Chrysler Owes the Germans a Big Danke Schoen

What’s going on with FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne trying to create a new “merger of equals” between FCA (Fiat Chrysler) and presumably any takers – the latest being General Motors which is treating Sergio like the nerd in 16 Candles. Maybe we are on the brink of 1998 again, when Daimler came in and scooped up a Chrysler that was secretly on the brink of extinction – again.

That’s the news in the auto industry these days – besides the debacles at Takata with their deadly air bag system and GM with their faulty ignition switches – and the Chrysler news made me reminisce last night in Detroit when I spoke to the German-American Chamber of Commerce branch in the Motor City.

Leading up to and after Chrysler’s bankruptcy in 2009, Daimler was constantly blasted for their handling of their “merger” with Chrysler. The facts beg to differ as the Germans actually saved Chrysler and is the very reason Chrysler is alive and (somewhat) well today under the guidance of Mr. Marchionne, despite his latest shenanigans.

When Daimler “merged” with Chrysler in 1998, it did something very good and very bad. Let’s start with the latter. The “merger” masked a death dive Chrysler was just beginning and did not come to light until December of 2000. The good is that not for Daimler, Chrysler most likely would have gone into bankruptcy in late 2000 or certainly by early 2001. Alone. In 2001, with Chrysler filing bankruptcy alone, there would be no government bailout. Congress and the President would have concluded the U.S. had too much capacity and let Chrysler die. After all, Chrysler had already been saved two decades prior.

Daimler’s custody of Chrysler allowed the company to restructure under the tutelage of Dieter Zetsche and live another day until a perfect storm (led by Hurricane Katrina killing truck sales) hit and the German shareholders had had enough and Chrysler was finally “given” to the brain trust at Cerberus Capital Management. The rest is, well, hysteria, and, unfortunately, FCA CEO Marchionne is seemingly throwing fuel on another fire as we speak.

No matter what happens, Chrysler’s American employees and dealers owe the Germans a big danke schoen.

In NASCAR capital to do interview on local Fox; SEMA 2014 in Vegas next

Drove 4 hours with Betsy to Charlotte for an interview October 28th, 7:30 a.m. on the local FOX station (appreciate their interest). The drive from Wilmington to Charlotte is so easy and then so brutal as the last 3,000 miles are through suburbs with strip mall after strip mall, 35 to 45 miles an hour.

What Did Jesus Drive? Crisis PR in Cars, Computers and Christianity officially launches November 1, but lots of people already have the paperback and the e-book in their hands and devices. The electronic versions beyond Kindle get loaded in a few days.

Then, it’s on to Vegas for SEMA2014. Keep the faith. Keep telling the truth. Over and out. Jason Vines

What Lee Iacocca and Autoweek’s Dutch Mandel said about What Did Jesus Drive? coming Nov.1

Jason Vines’ book is being described as “unprecedented,” “defining,” and a “light shining on darkness.”

“Jason’s story telling is his honest account of time well spent in a career documenting numerous pivotal events we all want to hear about.” Lee Iacocca.

“Jason Vines lived The Hurt Locker, defusing one public relations I.E.D. after another. To think some of the largest corporations we can name have been this close to pure PR disaster, and yet were saved by the insight Jason earned from decades of corporate cage fights, is truly amazing. What Did Jesus Drive is a deep dive – nay, it is the colonoscopy – into the bowels of business, and it shares stories long known by a select few, or whispered in hallways outside war rooms.”” Dutch Mandel, Autoweek Publisher.

What Democratic Strategist Joe Trippi is saying about What Did Jesus Drive? and Author Jason Vines

“Get me Jason Vines! How I wish as the candidates I worked for screamed, screwed, or gaffed their way into crisis, I had called on Jason Vines. This is more than a corporate PR book – it’s a masters’ class, no holds barred, white knuckle ride of insights and wisdom for anyone whose job it is to communicate for a living. Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men” bellowed “you can’t handle the truth” – Jason Vines in raw and real story telling of his own journey explains to every politician, celebrity, corporate communications professional and government agency that has ever faced trouble (yes I am talking about you NFL – read this one Goodell!) why we have such a hard time telling the truth, why that’s the whole frickin’ problem and what we can do about it.” Joe Trippi, Democratic Campaign and Media Consultant.