It's 1978 all over again for Chrysler

Lee Iacocca was alarmed by the massive amount of unsold cars sitting
and decaying on the Michigan State Fairgrounds near Detroit back in
late '78 when he took over as chair of Chrysler Corporation. This was
the notorious "sales bank," the repository of overproduced,undersold
product that would be given away under wholesale to dealers at the end
of fiscal quarters to just get rid of the inventory and make the books
look a little better.

Guess what...it's BAAAAAAACK!

CNBC moments ago showed the same, exact place where Iacocca was
alarmed by the "sales bank"...chock full of pickups and SUVs. Turns
out all the Big 3 have been lying about their inventory overstock, as
well, by cutting the amount of inventory by "future fleet sales." As
IF they know exactly when and who's going to buy these things for
fleets! After cleaning up that little slight of hand, it's apparant
now that Chrysler has a 120 day inventory of Jeeps and pickups sitting
at the fairgrounds...and those cars are just sitting there, decaying,
and the harsh Michigan winter is coming.

Meanwhile, Ford announced the end of the Taurus, the car that saved
Ford from the mismanagement of King Henry II in the '80s. Now, after
years of mismanagement by Billy Boy, they're in worse trouble than
before.

The Taurus was another place where Iacocca was wrong. When it was
introduced in '86, he called it "the potato car." Wrong...that was
one hot selling potato for many years...until Ford, by then headlong
into systemic mismanagement by the Ford family (again), refused to
spend any money keeping it modern and fresh. Seems that Billy Boy was
more interested in 2 seater T-Birds and hulking "Eddie Bauer"
Expeditions and Explorers. Then the Firestone disaster hit, and it's
been downhill with no brakes for Ford ever since, despite a period of
robust sales for the gas guzzlers...for awhile....until gas hit
$3/gallon.

DeserTBoB wrote:
> Lee Iacocca was alarmed by the massive amount of unsold cars sitting
> and decaying on the Michigan State Fairgrounds near Detroit back in
> late '78 when he took over as chair of Chrysler Corporation. This was
> the notorious "sales bank," the repository of overproduced,undersold
> product that would be given away under wholesale to dealers at the end
> of fiscal quarters to just get rid of the inventory and make the books
> look a little better.
>
> Guess what...it's BAAAAAAACK!
>
> CNBC moments ago showed the same, exact place where Iacocca was
> alarmed by the "sales bank"...chock full of pickups and SUVs. Turns
> out all the Big 3 have been lying about their inventory overstock, as
> well, by cutting the amount of inventory by "future fleet sales." As
> IF they know exactly when and who's going to buy these things for
> fleets! After cleaning up that little slight of hand, it's apparant
> now that Chrysler has a 120 day inventory of Jeeps and pickups sitting
> at the fairgrounds...and those cars are just sitting there, decaying,
> and the harsh Michigan winter is coming.
>
Well, how else will anyone be able to ask questions again next spring
about why their "brand new" minivan, Pacifica, whatever, has rust all
over the springs and other underbody parts?

cavedweller wrote:
> DeserTBoB wrote:
> > Lee Iacocca was alarmed by the massive amount of unsold cars sitting
> > and decaying on the Michigan State Fairgrounds near Detroit back in
> > late '78 when he took over as chair of Chrysler Corporation. This was
> > the notorious "sales bank," the repository of overproduced,undersold
> > product that would be given away under wholesale to dealers at the end
> > of fiscal quarters to just get rid of the inventory and make the books
> > look a little better.
> >
> > Guess what...it's BAAAAAAACK!
> >
> > CNBC moments ago showed the same, exact place where Iacocca was
> > alarmed by the "sales bank"...chock full of pickups and SUVs. Turns
> > out all the Big 3 have been lying about their inventory overstock, as
> > well, by cutting the amount of inventory by "future fleet sales." As
> > IF they know exactly when and who's going to buy these things for
> > fleets! After cleaning up that little slight of hand, it's apparant
> > now that Chrysler has a 120 day inventory of Jeeps and pickups sitting
> > at the fairgrounds...and those cars are just sitting there, decaying,
> > and the harsh Michigan winter is coming.
> >
> Well, how else will anyone be able to ask questions again next spring
> about why their "brand new" minivan, Pacifica, whatever, has rust all
> over the springs and other underbody parts?

To say nothing of pulsating brakes.......

On 26 Oct 2006 09:08:27 -0700, "cavedweller" >
wrote:

>Well, how else will anyone be able to ask questions again next spring
>about why their "brand new" minivan, Pacifica, whatever, has rust all
>over the springs and other underbody parts? <snip>

DC will issue a can of black gloss spray paint with every "sales bank"
pickup or SUV at their "fire sales." LOL!

What a mess...especially for a company that went through this once
already less than 30 years ago.

DeserTBoB wrote:
> On 26 Oct 2006 09:08:27 -0700, "cavedweller" >
> wrote:
>
> >Well, how else will anyone be able to ask questions again next spring
> >about why their "brand new" minivan, Pacifica, whatever, has rust all
> >over the springs and other underbody parts? <snip>
>
> DC will issue a can of black gloss spray paint with every "sales bank"
> pickup or SUV at their "fire sales." LOL!
>

In the glove box? You don't suggest that dealers are going to do it at
PDI do you? Double LOL!

> What a mess...especially for a company that went through this once
> already less than 30 years ago.

Actually, there've been a few of these................

"DeserTBoB" > wrote in message
...
> Lee Iacocca was alarmed by the massive amount of unsold cars sitting
>
> Guess what...it's BAAAAAAACK!
>
Chrysler's not a corporation any more, Bob. It's Mercedes. I don't know
what their financial condition is, but I'm sure it's a lot better than
Chrysler's in the bad old days.

"DeserTBoB" > wrote in message
...
> On 26 Oct 2006 09:08:27 -0700, "cavedweller" >
> wrote:
>
>>Well, how else will anyone be able to ask questions again next spring
>>about why their "brand new" minivan, Pacifica, whatever, has rust all
>>over the springs and other underbody parts? <snip>
>
> DC will issue a can of black gloss spray paint with every "sales bank"
> pickup or SUV at their "fire sales." LOL!
>
> What a mess...especially for a company that went through this once
> already less than 30 years ago.

I guess a little WD40 might work wonders if it was used at the right time.

DeserTBoB wrote:

> ...slight of hand...

It's "sleight" if hand.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

Bill Putney wrote:
> DeserTBoB wrote:
>
> > ...slight of hand...
>
> It's "sleight" if hand.
>
> Bill Putney
> (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
> address with the letter 'x')

"if" course it is

Bill Putney > writes:

> DeserTBoB wrote:
>
> > ...slight of hand...
>
> It's "sleight" if hand.

Thet mai bee th shortst exmple if th "Usnet Speling Flam Lw" I'v evr scene.
--
Joseph J. Pfeiffer, Jr., Ph.D. Phone -- (505) 646-1605
Department of Computer Science FAX -- (505) 646-1002
New Mexico State University http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer