Fox news reported tonight that chrysler will cease to exsist as we know it with in 2 years. Talks between GM and chrysler has broken down because goverment won't give them money for the merger. Deal could still go through, but either way, chrysler will never be the same again if at all.

 

From what little I've read, the only hope they had was an alliance with Nissan & Renault, who already have an alliance. I think the Nissan/Renault fellow, Ghosn, said they weren't looking to 'rescue' anyone.

Why would the government give GM money to buy Chrysler? Turning them down is a glimmer of hope for our system. All GM was going to do is shutter it anyway. They can sell off Jeep, maybe sell Dodge trucks & the rest is history.

Too bad, but that's business.

 

Nostalgia does not sell. A product people want to buy and make a profit works. The market is just trying to correct itself and if they can not make product that will turn the profit they need, Chrysler needs to die.

 

Chrysler got in big trouble back in 06 when the UAW forced them to over build to meet union contracts. They had 500,000 unsold vehicles just setting in stoage. Chrysler was forced to eat them and has never recovered. It caused diamler to sell them and now under the current gas and economic crisis, they still are unable to get a foot hold. Cerbus won't keep taking looses, they'll part chrysler out like an old jeep. I look for only jeep and dodge trucks to survive under other ownership, be it GM or whoever.

 

It wasn't a merger, per se,

Cerberus Capital Management owns 80.1% of ChryCo and 50% of GMAC.

Cerberus wants the rest of GMAC still owned by GM, offered to trade ChryCo to GM for their remaining share.

A bad deal for the ChryCo employees, because if that did happen, how many would lose their jobs, once GM consolidated ChryCo into their company?

I've read that over 85% of ChryCo's employees would be let go.

Daimler is still involved in ChryCo, as they retained 19.1%

Wendell, I believe you are being generous, as ChryCo is close to bankruptcy.

Some industry insiders believe that ChryCo won't last more than a year...at best.

And...

Some other industry insiders believe ChryCo will be bankrupt by January 2009.

GM is also in a terrible financial condition.

"Two drunks helping each other across the street." What ppl said about the Packard/Studebaker merger of 1954.

IMO: The same thing applies to a GM/ChryCo merger.

 

I stated the same thing over a year ago. Ram Trucks will become a stand alone company along with Jeep. I cannot imagine that Chrysler cars will exisit....Should be a pretty good after market business in parts though. Since they don't hold up to good.

BTW: I heard a number the other day that if the merge goes thru...35,000 will wind up in the unemployment line. I wonder how the Auto Unions will deal with that...in their short term thinking way?

 

News item this AM, the Nissan/Renault talks are off, Cerberus "prefers GM". Yea, they want to get out of the car business, which they knew little of, it appears, and take the risk on the portfolio of GMAC with all those mortgages sitting there. Well, one difference is the mortgage actually has something attached to it that probably will be worth something some day. A fleet of last year's vehicles, on the other hand, isn't going to increase in price.

Article also says this isn't going to happen until after the election, as the new admininstration, whoever that is, will decide how much more taxpayer money to shovel into this furnace.


Tough sh, er, tough situation.

 

Why would Ram trucks survive?

Who could come up with enough cash to buy the Dodge Truck Line from ChryCo, then offer only that truck as a stand alone company?

A foreign automaker, maybe.

But so far, no one had shown the slightest interest, cuz you know that Cerebus has been trying to dump (sell) ChryCo together/piecemeal since they bought it.

Then, there's this to consider: Ram sales are down over 60% since 2005.

So...what other automaker would buy the Dodge truck line from ChryCo to get a stagnant non selling truck?

Besides, if another automaker already was selling their own trucks, why would they want Rams?

Jeep, I can see. Anything else made by ChryCo...forget it.

 

From what I've heard Chrysler has a few Billion in cash right now. Their major restructuring and vehicle cutting is helping to keep the money bleeding down. If any of the big 3 are going to fail, its going to be GM first.

You can blame Mercedes for the current condition of Chrysler. Chrysler was actually making money until Benz bought them up for their cash reserves.

 

I didn't say anything about another "truck" company buying Ram.

The industry needs Ram truck and the nation needs the domestic brand to live in some form. With that said, stand alone is the ONLY way Ram will live, IMO. If it is destined to win at all.

Who knows, maybe International will decide they need a light to medium truck line.

Or someone could place Jeep and Ram under a common brand / umbrella.

 

If they are not selling well now, what makes you think someone will want the baggage?

 

Because there is always somebody out there that thinks they can build a better package. The work force is in place. The plants are in place. The unions will fall to their collective bargaining knees to keep some semblance of what they had...alive. And the Feds will ultimately help because 35,000+ will hit the unemployment lines. With an employment base of around 75,000, the hit could go even higher.

 

I threw out several scenario's, one being another automaker buying the line or some corporate types buying the line, and starting an new company.

IMO, neither will occur...there's ZERO interest.
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IHC (Navistar) halted production of their own line of (bland) pickups and SUV's decades ago.

Who can forget the memorable 4WD Travel All, the world's first SUV?
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Since Ram sales are sinking fast, how is someone going to take over and reverse the Ram's fortunes?

The current resale value of one year old Rams is less than 30% of the original MSRP, worse than even the Titan pickup.

Here in LA LA Land, one can buy a 2008 Ram Laramie Edition Quad Cab (MSRP: $31K) with all the fixin's including the Hemi for less than 15 grand.

These exact ads have run for over a year from at least 5 dealers.

These same dealers also have 2007's and 2006's still in inventory.

Rams are dead as the dodo bird, and with all the rumors of ChryCo's demise, very few are being sold, because as the history of the autobiz has shown in the past, no one wants to get stuck with an orphan.

Lead Head: Cerberus Capital Management LLC, as a privately held investment firm, has released no financial figures inre to ChryCo.

So there's no way someone could say or estimate what their automotive cash reserves are.

The automotive press has been asking for over a year. Cerberus hasn't been forthcoming, except with the usual BS spin.

 

Me bein' wrong won't get you a cherry...been wrong before. Time will tell. Sure going to be a lot of people out of work. The cascade effect we be a multiplier of at least 3.

 

Here is a link to check out: current sales data

ITs looking up for GM right now short term. its still down for 2008 to be sure, but as an example, the chevy malibu itself has recently had a sales increase of 50% and last month darn near outsold every ford car built - combined. the impala is doing better and I expect those 2 platforms to carry gm thru.

helping the us brands is the fact that even as the dollar climbs against the euro, its fallign against the yen - effectively raising the price of the imports.

Next week, $5 says GM announces saab and the gmc truck brand are gone.