Nouveau président chez Chrysler...

[Mr Pignon]

Mr Nardelli ,nomé par les gens de Cerbérus ,ont sais que son passage chez home dépot na pas été un succes ,cest pas trop rassurant a mon avis .http://marche-bricolage.blogspot.com/2007/01/dmission-de-robert-nardelli-pdg-du.html

[Stéphane Dumas]

j'ai lu ça, en plus le site Autoextremist www.autoextremist.com a fait un très long édito sur le sujet, j'ai pensé le "quoter" ou citer si vous préférez


The Impending Disaster Called the "New" Chrysler.

Detroit. In a desperation, "Hail Mary" move, the GE-addled brain trust at Cerberus Capital Management - fresh with the news that Wolfgang Bernhard had unexpectedly turned down their offer to become non-executive chairman of the "New" Chrysler - named the ex-CEO of Home Depot, Bob Nardelli (another GE alumnus), to the post instead. Tom LaSorda will now become Nardelli's No. 2 (although no one expects him to stick around long), and Eric Ridenour, the former COO of Chrysler - who was simply overmatched for the job from the get-go - has left the company. My inbox on Monday morning had ten emails in it, all with "WTF?" in the subject line.

WTF? Indeed.

First of all, let's sort through the ludicrous speculation about Wolfgang Bernhard, that he somehow wasn't a "good fit" to run Chrysler because of his recent track record. That's unmitigated bullshit, folks. There is simply no one in this business better equipped to run Chrysler. There is simply no one else even close, for that matter. Bernhard has the deep knowledge, the incomparably diverse skill set and the relentless drive necessary to do justice to that job - in his sleep. But in the last six months of his involvement with Cerberus, Bernhard learned two things: 1. He got an up-close and personal view of how Cerberus goes about its business, and he could see the writing on the wall in that a potential for conflict to his authority loomed, whenever Cerberus managers decided to question it. He wasn't in the mood to have people who don't know the business start telling him what to do. And that was clearly more than a distinct possibility with the disciples of Jack Welch on the loose. And 2. Bernhard clearly came to understand that the potential for a Chrysler recovery was much less than the reality of the situation indicated. There were just too many "ifs" roiling around for Bernhard to think anything else. If Chrysler gets a favorable contract with the UAW, if they can get their product turned around in time, if they can favorably repair the relationship with the dealers while they try to winnow the ranks, if the U.S. automakers get a favorable break in Congress with the timetable of the new CAFE standards. That was too many "ifs" in Bernhard's book, so he declined the Cerberus offer to become non-executive chairman.

But that being said, what part of hiring Bob Nardelli to become the new CEO of Chrysler seemed like a good idea? This impending disaster was such an uncomfortable fit at Home Depot by the end that paying his ridiculously exorbitant severance package of $210 million was more palatable than having him hang around for one more day. Nardelli's blunderbuss reputation for being a ball-busting cost-cutter lost in a GE-tinged Six Sigma fog and blessed with the people skills of a drill sergeant caught up with him at Home Depot, and it will catch-up with him at Chrysler too. Even the hard-bitten "old-school" managers operating at the Detroit Three have finally learned that you can't cut your way to prosperity - and that's a lesson that Nardelli hasn't even begun to come close to understanding.

And this business that Nardelli's abrasive demeanor won't be a factor because of the fact that Cerberus is a private company and it will free him from having to deal with cranky shareholders? That's unmitigated bullshit, too, and for that matter, where do these guys come up with these dime-store rationales anyway? Running a Detroit car company is as much a political job as it is anything else these days - if not more so. If you're the head of a Detroit car company, you are its most visible spokesperson, without question. And to pretend otherwise is simply futile. Alan Mulally gets it, and even Rick Wagoner sort of gets it (at least when he feels like it). But Nardelli? You have to be kidding.

The other myth being propagated in the media is that Nardelli, like Alan Mulally at Ford, is part of the new wave of "outsiders" who finally will cure Detroit of what ails it once and for all. Well, guess what? That's unmitigated bullshit, Part III. The difference between Mulally and Nardelli is that Mulally came from a company that actually manufactures things and sells them to real live customers. There are distinct similarities between the car business and the airplane business, which has served Mulally well so far. Nardelli? Nothing in his track record suggests that he's equipped to succeed here, because he flat-out knows nothin' about nothin' when it comes to the car business.

