Word: iacocca
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...Your colleague Lee Iacocca has made it sound like a declaration of war. Do you agree...
...Iacocca was right on target. What really focused our attention during this downturn was the fact that all manufacturers brought their production in line with demand. Only one group, the Japanese, didn't do it that way. Only one group steadily increased its inventory of vehicles. I'm sure those vehicles aren't going to get thrown in the ocean -- they're going to get sold. And so there's no question about it, their penetration of the U.S. market is going to increase. We told the President and his people back last March that we could see the trend...
...immediately on the defensive, the American auto executives were quick to argue that while they made a lot of money (Iacocca even admitted his pay was "too high"), their Japanese counterparts got more in compensation than met the eye. Claims Iacocca: "Don't feel sorry for the Japanese ((executives)). They make a lot of money. They have a lot of perks. They get bought $3 million houses. They have million-dollar golf-club memberships." His clear implication: when everything is tallied up -- salaries, bonuses and perks -- Japanese and American executives are neck and neck...
...automaker has tried to build a car tailored for the Japanese market. That would require a steering wheel on the right, a shorter wheelbase to navigate the narrow streets of Japanese cities and greater fuel efficiency to offset higher Japanese gasoline prices. Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca declared last week that his company would redesign some of its models for the Japanese market and be ready to sell them later this year. Then there is the question of quality -- something the Japanese are usually too polite to mention in public. During last week's talks, Nissan president Yutaka Kume brushed aside...
...Bush glossed over such realities the minute he decided to take 21 American corporate chiefs, including leading Japan bashers like Iacocca, on the trip (only 18 made it all the way to Japan). By doing so, Bush was making a not-too-subtle threat to the Japanese that they could either play ball with him or take their chances with a more protectionist Democratic Congress. The threat was spelled out last week by outgoing Commerce Secretary (and soon-to- be Bush campaign chairman) Robert Mosbacher: "In the gulf war, the Japanese ended up paying without getting any credit. If they...