Word: chryslers
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...winter storm was barreling eastward, the Gulfstream jet shuddered violently. The big man in the comfortable leather seat looked sharply toward the cockpit, as if to ask "What the hell is going on in there?" He has been wearing that expression quite a bit lately, for the man is Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca, 65, and he has been weathering a storm of his own for the past few months. Even the elegant corporate jet on which he flew last week was symbolic of the crisis. A week earlier Iacocca had agreed to sell Gulfstream Aerospace, a firm he bought...
...Signs of Chrysler's troubles are multiplying. The company lost $664 million in the last quarter of 1989, announced plant closings in Detroit and St. Louis, and laid off more than 2,300 of its 31,000 salaried workers. For the first time since 1982, when Iacocca used federally guaranteed loans to bring the company back from the edge of bankruptcy, Chrysler is losing money on its North American automaking operations. The company's market share is slipping, and its stock is being battered. Iacocca has already responded by shuffling his management and pursuing a $1.5 billion fat-trimming program...
...Comeback Kid do it again? To show off his vigor and dispel negative reports about the company, a determined Iacocca flew to Washington last week to kick off a six-city tour. Standing before a display of Chrysler products, Iacocca harangued the crowd: "Every time I pick up the paper, I seem to read another story that reinforces the idea that things made overseas are somehow better than anything made in America," he said. "We're not going to let that kind of crap go unchallenged anymore...
...Next month Chrysler will launch a national ad campaign with the theme "Advantage Chrysler." Aimed primarily at Japanese rivals, the ads will feature Chairman Lee touting the ways in which his cars are as good as or better than foreign makes. Among the features: air bags as standard equipment, greater cargo room and longer warranties. While denying he was Japan bashing, Iacocca declared, "Japan today is wrapped in a Teflon kimono, especially when it comes to cars...
...Chrysler's current misfortune is the result of several factors. One is the burden of $900 million in debt the company took on when it acquired American Motors in 1987. Another is rising competition from Japanese "transplant" factories in the U.S. A more insidious element was Chrysler's own success selling K-cars, minivans and Jeeps in the 1980s, which brought the company huge profits. "We became a little too rich and fat doing things that were not germane to the basic thrust of the company, which is to become the low-cost, highest-quality producer," says Iacocca...