Chrysler, Mercedes and The Third
Chrysler story
When watching the CNN today I heard something that truly astonished me and made me think a bit about money making and how much the World can change in just 10 years. Things which no-one would ever think of really happen, impossible becomes possible. As it turns out, the life is ironic at times.
Remember the late nineties era? The common trend of acquisitions and mergers, for many it was a trend hard to understand at some instances. Some mergers were announced worldwide, allegedly being ‘top mergers’ in one way or another. Such was a case of the merger between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler. Lots of PR, plenty of marketing spiel but I remember my astonishment and kind of surprise when hearing that. What for I thought? These two do not fit very well to each other… And someway somehow I could not really believe what CEOs of Daimler and Chrysler were saying back then.
Soon after everybody realized that the merger was not a successful one to say the least. Plenty of cultural differences, hardship to find any synergy and added value, huge costs and hard to see benefits. Mercedes in Europe lost the image of the highest quality brand, the Chrysler in the USA did not really rock with any of its ‘after-merger’ vehicles. Then came the crisis which shook up the corporate world and automobile industry as well.
And today I hear the news of something which initially happened in August and has been rolling since so the first effects will be seen soon. It is about Fiat, Italian automaker, who successfully acquired Chrysler. Oh boy…
Truly ironic… Chrysler, just somewhat 10 years ago married to the high-class, quality, world-wide admired brand. Now, after a painful marriage and divorce is again going into someone else’s hands. But this time it is “Fix It Again Tony” brand, whose image is rather poor: jokes about the brand could be heard everywhere in Europe. It is a pity that Chrysler, whose position in the USA was above average is now ‘rescued’ by the brand which would not be desired by any reputable, established car-maker.
How ironic is it? Doesn’t it surprise you how the ‘making-money-world’ revolves?
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