Word: lacocca
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...lacocca, the son of Italian immigrants, is fighting for his corporation's life, and growing numbers of viewers seem to be buying his act. Says Abe Gurewitz, 54, a Brooklyn cab driver: "I saw him on TV and I like the guy. He's turning around a company that was down the drain. He has guts." Nor has lacocca's commercial charisma escaped notice by Wall Street's savviest auto analyst, Maryann Keller of Paine Webber Mitchell Hutchins. Says she: "I wouldn't doubt that people have bought Chrysler cars just because they wanted Lee lacocca to make...
Incredibly, it is beginning to look as if he might. Five years ago, lacocca was president of Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler's profits were about to careen off a cliff. In November 1978, four months after he got the ax at Ford, lacocca joined Chrysler as president. From that year through 1981, the company lost nearly $3.5 billion, easily the biggest bloodbath by any American company in history. In 1979, the company was so close to bankruptcy that only an act of Congress saved it, and despite the bailout, Chrysler has almost collapsed several times since. It is therefore...
Chrysler's recovery is largely lacocca's doing, a triumph of brains, bluster and bravado. When the company needed money and the banks dithered, he threatened to go into bankruptcy. When he needed pay cuts and the union protested, he warned that he would shut plants. When Chrysler could not pay its bills, he persuaded suppliers to be patient. It now seems a plausible bet?not yet even money but not 100 to 1 either?that lacocca's company will survive as No. 3 against its behemoth competitors, General Motors and Ford, and occasionally even threaten them. Of course...
...lacocca blames this
...tends to tire easily. During the turmoil of congressional hearings in 1979, he nearly passed out in a Capitol Hill restaurant, though he makes light of the incident now. Says Mary lacocca: "Lee's been through hell. He didn't realize how bad it was at Chrysler, or he would never have gone...