Chrysler Pays $30 Million In Retention Bonuses To 50 Executives

SO, I'm an executive, my business is in Red ink, normal hard working people are losing their jobs, and I'm going to get a bonus?? FAIL, they should all drown in their blood !!!

30 mil is a drop in the bucket for a company with sales in the billions but I question the need for bonuses when these guys really have nowhere else to go. Which car company is hiring overpriced execs these days?

Right On.

And it's actions like this that make most people want to let the Big 3 sink due to their incompetency.

Badgewhore, the 300 was based on an E class Merc, I think the Germans did as well as they could given the circumstances. Without them Chrysler might already be history???

The fact is they in deed did sink the ship!

to steve27t you really dont have a clue what diamler did to chrysler. Chrysler had billions in cash and was doing great. It was to be a merger of equals and ended up being a hostile takeover. think about it why would diamler want to help an american car co. Diamler took the cash [13 billion]and purchased 5 major corporations [ white freightliner, detroit desiel, sterling , etc ] gave crysler some of its stuff and sucked chrysler dry its Diamler that screwed up chrysler and when there was nothing left to get they sold what they didnt want. Screw Diamler

I will never buy a Chrysler product for the rest of my life.

:-)

Rehab must have done you well. Finally you start making sense. Hey, I even boosted you!

The Free Lunch Program is Over!!

Good now you dont have an opinion on the subject anymore

This is absolutely ridiculous!! Here these CEO clowns are trying to secure $25 Billion dollars more in bailout money from the government, then they have the nerve to give their excutives bonuses. Let's reward stupidity. Every one of those Excutives who accepted the bonus payout should be FIRED, starting with their boss who signed the check.And some people wonder why many of the taxpayers who are footing the bill are furious. Between them and the UAW they can all eat crap (remember the auto companies want bailout money for retirees pensions and health insurance). These CEOs are idiots!!

A number of idiots off the street can do a better job than the bullshit artists in Detroit that have let the auto industry flush down the toilet. Most bizarre is the union opposition to the proposed GM/Chrysler merger. The unions appears to prefer that auto industry bankruptcy and loss of all related jobs. At this stage, the only option left is to nationalize the industry or let them all go under so that more competent companies can buy the assets cheap and start manufacturing cars again.

Amazing Disgrace...you are right on!

Oh god, just awful...

insanity. In today's world people are happy just to have a job to begin with. Our pay merits this year are going to be less than they were, but at least my company is still getting merit increases.

Which brings me to another point. Our executive people in the higher up positions have vowed to not take an increase in pay this year so that the people (like myself) on the front end can get a small one for the year. Sounds like good practices to me.

Sounds like some good executives.I can assume it isn't Chrysler.

Actually, this payout would signal that Chrysler *IS* on the way out and they're just hookin' up their buddies before the inevitable occurs...

RIP Chrysler. We hardly knew ye...

You hit that one right on the nail.

Maybe you need to consider the amount of world aid the US gives to other countries before you spout off cptamazing. Whenever there is a disaster the US is one of the First to offer aid. While the Canadians are nice people and valued allies, you don't seem to be one of the better examples.

Agent 009. Fact, the US gives less than other industrialized nations per capita. Farm subsidies to US farmers destroy African farmers, they cannot sell cotton or crops to the US, in fact we dump it on them, then give them a little aid as a F--K you. Nice.

TheSailor

I find it quite unbelievable how well their media has managed to brainwash them. Astonishing.

"This is why you should not buy imports, not that they are noot good cars but what the the countries they come from think of us."
And this arrogant and ignorant statement of yours is why the rest of the world has such an image of the US.

Agent009, wow you must be one of the most ignorant individuals, what foreign aid do you speak of? It took your government a week to provide any type of aid to the victims of Katrina but yet when their is a fire in California the military is there that same hour. I guess the people of New Orleans are not as important as the money in California. How shameful that you would judge the importance of an individuals life by the number of zeros in his bank account.
Since you speak of such great foreign aid that the US provides, please explain to me where were the US during the Darfur tragedy, just to name one of the several tragedies to take place in Africa only it was not important for the US. I wonder how Africa would be if they had vast aqmounts of petroleum the US could exploit?

Sailor-

Sure, it is simple to stereotype Americans. Watch our TV, buy our products, follow our media and you can form your own opinions about who we are. But as you do form these dissolutions and spout them out on a forum, keep in mind you are doing exactly what you claim we Americans do in excess: base cultural perceptions on limited exposure.

You can talk about us, criticize us, even chastise us; but in the end, you know you can't live without the US.

HenBMW

Actually, if the Middle East was U.S free, everyone will be happy, I assure you :)

M53R-

Considering they have been in conflict for literally millenniums, I highly doubt that.

Irrelevant. A company is not a static entity. Regardless if there was a deal in place, the executives should step up, show some brass and opt to forgo their bonus in an effort to show they care about the company and not just their own bottom line.

Times have changed! So they need to re-adjust the contracts since they did not perform in a reasonable and timely manner. I am sure many of these contracts are perfomance based so thay all managed to lose Billions of dollars.

Hundreds if not thousands of companies have signed such contracts in the past.
If the executives actually cared about the companies well being they would have said no to the bonuses. Even if 30$ millions is not that much money for a company that needs billions to help them, to forfeit the bonus would have been the right thing to do.
And your example of the repo man coming for your car serves no point in your argument. An executive can always forfeit his bonus if he believes it's the right thing to do to help the company. If the company underperforms the way Chrysler has it should be common sense for the executives to say no to bonuses.
I work for a brokerage firm and they company cancelled all bonuses, pay hikes, and all extravagant meetings and balls they had scheduled for 2008 to save as much money to ensure they don't fall in bankruptcy. In fact they even cut the number of executives in the bank by 20%. Now that is something the big 3 should be doing even if it saves them a measily 100 million dollars.

