Journalist Unloads: Is Chrysler's Marchionne A Saviour Or Opportunist?

"Them is fighting words" - but accurate in general. I maintain my position that this is a marriage of two losers ... in the two markets (N America and Europe - where Chrysler and Fiat primarily do business) that have excess capacity. I hope both go under. I also hope that people here in the US stop saying things like Chrysler got raped, because the fact is Chrysler is a loser, on its death bed, three times (Lee saved it once, Daimler saved, yes saved, it the second time, and Bush-Obama/Fiat saved it the 3rd time). The so-called cash that Chrysler had was credit line from their creditor (bond holders and banks and gov't) but was never sufficient to pay for Chrysler mgmt incompetence and inferior products. One has to ask, why wasn't any of the "good" companies wanted to partner or buy Chrysler, because Chrysler was a dog. One also has to ask, why is it that one US company can buy another US company to strip and sell the remaining components but why can't a Fiat do the same. So stop blaming Fiat for finally showing its cards now.

nguyenvuminh. Your full of crap!

Mr. Delorenzo is off course free to his opinion.His point seems to imply that Marchionne's main goal is to save Fiat at the what ever cost it brings upon Chrysler. He assumes that Marchionne does not give really a 'rats ass' about Chrysler so long as Fiat survives.My question to you Mr. Delorenzo is this-Why would you cut off the hand that feeds you??. True Fiat does need Chrysler cash but Fiat must realize that even with Chyrslers cash Fiat is still going to have a long road to recovery. This is especially true in the Euro market. In order to keep the cashflow coming from Chrysler isn't it important that Chrysler needs to continue to be the cash cow in order to feed Fiat.If Chrysler cashflow is depleted then it can no longer be competative in the market place to generate the cashflow to keep feeding Fiat.The European car market(which is not the fault of Segio Marchionne) will probably not begin to recover for another 5 yrs.Germany where the one market everyone thought was immune to the downturn is now suffering. VW sales are dramatically down the first quarter. Marchionne has often stated that there is too much overcapacity in the Euro car manufactoring. He also stated that governmental austerity does not work.Also did not Fiat pour money into
Chrysler to get those Chrysler developed redesigned enhancements on so many models out in within 18 months of Fiat taking over Chrysler. I was under the impression that Marchione let Fiat languish a bit because he needed to focus in on Chrysler rejuvenation.Now he appears to be switching gears probably to satisfy the Agnelli family and the Italian government. The American market is a veritable gold mine for car manufactorers. Why would Marchione want to screw ths up? Per Mr. Delorenzo's comments Marchionne may be an impossible boss to work for and has gone through many mangers.He is certainly an excentric in the car business.However, up until this point he really has not made a lot of bad moves.Does Mr. Delorenzo really believe that Alfa Romeo and Fiat can grow large enough over time to make Chrysler superflouse? At this time I find it hard to believe.You need to keep the money tree alive in Chrysler or it really would not matter if you owned 100% of Chrysler.Maybe Mr. Delorenzo is pissed because Chrysler is not an American owned company any longer. I'm just not beleiving his comments.As for nguyenvuminh comments- I think docholiday somes it up perfectly.Surely you don't know what you are talking about in regard to Chrysler.

mini22. Sounds to me Delorenzo was on a rant. I agree with your response.