Word: lacocca
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Taking a look back at his 37 years in the automobile business, lacocca reflected not long ago: "I don't know what the hell I rushed for. It's a long race. I was trying to sprint all the time. Maybe if I had to do it again I'd slow down a little." The thought is so outlandish that not even Lee lacocca can sell...
...Although lacocca's company is only one-sixth the size of GM in terms of revenue and less than a third as big as Ford, that kind of talk has made him easily the auto industry's best-known figure. A Gallup poll of heads of small-and medium-size businesses earlier this year found lacocca the U.S. business executive they respected most. He got 27 times the number of votes of the runner-up, Frank Gary, who retired last month as chairman of International Business Machines Corp...
...white-and-blue bumper stickers have even sprouted declaring IACOCCA FOR PRESIDENT. Preposterous? Yes, preposterous. lacocca greatly enjoys the sound of his own voice and often pontificates on political and economic matters, especially as they affect Chrysler. But friends say he does not have the patience for politics, and he concurs. "I'm not interested," he says, and then, as if to explain how the stories start: "If you only talk cars, people say you're a provincial son of a bitch. If you're outspoken, then they say you are running for office." Quips Publisher Keith Crane of Automotive...
...easy to dismiss lacocca as just another supersalesman because he is so good at it. He exudes confidence and conviction: well-tailored clothes, big cigar, self-satisfied smile. But lacocca has proved he is a remarkable manager as well. He has a knack for getting the most out of people, for making them do more than they think they can. Says St. Louis Plant Manager John Burkart: "All of us at Chrysler believe in the man. I worship the guy." Vince Williams, a Portland, Ore., auto salesman, says he decided to open a Dodge dealership rather than a Pontiac outlet...
Keeping Chrysler alive has been a wrenching process. lacocca has effectively cut the company almost in half. Of its 52 plants, he has closed 16. Overseas operations and unrelated businesses were auctioned off to raise cash. Five years ago, Chrysler had 157,000 employees; today there are 74,700. In the past three years its costs for wages and salaries have been slashed from $2.1 billion to $1.5 billion. Once the world's sixth largest automaker, Chrysler now ranks twelfth...