Former CEO Says Feds Never Should Have Given Chrysler To Fiat

If history has proved itself correct under Nardelli, they would have sold off most of it and left the remaining bones to a scavenger.

(clap, clap, clap!!) Thank you, Agent! This could have easily been ANOTHER bash Obama tirade!!!

You ever get the feeling that Chrysler was the most likely to fail so it made sense to sell it off to a foreign owner so the blood would be on their hands?

Piece of work, this guy!!!

"Nardelli, who stepped down as Chrysler CEO in 2009, says he "laments all the time" that private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, for which he still works, is no longer running the smallest of Detroit's three auto companies"


BUT you did run it?? (into the ground!!)



"Chrysler, he argues, would be faring "just as well, maybe better" under Cerberus as it is with Italy's Fiat"

Yeah, I'm sure!!

Even though

"...In March 2009, the Obama administration rejected Cerberus' turnaround plan for Chrysler and its request for $5 billion in additional aid"


Sour grapes indeed!!!

We will never really know if the government approved the Cerberus bailout plan how Chrysler would be today. Maybe Cerberus did keep Chrysler afloat. The problem is what eveidence is there that Cerberus could actually run a car company. One should really look into Cerberuses past. Hasn't it always been an investment company that holds then sells off either full companies or parts of companies for profit. Also what of Nardelli's past reputation. It has not looked great,especially what happened with Home Depot.It's frankly hard to believe. By the way sales are up 27% at Chrysler in September. One other observation. The Chrysler 200 has gotten mixed reviews. Of course in photos even with the front and rear exterior styling revisions that sillouette still echo's Chrysler Sebring. However, when you actually walk up and see the car in person and then walk around it I must say the car does not look at all terrible. In fact I find parts of this car quite attractive. It looks particularly good in a dark color. The interior does not look bad at all. Ok I've not driven it. However if I'm "Joe" consumer do I really care if the steering is too light or it does not handle the bad bumps as good as a few other cars. Not really.Is "Joe" going to thrash this car around a skid pad or burn rubber on a drag strip. Nope. For that reason this car then is class competative for what "Joe" is going to use it for. It is probably comfortable to drive,reasonably quiet and refined and has some nice exterior and interior design features. As I said sales of Chrysler for September are up 27%. In my book Nardelli is blowing a bunch of smoke and cannot be believed.

We really don't know what happens, I hope all of this secrets actions , movements bring something positive for Chryslers and more jobs for American People. This is all I want to ear.

This guy is one of the greatest destroyers of corporate value in history.

Don't shoot the messenger... I think he's right.

1) Cerberus invested money into Chrysler in several areas the average person (or enthusiast) doesn't know about.

2) The credit collapse is what killed Chrysler.

3) The turnaround plan Nardelli submitted was based on far smaller volumes than we're currently seeing.

4) Nothing that Chrysler is selling right now comes from Fiat, and all of it was in the works before Fiat.

5) Of course, all of this is predicated on government loans.

6) I often find myself wondering "Even if Marchionne is a hero, who will replace him? Will the next guy just steal money out of Chrysler to prop-up another socialist European employment agency, ala Diamler?"

flamerboy, Chrysler isn't selling anything right now based on a Fiat anything and their upward sales trend has beaten the average industry sales increase in eight of nine months this year. In Canada, it's the company’s 22nd consecutive month of sales growth, the best September sales since 2001. They're number two in sales and Canada is not just about trucks... Canada loves minivans and crossovers.

And despite what you've been told, the 300/Charger/Challenger (LX) cars have as much in common with Mercedes as they do the old LH platform they're adapted from. It wasn't until years after the Daimler takeover that the company was forced to meld inferior Daimler parts into their existing platfoms, many of which have now been exorcized.

So what if some of the cars are rebadged Fiats. Some of Fiat's new cars are rebadged Chrysler-IE Lancia Thema(Chrysler 300) and Fiat Voyager(Dodge Journey) and Lancia Flavia Convertable(Chrysler 200 Convertable). I'm not saying that Cerberus kept Chrysler Alive until it could be sold, gone through bankruptsy etc. The question is did Cerberus have the financial wear with all to invest more in Chrysler or could they have done it with a loan from the US government? What car experience did Cerberus have? When you compare Cerberus versus Fiat you are comparing a Financial company versus and Automobile company.If you are the US government and have decided to loan money to save an automotive brand which way would you go? It is true that Cerberus had a lot of the large car revamps in place for the 300, Grand Cherokee, dodge Durango. However who redesigned the interiors on 95 % of all Chrysler production models? Fiat did.Further this major redesign was done in 18 months. Who is contributing to the A,B,C and D segment smaller car product that Chrysler so vitally needs. Fiat.In addition it is a lot easier to adapt and existing platform (C evo) to small car development then having to develope small cars from scratch. In my opinion the Obama administration made the right move by going with Fiat.Other then Keeping Chrysler afloat there is little evidence to suggest that Cerberus could have made a go of it even if it got the money from the Feds.

However who redesigned the interiors on 95 % of all Chrysler production models? Fiat did.
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Who told you this? The pursestrings for better materials may have opened as a result of the loans, but the designs are not the result of input from Fiat.

2012 Chrysler Delta is a 5-door hatchback based closely on the Lancia Delta and by based closely; I mean that it is essentially a rebadged Lancia model."
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Sorry, I had forgotten a completely inconsequential model that will never show up on North American soil. We'll just trade that for the Fiat Freemont (Journey) and the Lancia sedans based off the Chrysler 200 and 300.