http://www.detnews.com/2004/insiders...b01-138451.htm

 

Wouldn't it be ironic if GM picked up Wolfgang Bernhard to ultimately replace Bob Lutz.

Bob Lutz reportedly knows and likes Bernhard.

 

I'm pretty mixed about Bernhard. On one hand, he cut alot of cost out of Chrysler, and from a stockholder point of view I have to commend him on that.

He's as interesting as Bob Lutz (at the last Detroit show, he went around with the press & critiqued his competitor's designs!), yet unlike Bob Lutz, he seems to be a pain to do business with or work for.

He's one of those rare people who does phenominally great things, and can create some pretty bad situations. Some of his efforts cut numerous Chrysler workers, starved Chrysler of new product, created alot of bad will with suppliers, and darn near wrecked Chrysler. Yet, now Chrysler's quality of their recent products is up there with (or maybe even slightly above) the rest of the industry, they have started a pretty aggressive product launch schedule (topped only by GM it seems).

On the other hand, it there's any effort to fire or demote Chrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche, I'm selling my Chrysler stocks. Though at 1st I didn't like the idea of a Mercedes appointed Chrysler head straight out of Germany, Zetsche is a "true believer" at Chrysler, and has proven extremely devoted to turning it around.

While Bernhard seems like he has his eye on climbing the corperate ladder, Zetsche seems like a CEO version of Redplanet. Very devoted to the brand he runs. It'd be a grave mistake for Schrempp to take out any revenge against him.

 

I'm pretty impressed with Zetsche too. He caught alot of flak when he came on board, but he worked through it and has done a good job.

If that weasel Schrempp, fires Zetsche out of revenge....I hope Zetsche gets an offer from GM.

 

I for one would be very happy to see Dr Z end up in control of Chrysler.

 

Seems my assesment of Bernhard wasn't far off.

http://autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?p..._code=03323105

Seems he was in hot water before the Mitsubishi fiasco.

 

Where'd I put my hara-kiri knife.....

...oh yeah... there it is...

*Schnick*

*GLURP*

*Gurgle... gurgle... gush... gush...*

*drip*

*drip*

*drip*

Yeah, maybe we can have him send NAO's war chest over to Opel.

 

On the contrary...Zetsche was the one who got DCX to send money back to Chrysler to fund programs like the LX cars.

 

Does this mean that Dr. Z is safe from Schrempp? If Z goes, I think so goes Chryslers performance cars.

 

This is a great and informative read on the subject:


http://autoextremist.com/page2.shtml#Rant