Mickey Kaus:
Has Chrysler really achieved "viability"? This is at best an open question. Here are Chrysler's new sale figures. They're grim. Chrysler sold 1,320 Sebrings this month, for example--compared with almost 7,000 a year ago. The Sebring is is the mid-sized car that's supposed to compete with the Accord and Camry. How about the lower-end Jeep Compass? 712 sold. "These are the stats of a dead car company." Why the poor sales? Maybe this: Of fifteen manufacturers rated for 2009 on reliability and performance by Consumer Reports, Chrysler came in fifteenth. ("No Chrysler, Dodge, or Jeep vehicles are recommended.") And it's not like Chrysler has lots of appealing new models in the pipeline.
That appears to be the part left out of the Obama administration's self-aggrandizing deal spin: Who is going to buy the New Chrysler's cars? Consumers "in new markets around the world," say Sanger and Vlasic, with a straight face. Is Steve Rattner going to call and bully each and every one of them? At best Chrysler won't have new products to sell for 18 months, when in theory (and only in theory) Americans will be lining up to buy tiny FIATs.
Keep one thing in mind, Obama is one of the guys who spent $100 million on Chicago's schools with no, zero, nada impact on school improvements.
1 comment:
Personally if I were looking for a car it would be a Ford, since Ford is the only company, at least as of today, not being run directly from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Post a Comment