What does this business come down to every single time? Great product. You can't "process" your way to product desirability. Period. Chrysler desperately needs great product, first and foremost - and the sooner the better. Of the Detroit Three, Chrysler is clearly the most out of position for today's market - embarrassingly so, I might add - and the clock is ticking. The last time I checked, great products are not a by-product of a system like Six Sigma, because Six Sigma is all about the process itself and the cold, hard numbers. Usable to a degree, but that's all it is, because Six Sigma is a system that leaves out the essence of this business and conveniently neuters what really matters. Great products flow from the guts of people who know and love cars and have the fire and the will to succeed at all costs in bringing those great products to the street. You can't quantify that, and it's not a "process" that can be learned.

So here we go again. By choosing Bob Nardelli to run Chrysler, Cerberus has charted a course for disaster - yet another in the long line of disasters for this star-crossed car company. Nardelli is simply the wrong man, in the wrong business, at the wrong time - a perfect storm of negatives that will prove to be the very definition of Not Good.

Notice those new ads for the Cerberus-owned Chrysler that blare the headline, "Get ready for the next hundred years of Chrysler"?

The "new" Chrysler will be lucky if sees another five.

Thanks for listening, see you next Wednesday.

[Kwyjibo_]

J'ai eu environ le même réflexe quand j'ai vu qui ils avaient nommés pour redresser Chrysler...

Je ne pense pas que la stratégie de Rambo va fonctionner chez Chrysler...Tu ne peux pas appliquer sa manière de penser chez une entreprise ''retail'' de nos jours...

[Stéphane Dumas]

Je ne pense pas que la stratégie de Rambo va fonctionner chez Chrysler...Tu ne peux pas appliquer sa manière de penser chez une entreprise ''retail'' de nos jours...

Sans aucun doute, quoique certains dans d'autres forums mentionnent qu'il est seulement là par intérim dans un timing qui tombe au mauvais moment (négociations avec la UAW) question de tenir le banc chaud pour son successeur qui n'aurait probablement plus à s'occuper de cette patate chaude, aussi Wolfgang Berhard avait signé son contrat pour le poste qu'il occupait chez VW mais ce dernier avait mis une clause mentionnant qu'après son renvoi, il ne doit pas travailler chez un concurrent pendant 2 ans après son renvoi.

et toujours sur le site d'Autoextremist à la section "on the table"

Guess who is licking his chops at the prospect of a Bob Nardelli-led regime at the "new" Chrysler? None other than Carlos Ghosn himself. Given the way things are in this business, don't be surprised if Ghosn doesn't make a play to take Chrysler off of Cerberus' hands before this decade is out. Ghosn is hell-bent on picking off one of the Detroit Three - and Chrysler is shaping up to be the perfect target.
(en passant, il y avait un article paru sur Caradisiac le 31 juillet mentionnant que Ghosn serait encore intéressé par un partenaire américain http://news.caradisiac.com/Carlos-Ghosn-regarde-toujours-vers-l-Amerique-253 )

[sunlight]

Moi ça me fait penser: j'ai aussi lu cette semaine que Chrysler reprenait son ancien logo corporatif?

Est-ce que cela veut dire que tout les produits de Chrysler vont le porter et le logo ailé va disparaître ou ça va être un peu sur le même principe de GM et devenir une identité visuelle supplémentaire se rapportant à la compagnie sur chaque véhicule?

[Stéphane Dumas]

Moi ça me fait penser: j'ai aussi lu cette semaine que Chrysler reprenait son ancien logo corporatif?

Est-ce que cela veut dire que tout les produits de Chrysler vont le porter et le logo ailé va disparaître ou ça va être un peu sur le même principe de GM et devenir une identité visuelle supplémentaire se rapportant à la compagnie sur chaque véhicule?

je pense que le pentastar sera appliqué seulement dans les brochures, documents ainsi que sur les côtés des véhicules, Chrysler va garder le logo actuelle seulement pour la division Chrysler.

[sunlight]

Déjà que je trouve que c'est l'un des plus beaux logos sur le marché... (le logo ailé...)