problem with Hellcat's. They are a negative impact on CAFE standards, and yet they far underestimated the demand for the product. Dealer's are not making many friends with their bonus money on top of MSRP. This will last only as long as gas prices stay somewhat where they are today. Jump in gas prices, and watch the sales crumble. Chrysler is way too dependent on low gas prices.
Marchionne has made it very public he wants to merge with another global company. I don't see that happening. GM is having their own financial issues, Ford learned the lesson that economies of scale can get too big, Honda's had a huge negative spike in warranty, Toyota has their hands full managing their global expanse and their synergy wouldn't work. We start getting into the lesser players that may not have the ability to take on either FCA or even Chrysler. The only option there might be would be one of the China joint ventures... but that means an end to that particular JV partnership.
FCA US warranty and TGW (things gone wrong), are bad and getting worse. Most OEM's are grouped at one level. Like I said above, Honda has seen an unprecedented increase. FCA is in a quality league all their own at more than double Honda's bad results.
