Chrysler Introduces new 'Best-in-Industry' lifetime powertrain warranty on Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles

PRESS RELEASE
July 26, 2007

Auburn Hills, Michigan-Chrysler today announced that the company would extend its powertrain warranty from the 3-year/36,000-mile Basic Limited Warranty to a new Lifetime Powertrain Warranty. The new Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty applies to most new Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles purchased from dealer inventory and delivered on or after July 26, 2007.

The Lifetime Powertrain Warranty covers the cost of all parts and labor needed to repair covered powertrain components-engine, transmission and drive system. The new powertrain warranty is limited to the first registered owner or retail lessee. Customers should contact dealers for details on vehicle selection.

In order to maintain the Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty, you must have a powertrain inspection performed by an authorized Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge dealer once every 5 years. This inspection, performed at no charge, must be made within 60 days of each 5-year anniversary of the warranty start date of the vehicle. It is your responsibility to perform preventative maintenance on your vehicle. You’re strongly encouraged to follow the instructions contained in the Scheduled Maintenance Service guidelines in your Owner’s Manual.

Also excluded are SRT models and Dodge Sprinters which are covered by our 3-year/36,000-mile Basic Limited Warranty; and our diesel-engine vehicles (Dodge Ram Cab/Chassis and Dodge Sprinter) which are covered by a 5-year/100,000-mile engine warranty – our diesel-equipped Jeep vehicles have a 3-year/36,000-mile engine warranty.

Bob Nardelli prowled the stage of the Detroit Athletic Club like a caged animal. Made famous by Michael Moore's documentary "Roger & Me," this was the same fusty, old venue that ejected Moore as he hunted down then GM chairman Roger Smith. But last Friday, all eyes were focused on Nardelli.

The new 59-year-old CEO of Chrysler was out to show that he'd brought some of the intensity he learned as a protégé of Jack Welch at General Electric before going on to become Home Depot's CEO. Speaking without cue cards to a room full of automotive reporters, he was heavy on GE-speak, waxing on about his "vertical learning curve" and "granularity." And his pacing presence on stage evoked Welch's "management by walking around" technique. But near the end of his performance, he threw some red meat to the crowd with a hint that Chrysler's product line is getting an overhaul. "We just can't have emotional attachments," he insisted, "to some of the brands and products that are out there."

That Chrysler's lineup needs a serious tuneup shouldn't come as a shock. After all, Chrysler is losing billions and has fallen to fifth place in sales in the U.S. market. Obviously, its big-gulp SUVs and pickups aren't exactly what America is after in these days of high gas prices and even higher anxiety. But here in Detroit, where the highways are still filled with American cars, denial runs deep. I recently brought up the 50th anniversary of the Edsel to a Ford exec and he started bragging about all the Edsel fan clubs that are still out there. Before the mercy killings of Oldsmobile and Plymouth earlier this decade, GM and Chrysler spent billions keeping those comatose brands on life support long after their vitals had flat-lined. For heaven's sake, Ford is still rationalizing the existence of Mercury. When's the last time Mercury came up with a must-have car?

So Nardelli's suggestion that he might euthanize brands and models at Chrysler got the assembled auto writers revved up. When he descended from the stage, he was mobbed in a scene that reminded me of the rushing reporters knocking over the phone booths in the movie "Airplane." Does Chrysler have too many SUVs? What brands are you going to kill? Nardelli backtracked—slightly.....

Chrysler LLC helped itself by hiring Toyota Motor Corp.'s North American president, though the impact of a single executive, even from Toyota, will be limited.

If some regard anything from Toyota as possessing magical power, that's partly because its vehicles are a hit with consumers, and because the company's management techniques are universally admired. So when a top Toyota executive agrees to try and save a sinking ship, the terrified passengers naturally are overjoyed.

Jim Press, a 37-year Toyota veteran, fills a critical leadership void in Chrysler's badly demoralized sales and distribution network. A year ago Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler dealerships were saddled with tens of thousands of unsold vehicles that the automaker had unwisely forced them to accept.

By the time DaimlerChrysler resolved the inventory debacle it had turned toxic, helping lead the automaker's German management to decide to spin off most of its U.S. subsidiary. DaimlerChrysler sold 80.1 percent of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management LP, keeping the rest for itself.....