And we are blaming the execs, your not making any sense. Yes Chrysler had to repay those bonuses but if these execs had any moral responsibility to their employer or the industry in which they work they would refuse to accept the bonus.
I do not understand why it is so hard for you to understand. It is not the first time that executives refuse to take a bonus that is being provided to them by their employer.

"you cant punish a company for a few workers taking what is realy a small amount of money in terms of billions,when it was promissed to them."
No you can't punish the company, but how can you assume it's ok for those execs to accept the money when they are the ones who have brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy.
Don't give me the market conditions bullshit. Execs are paid the big bucks to be ensure their companies are well prepared to adjust quickly to new market conditions. The big 3 have been asleep on the wheel for 2 decades.

Let all garbage 3 to burn in hell. I feel sorry for the people losing their jobs, but I hope they'll find other jobs soon. The garbage 3 have just DESTROYED the American product name and by their filthy practices they destroyed the American dignity too.

I'm now 70 years old and remember the days when "Made in America" meant something. America was a trusted brand. The garbage 3 made rusty cars, used cheap materials and fasteners and relied entirely on marketing gimmicks, questionable sales practices and planned obsolescence to enhance profits and boost share price. They made really stupid agreements with greedy unions and now complain that they can't survive.

A trusted brand must always deliver on the the promise of that brand or the brand eventually loses all its value. The garbage 3 are responsible for their own undoing.

1UAW

My dad is a hardcore american cars customer and he even admits that American cars last around 3 years before start breaking down. Not to mention that he thinks they are great, but their finishing is absolutely poor and shows that they dont even spend time at all on making the product "perfect". ( You can check for panel gaps, small cuts here and there, poor fitting of doors, etc in a new American car. You'll find many! )

1UAW... There is always one car pro-Detroit people hold up as the example that they finally can produce world class cars.

It started with the Chevette as being a competitive economy car. The Fiero was a revolutionary sports car. The Beretta had the Gertag shifter. The list of "American finally gets it" is long.

So now it's the boring Malibu. I'm not impressed. Looking at sales numbers vs. competitors not many others are either. And a few years from now we'll see how it stacks up in reliability versus it's competitors. I know where I am betting it lands.

American executives and the UAW fattened themselves on the gluttony of the car buyers. They counted on Americans desire would never end for leather heated seats in Cadillac and Lincoln pickups with DVD players and motorized fold down seats and doors. Two heated Starbucks cupholders for every occupant!

Now the economy is tanking and we see they never had a Plan B for the rainy day that would inevitably come. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Management and the UAW leaders just hoped another oil shock or downturn would never happen on their watch and they could continue to get their piece of the pie. As a former CWA member, I do say we include the union leaders as being fat cats taking advantage and not wanting to confront reality or risk their position.

The world just wants something reliable with good MPG now (if they can afford a car at all). And Detroit has nothing to offer.

It's time to clear house. America will not be stronger putting off the pain and putting the burden of failed policies of management and the UAW on the backs of taxpayers.

1UAW, i'll agree with you that the new Malibu is agreat car and in my opinion the best in it's class, great engines, great inerior, great quality and finish.
Now, name me 3 other cars from the big 3 that i can say the same. I can only find 1 other car and that's the CTS. Both, CTS and Malibu are GM products. There are several other new GM products that are helping that company improve. The problem with GM is they have too many brands. Buick, Saturn, Chevrolet, Pontiac all have cars within the same price tag. They are essentially competing with themselves.
As for Chrysler and Ford, have you been in the new Sebring or Focus, now that is cheap quality interiors.

"Lucerne, aura, G6, G8, Soltice, Corvette, Enclave, Traverse, STS, CTS, Vibe, Astr and more"

Lucerne?????????????????ahahahahaaaaa, only an 80 year old man would appreciate such a car, please let's get serious.
Aura, yes a good car, but then again a rebadged european GM product, if only all of the NA GM lineup was like that.
G6??????????????seriously now the quality of that car does not stand up to it's competition, cheap and noisy interior.
Solstice, ok we now have 2 cars.
Corvette, incredibly fun car to drive but that interior is not worth 60+ grand.
Enclave, i can't judge on that car is i've never driven it nor seen it in person, and considering i work in the automotive industry and see hundreds of cars every day i question whether anyone has actually bought that vehicle.
Traverse, please seriously tell me you can do better than that.
STS, quality of interior not worth the money, too much of a grandpa feel when you drive the car, i fell asleep for a second, actually quite a few seconds. Uninspiring car.
Vibe, terrible design but that's just my opinion, extremely noisy and uncomfortable ride. Again, let's get serious.
Astra, first test drive i had the door and seat was squeking, dealers response "Oh that's nothing, you barely hear it". It's also a rebadged euro GM vehicle.
What are these "more" cars you speak of?

Wow...AIG Execs received similar bonuses...Now Chrysler?

Sad.

Actually i believe AIG cancelled the bonuses to their execs, though i'm not 100% sure of it.
I do know they still paid the vacation bonuses to their top sales representatives which amounted to about a quarter million.

It is difficult to focus on quality when it takes way more than four steps to do a simple design change or when you have to take time to figure out how to make a line change because we have to have a certain number of union workers on the line at all times...

Not to mention cultural stupidities such as separate pissoirs for the brass... eez.

I like the Malibu, CTS, Flex, Ion Storm and several other GM cars right now. But there is no denying that we have inefficiencies that are making the US automotive industry non-competitive.

In the end they all lose from the top-down.

This proves the company does not deserve assistance from the public.