Stock Investing - Chrysler up for sale - What is DaimlerChrysler thinking?

Chrysler for Sale - Any Takers? DaimlerChrysler hasthe part back to Detroit for rip down and investigation.
basically thrown in the towel by hiring J.P. MorganIt's not even vaguely possible.
Chase to find a way for the luxury German autoSensitive Competitive Pricing - No GamesSure, not in
maker to divest itself of the Chrysler automobilemy lifetime, maybe in yours. When you walk into an
company here in America. We went back and took aAmerican dealer, they still try to snow you. In our
look at our stock research on the original Germaninvestment work when we get involved in stock
purchase of Chrysler and wondered how we gotinvesting, we do hands on stock research. If it's
from there to here. Chrysler was a stock pick of oursDetroit's manufacturers, we walk into dealers all the
as far back as 1981 when Lee Iacocca brilliantlytime to see what's going on. We are looking for tidbits
prevented bankruptcy, and turned the companyof information, what we call the scuttlebutt method of
around.stock investing.
When it comes to stock investing, you have to lookWe were in a Chrysler dealer recently, and looked at
behind the fluff, and figure out what's real. Our stocka model that seemed interesting on the showroom
research shows that Chrysler is in the same boat asfloor. The car had a base price of $22,000; the bottom
General Motors and Ford. All three companies in theirlist price after accessories was $39,000. You got to
internal budgets which is how they guide theirbe kidding? I have done advanced postgraduate
companies through the next 12 months and beyond,courses in mathematics. I would never be able to
have built into their plans continued degradation of theircompare one dealer's pricing with another when you
domestic automobile market share. This very simplyare itemizing numbers in that manner.
means that they plan to continue to lose market shareWhen you walk into a Japanese dealer, there are no
to the Japanese in each of the next three years.games. The car comes from Japan loaded, the price is
This is no different than a boxer stepping into the ringthe price although negotiable, and the lease price is the
and thinking about which of the next several rounds Ilease price. You can sometimes negotiate more miles
will get knocked out in. It's throwing in the towel, andon a lease, as I did recently, but basically you can very
you don't want to get involved with stock investingeasily work dealer against dealer for the best price
with companies that have that attitude. Chrysler alongpossible.
with its two American counterparts General MotorsThe America car dealers disallow this negotiation
and Ford must implement a couple of very simplemethod by having 30 plus items individually priced on
ideas to make a comeback. They are:the vendor's window sticker. How are you going to
1) Manufacture a reliable, quality product2) Sell it atcompare prices using that methodology? The answer
sensible, competitive price without playing games withis you are not, and they know it. God forbid you are a
the customer3) Service their cars in an appropriatewoman going in to buy a car; they really take
manner that retains and builds customer loyaltyLet'sadvantage in that instance.
look at these ideasIt is unfortunate that our homeService and Customer LoyaltyI live in Westport, CT.,
based car manufacturers manufacture "crap", butyou can't buy a house under a million dollar, in fact a
that's just what it is, pardon the expression, and alwaysmillion dollars is a tear down. We have a Chrysler jeep
has been. We never realized it as consumers until thedealer adjacent to Westport which is the closest
Japanese came along and implemented zero defectdealer if you want to buy any kind of Chrysler. Upon
manufacturing. This means Toyota, Nissan, and Hondainspecting it, I found the shop employees who handle
will not allow a car to leave Japan unless it is perfectthe customers to have grease on their clothes. These
coming out of the factory.are not the guys who fix the cars. They are the
We on the other hand have made a decision to allowservice advisors.
less than perfect cars to leave the assembly line.Eighty years of building cars and they can't get their
Detroit's decision is that the consumer after takingact together, and Detroit wants to know why they
delivery will make a list of problems, and then have thecontinue to lose market share. In the last two or three
dealer fix the issues at the dealer level. This isyears, Japan has begun implementation of a free oil
unacceptable to the American consumer, and Detroitchange policy. Everybody thinks they are being kind to
should immediately take steps to fix it.their customers. The truth is the cars never break
Detroit won't however. They are locked into adown, people were leasing their cars, and
different mindset. In Detroit's way of thinking, it wouldconsequently never changing the oil. Cars were
be prohibitively expensive to implement zero defectcoming back with 30,000 and 40,000 miles on them
manufacturing in this country. Although this might bewithout oil changes.
true for factories currently in production, this would noThe reason is that Japanese cars really do not require
be true for new factories coming on stream. Sincemaintenance for 30 or 40K. American cars on the
GM and others could have implemented this policyother hand begin to fall apart after 30 or 40,000 miles.
years ago, and chose not to, Detroit's big three is atIt is said that the engine on the Honda is so strong that
least a decade further behind the eight-ball.it will outlast the body of the car. If you look at
When you take delivery of a Japanese car, it isAmerican car dealer service centers, they are always
perfect. Everything fits, everything works, and verybusy doing repairs. This is not the case at Japanese
seldom is there an issue. I do remember buying a newcar dealers.
Acura MDX and having the starter fail the first weekDaimlerChrylser will find a buyer for its Chrysler line.
out of the showroom. No only did Acura tow the MDXGeneral Motors is even talking about buying it, which is
in and replace the starter at no charge, but I found outlike the lame leading the blind. GM is trying to save and
later that the faulty starter was air expressed torealign itself, and wants to take on what German
Japan to determine why it failed. Acura wanted tosuper management teams have FAILED at, which is
learn from the experience. Could you ever imagine intaking Chrysler to the next level. Our answer is SURE.
your wildest fantasies, an American car dealer sending