Word: chrysler
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...time, Mercedes has to revamp its manufacturing--no easy chore in high-cost Germany, a country whose problems in many ways reflect those of its signature car company. The task will fall to new DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche, 52, who has already worked miracles in overhauling the once disastrous Chrysler division. "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king," says Peter Schmidt, a British-based auto-industry consultant. "Zetsche is a brilliant choice, but it will be very arduous to get Mercedes back to where...
...airplanemaker (Fokker) and a 37% stake in Japan's inept Mitsubishi Motors. Those and other investments drained management's attention and the company's account; Daimler's share of Mitsubishi's 2002-04 losses totaled more than $1 billion. The company's biggest acquisition, the $36 billion purchase of Chrysler Corp. in 1998, remains deeply controversial. The market value of DaimlerChrysler, the combined firm, is about one-third less than when the merger was announced. "They frittered away their cash," says Helmut Becker, a former chief economist of rival BMW, who works as an industry consultant. "If they hadn...
Those problems now belong to Zetsche, who sports a bushy walrus mustache and a big broom. He was once considered a dark-horse candidate for the top job, but his star rose over the past three years. Dispatched to Auburn Hills, Mich., to sort out Chrysler, he has led a remarkable turnaround at the company, which swung back into the black in 2004 after years of heavy losses. In September Chrysler reported its 18th consecutive month of sales increases. In the U.S., Zetsche quickly wielded that favorite American management tool: the hatchet. He axed 26,000 jobs and browbeat suppliers...
...going. - By Ursula Sautter Next Year's Model The average working life of a car, statistics say, is 16 years. Jürgen Schrempp, head of DaimlerChrysler since 1995, didn't last quite that long. Schrempp is the architect of the controversial 1998 tie-up of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler, the biggest between two firms in industrial history. The merger, he expected, would combine the strengths of the powerful, complementary automotive firms and create a competitive, international corporation. Since then, he's been criticized for expanding at a time of dwindling demand and stiff competition. Last week, DaimlerChrysler's supervisory...
...finally turning a corner? Fueled by deep discounts, sales for the troubled automaker surged 47% in June. But that prompted Chrysler and Ford to offer generous incentives too, setting the stage for a brutal price war. GM is also banking on redesigned SUVs to lift sales, despite a shift in consumer sentiment away from the gas guzzlers. High profit margins on SUVs are critical to GM's bottom line. But just 34% of shoppers are now considering an SUV, a three-year low, according to a recent survey by Kelley Blue Book. Sales of fuel-saving hybrids, meanwhile, are expected...