A Low Profile This Year, But Chrysler Says Its Day is Coming
Jan 12, 2010 – Bill Vlasic reports in The New York Times from the Detroit Auto Show. Read the full article at The New York Times and the excerpt here. “Chrysler always had a showman’s flair for grabbing attention at this city’s annual auto show. Its stunt highlight reel includes driving a Jeep through the front window of the convention center and dropping a pickup truck from its ceiling. Sergio Marchionne, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on Monday at the auto show in Detroit, for which Chrysler has no new models to introduce.
A worker secured the interior of a Chrysler pickup suspended from the ceiling at the show. Later this year, the carmaker will unveil its restyled Jeep Grand Cherokee. But this year, Chrysler is more wallflower than star. It has scheduled no news conferences, primarily because it has no new models to show. And the focal points of its exhibit are vehicles manufactured by its new Italian partner, Fiat.
It is hardly the image that Chrysler hoped to project after it emerged from a government-sponsored bankruptcy this summer. Sergio Marchionne, who serves as chief executive of both Chrysler and Fiat, said on Monday that the company had to endure a fallow period before it could refresh its vehicle lineup. “It’s just going to take some time until we get the new products into the marketplace,” Mr. Marchionne said. “The important thing is the long term.”
President Obama’s auto task force concluded last year that Chrysler could not survive on its own, and the government would not lend it money unless it found a viable partner. That partner turned out to be Fiat, which had been exploring joint projects with Chrysler for some time.”
