I can't tell you that... but let her know that I had a great time last night.

 

I wish chrysler would shut the hell up and do what needs to be done. For all the money chrysler is asking for, a large % is going over seas and to mexico, not to you.

The government should give chrysler a a 5 grand tax break that can be Forwarded directly to you if you buy a chrysler product, than you have your choice to support Dodge, or Ford, or Gm.

Giving out blanket sums of money is not helping any one.

A large % of people are not buying Dodges, Ford, or GM, now with the big three demanding cash, a lot more people are going to avoid the big three.

 

As with G.M. they have to add $3300 to every auto for the retired folks that get 100% salary and medical. That was the contract that the UAW signed with the big 3.

The avg labor rate for the UAW is close to 78.00 per hour, on the tundra line it is 48.00 per hour.

I am all for the wokers, but there has to be a lot of bad management miss spent funds.

This is the 1st chrysler product I have ever owned, The style, ride, mpg, of the older dodges was always behind GM and Ford. I took a hard look at this truck, really like the style, RIDE and mpg??

I actually use my truck for work , its 2 weeks old and has 1700 miles on it. I'll run 3000-3500 per month working out of my truck.

I just hope some oversight commitee is watching where all this Loan Money is going
BOA, AIG, CITI GROUP???

 

Well, the Big 3 have been stuck in their ways for way too long and that is what has brought them to where they are now. Take Wagoner for example - he's been at GM for 31 years. That corporate culture is ingrained in him. He doesn't really know how other companies operate. The times have changed and GM never bothered to adapt. They still have management meetings before upper management meetings so that they can get together and get their stories straight so they can cover their a$$. CYA meetings are ridiculous. Information is not disseminated fast enough in these organizations. Things are too political - people manage their own careers and not the company as they should be.

Additionally, when the times were good, GM & Ford were buying up other car companies or starting new brands - Jaguar, Land Rover, Saab, Saturn. These were all basically mistakes. It was an attempt to grow revenues in the short term at whatever cost in the longterm. The Big 3 have always been pretty shortsighted about maximizing shareholder value. What was bought for top dollar back then has recently been sold for pennies basically. But it's a move in the right direction - a focus on a few core brands. Ford should have Ford & Lincoln (maybe Mercury) and GM should narrow it down to 3-4 brands as well.

Now, Mulally has been doing some good things for Ford. He's shed the non-core brands to focus on Ford. He's turning Lincoln back around. He's getting rid of the managing your career crap, making sure meetings are more efficient, information is disseminated faster and bad news is dealt with as a learning experience, not something to crucify some middle manager. I honestly think Ford is on the right track for a turnaround. Their new vehicles have scored high on Consumer Guide reports and on predicted durability. They have a new small car platform that's rolling out which will be used around the world, finally eliminating multiple platforms for multiple regions. Ford is headed in the right direction.

The problem is, I don't really like Ford's products. Their cars are boring and their truck's interiors are overdone and they're underpowered. But, boring quality cars sell (look at the Camry & Accord). And the F150 sells well too despite its tacky air vent trim and 5.4L.

Now unfortunately I don't know enough about Chrysler and Nardelli - mostly b/c their the smallest of the Big 3 and private - so not as much info is available. But they've basically made the same mistakes. Daimler did some great things for them, but they just couldn't make the money on Chrysler that they were hoping for. We can thank a lot of the new Ram's design to Daimler and their funding. The Sprinter van is thanks to them. The Crossfire was courtesy of them. I owned a Crossfire - fun little car, but most Chrysler buyers don't want $100 oil changes and for such a nice drivetrain they really skimped on the interior components. Anyways, Chrysler is loaded with debt and crappy labor agreements - the best thing for them may actually be Chapter 11, especially if the economy doesn't turn around soon, b/c in tough times like these, Chrysler doesn't have the lineup to save them from all of their troubles b/c they sure have a lot of troubles.

 

Yes, the contracts with the UAW are ri-damn-DIC-ulous. They should just build the new Ram down in TX after they file Chapter 11 and get out of their contracts with the UAW. TX will throw some tax breaks their way, we have a talented labor pool, no unions, etc.

Anyways, the main reason for my reply was to state that the reason you probably like this Dodge so much is that it was developed largely by Daimler, their engineers and their funding. Now, the 3rd gen Ram was top of its class when it came out in 2002, but it was due for some more dramatic mid-life updates that it never really received. But it was still a great truck.

 

They will almost never file Chapter 7 (which is liquidation of assets). If they do, then you might loose the max care warratnies because some one (Nissan) will buy the truck division but why assume those liabilities. The bankruptcy court may make a buyer take the warranty liability and to bridge brand loyalty it might make sense. Chrysler is posturing, staking out its ground. It may go Chapter 11, which is reorganization. It may make sense for them to do it.

 

I thought this too and the looks are different but I changed my mind when the sales person demonstrated that the vent can be rotated and adjusted 360 degrees. The traditional design does not allow for optimal position sometimes.

 

This is just a way for them to push the government for the $$. They would file for bankruptcy before shutting down.....

 

I'd like to know where you're getting this information from?

 

I don't recall the exact article I read, but it talked about how Daimler opened up their purse strings during the development of the new Ram, etc. If you look at the timing of when the Ram was being developed, that matches up with when Chrysler was owned by Daimler - it's also when they were coming out with vehicles that had a high Daimler influence - the Sprinter, the Crossfire, etc.