Chrysler: If you can't beat 'em, berate 'em.
10-14-2003, 07:41 AM
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Chrysler: If you can't beat 'em, berate 'em.
Chrysler targets foreign rivals
Quips from executives, factory workers get louder; analysts say strategy is ill-advised
By Mike Hudson / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- If you can't beat 'em, berate 'em.
With Japanese and European automakers capturing more U.S. car and truck sales each month, and the nationalistic vitriol of the United Auto Workers contract talks still fresh, Detroit automakers appear to be willing to talk a little trash to foreign rivals in the spirit of the "Buy American" campaign of the 1980s.
But it's not just the factory guys issuing challenges this time.
Still smarting after Toyota Motor Co.p. passed DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group in U.S. car and truck sales for the first time in August, Chrysler manufacturing chief Tom LaSorda drew cheers from a group of 2,000 union workers at a Chrysler factory in Newark, Del. last week by promising, "We're going to kick Toyota's ass, Honda's ass and everybody else's ass."
LaSorda's comments during ceremonies marking the production launch of the redesigned 2004 Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle followed a speech by Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden.
The Democratic senator got a rise out of the crowd by encouraging workers to succeed in "beating the living hell out of the Japanese and beating the living hell out of the Europeans."
The rhetoric is reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s when former Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee Iacocca railed against encroaching foreign competition.
Chrysler said the comments from LaSorda were little more than heat-of-the-moment hoopla, aimed at boosting the morale of the workers in Newark.
"A launch program at a plant is something like a pep rally," spokesman Mike Aberlich said. "It's not unusual at a plant event like this to do something that will get the troops' blood boiling."
But some industry officials and analysts say such statements likely reflect a bit of pent-up frustration. Chrysler only narrowly regained its status as the No. 3 U.S. automaker in September after Toyota's U.S. sales eclipsed Chrysler's in August.
"I'm not sure the Japanese are petrified," said Neil Bernstein, labor law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "It's going to take a lot more than promising to 'kick ass' to achieve anything close to market dominance again."
Metro Detroit UAW workers have always been quick with a quip whenever a foreign-made car drives by, but the insults have been getting louder since the union began labor talks with Detroit's Big Three in July.
Pressure from foreign competition loomed as a key reason Detroit automakers were largely successful in resisting large pay increases and benefit gains while winning some flexibility to cut jobs and improve manufacturing efficiency.
Throughout the contract talks, company and union officials said they were united against the Japanese and European incursion, stirring up simmering resentment for Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co.
Union workers are becoming especially sensitive to foreign cars driven by their doctors and pharmacists because of how much money they make each year from Big Three medical bills.
"I try to be nice to people but it kind of upsets me, especially when someone is talking about how much better they think Japanese workers are than American workers," said Bill Howard, a 26-year UAW worker at General Motors Corp.'s Romulus transmission plant.
"I asked my doctor why he drove a foreign car with all the money he gets from us and we went back and forth about it."
Still, some industry officials were put off by the combative nature of the comments in Delaware and the underlying trend of foreign-bashing.
"It was an unusually brazen rah-rah speech, it reminds me of the 1980s," said Jim Sanfilippo vice president of AMCI Inc., an automotive marketing firm in Detroit.
"It kind of flabbergasted me. It's a very misguided approach. You don't have to name names."
Officials at Ford Motor Co. and GM have also acknowledged that Toyota could pass them in worldwide sales in a matter of years if current trends continue.
Outward anger at foreign vehicles and their owners has subsided to a great extent since the 1980s when the UAW adopted the "Buy American" campaign to fend off competition by appealing to patriotism among consumers.
The lines of "American" and "foreign" have been blurred by mergers, takeovers and cooperation agreements that have led to Mazda sedans being made by Ford UAW workers in Flat Rock while GM makes its Cadillac Escalade sport utility in Mexico.
The only major flap in recent years came in 2002 when Ford union workers placed fliers on executives' Jaguars and Volvos in the parking lot at Ford's Dearborn headquarters. The UAW took exception to Ford employees using their employee discounts to buy vehicles made by Ford's foreign brands.
Chrysler officials say there wasn't any hostile intent in last week's comments. They were simply meant to pump up the work force at a crucial time in Chrysler's history.
"There's no question that (LaSorda) was really inciting the troops that we have a challenge out there," Aberlich said. "The quality and success of this vehicle are very important."
You can reach Mike Hudson at (313) 222-2293 or mhudson@detnews.com.
Quips from executives, factory workers get louder; analysts say strategy is ill-advised
By Mike Hudson / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- If you can't beat 'em, berate 'em.
With Japanese and European automakers capturing more U.S. car and truck sales each month, and the nationalistic vitriol of the United Auto Workers contract talks still fresh, Detroit automakers appear to be willing to talk a little trash to foreign rivals in the spirit of the "Buy American" campaign of the 1980s.
But it's not just the factory guys issuing challenges this time.
Still smarting after Toyota Motor Co.p. passed DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group in U.S. car and truck sales for the first time in August, Chrysler manufacturing chief Tom LaSorda drew cheers from a group of 2,000 union workers at a Chrysler factory in Newark, Del. last week by promising, "We're going to kick Toyota's ass, Honda's ass and everybody else's ass."
LaSorda's comments during ceremonies marking the production launch of the redesigned 2004 Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle followed a speech by Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden.
The Democratic senator got a rise out of the crowd by encouraging workers to succeed in "beating the living hell out of the Japanese and beating the living hell out of the Europeans."
The rhetoric is reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s when former Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee Iacocca railed against encroaching foreign competition.
Chrysler said the comments from LaSorda were little more than heat-of-the-moment hoopla, aimed at boosting the morale of the workers in Newark.
"A launch program at a plant is something like a pep rally," spokesman Mike Aberlich said. "It's not unusual at a plant event like this to do something that will get the troops' blood boiling."
But some industry officials and analysts say such statements likely reflect a bit of pent-up frustration. Chrysler only narrowly regained its status as the No. 3 U.S. automaker in September after Toyota's U.S. sales eclipsed Chrysler's in August.
"I'm not sure the Japanese are petrified," said Neil Bernstein, labor law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "It's going to take a lot more than promising to 'kick ass' to achieve anything close to market dominance again."
Metro Detroit UAW workers have always been quick with a quip whenever a foreign-made car drives by, but the insults have been getting louder since the union began labor talks with Detroit's Big Three in July.
Pressure from foreign competition loomed as a key reason Detroit automakers were largely successful in resisting large pay increases and benefit gains while winning some flexibility to cut jobs and improve manufacturing efficiency.
Throughout the contract talks, company and union officials said they were united against the Japanese and European incursion, stirring up simmering resentment for Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co.
Union workers are becoming especially sensitive to foreign cars driven by their doctors and pharmacists because of how much money they make each year from Big Three medical bills.
"I try to be nice to people but it kind of upsets me, especially when someone is talking about how much better they think Japanese workers are than American workers," said Bill Howard, a 26-year UAW worker at General Motors Corp.'s Romulus transmission plant.
"I asked my doctor why he drove a foreign car with all the money he gets from us and we went back and forth about it."
Still, some industry officials were put off by the combative nature of the comments in Delaware and the underlying trend of foreign-bashing.
"It was an unusually brazen rah-rah speech, it reminds me of the 1980s," said Jim Sanfilippo vice president of AMCI Inc., an automotive marketing firm in Detroit.
"It kind of flabbergasted me. It's a very misguided approach. You don't have to name names."
Officials at Ford Motor Co. and GM have also acknowledged that Toyota could pass them in worldwide sales in a matter of years if current trends continue.
Outward anger at foreign vehicles and their owners has subsided to a great extent since the 1980s when the UAW adopted the "Buy American" campaign to fend off competition by appealing to patriotism among consumers.
The lines of "American" and "foreign" have been blurred by mergers, takeovers and cooperation agreements that have led to Mazda sedans being made by Ford UAW workers in Flat Rock while GM makes its Cadillac Escalade sport utility in Mexico.
The only major flap in recent years came in 2002 when Ford union workers placed fliers on executives' Jaguars and Volvos in the parking lot at Ford's Dearborn headquarters. The UAW took exception to Ford employees using their employee discounts to buy vehicles made by Ford's foreign brands.
Chrysler officials say there wasn't any hostile intent in last week's comments. They were simply meant to pump up the work force at a crucial time in Chrysler's history.
"There's no question that (LaSorda) was really inciting the troops that we have a challenge out there," Aberlich said. "The quality and success of this vehicle are very important."
You can reach Mike Hudson at (313) 222-2293 or mhudson@detnews.com.
10-14-2003, 07:45 AM
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Related story:
Chrysler using bathroom humor to sell new SUV:
http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...hreadid=117477
Chrysler using bathroom humor to sell new SUV:
http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...hreadid=117477
10-14-2003, 08:56 AM
#4
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Someone needs to email Tom LaSorda a link to JD Power and/or Consumer Reports for a brief reality check. For goodness sakes, Daimler-Chrysler vehicles arent even rated as high as Ford and GM, let alone ANY Asian imports.
10-14-2003, 09:14 AM
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they have simply fallen behind the times...
their styling has no luster and I guess that kinda goes for most american cars I see lately. They just don't do it for me...
their styling has no luster and I guess that kinda goes for most american cars I see lately. They just don't do it for me...
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