Law and Rights
Yesterday we talked about the numbers games that got bankrupt Delphi in hot water (and litigation) with the SEC. Today, we see that Chrysler is also up to some number games of its own.
WardsAuto.com is reporting that unlike other manufacturers, Chrysler has been building cars its dealers don't need and can't sell, and piling up a 100,000 vehicle backlog of unsold vehicles (parked out back?) that it just forgot to count as unsold inventory.
Of course, doing that made their public numbers look a lot better than they really were. Some say that little-used accounting practice disguised Chrysler's overall market picture at a time when it was really bleaker than the industry thought.
Now, we learn that at the end of September Chrysler's reported inventory neared 529,000 vehicles. With that glut, which some dealers don't like having to live with, now may be a good time to bargain yourself into a good deal ... or not.
In its defense, Chrysler says it's a common practice but Ford's George Pipas reportedly scoffed at the notion, saying "Absolutely false." The American Honda and Nissan officials also are reported to have said the same thing. Meanwhile, Chrysler says its practice keeps the factories "humming" at a time when the third quarter loss was reported at a staggering $1.5 billion. At that rate the corporate giant could end up humming its way into a one man band in an empty auditorium and falling flat on its face to boot.
Now, rumor has it that Mercedes has shipped in executives under a program called "Project ReFocus" and whose aim is to cut costs and improve efficiency. As they said once before on the streets in Detroit, here come the Germans again!
It doesn't take a German rocket scientist to figure out that it's stupid to build 529,000 cars that aren't being sold. Apparently someone keeps replaying that line from the movie Field of Dreams... "if you build it they will come."
Fruit, like new cars, can't sit on the shelf too long or things can begin to go wrong. After all, fresh lemons can turn sour and rancid with too much age. Thank goodness we have a Lemon Law that's ready for the day when Chrysler ships all those cars out of its back "Field of Dreams."
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Law and Rights
Chrysler Learns Delphi's Number Games ?
Yesterday we talked about the numbers games that got bankrupt Delphi in hot water (and litigation) with the SEC. Today, we see that Chrysler is also up to some number games of its own.
WardsAuto.com is reporting that unlike other manufacturers, Chrysler has been building cars its dealers don't need and can't sell, and piling up a 100,000 vehicle backlog of unsold vehicles (parked out back?) that it just forgot to count as unsold inventory.
Of course, doing that made their public numbers look a lot better than they really were. Some say that little-used accounting practice disguised Chrysler's overall market picture at a time when it was really bleaker than the industry thought.
Now, we learn that at the end of September Chrysler's reported inventory neared 529,000 vehicles. With that glut, which some dealers don't like having to live with, now may be a good time to bargain yourself into a good deal ... or not.
In its defense, Chrysler says it's a common practice but Ford's George Pipas reportedly scoffed at the notion, saying "Absolutely false." The American Honda and Nissan officials also are reported to have said the same thing. Meanwhile, Chrysler says its practice keeps the factories "humming" at a time when the third quarter loss was reported at a staggering $1.5 billion. At that rate the corporate giant could end up humming its way into a one man band in an empty auditorium and falling flat on its face to boot.
Now, rumor has it that Mercedes has shipped in executives under a program called "Project ReFocus" and whose aim is to cut costs and improve efficiency. As they said once before on the streets in Detroit, here come the Germans again!
It doesn't take a German rocket scientist to figure out that it's stupid to build 529,000 cars that aren't being sold. Apparently someone keeps replaying that line from the movie Field of Dreams... "if you build it they will come."
Fruit, like new cars, can't sit on the shelf too long or things can begin to go wrong. After all, fresh lemons can turn sour and rancid with too much age. Thank goodness we have a Lemon Law that's ready for the day when Chrysler ships all those cars out of its back "Field of Dreams."
Subscribe in a reader- Chrysler-fiat Iffy While Gm Gets Gloomy And Saturn Is Selling Out
Fiat has said that there's no better than a 50-50 chance they will work out a deal with Chrysler, which only has until the end of the month to get the deal done. Apparently Fiat has put some hard terms on the table that Chrysler may not be able to...
- Recalls Drop
It's about time the quality came back. Maybe it has. At least for some. Vehicle recalls totalled 10.2 million last year, a 30% drop from 2007 and the lowest number of vehicles recalled since 1994, reported the Detroit News after examining the government's...
- Chrysler Creates Customer Advocate Job
In an effort to learn something about customer care from the Japanese, Chrysler has created a new "customer advocate" job and hired a man from Nissan to fill it. Doug Betts is the company's new chief customer officer. Have you got a lemon? Then write...
- Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming
Chrysler ... bought by the Russians? Say it ain't so . . . Magna International is a finalist in the buyout bidding for Chrysler and is already making plans on restructuring the lumbering auto giant. Now comes word that a company owned by Russian...
- Let's Buy Chrysler !
It's deja vu all over again, says Yogi. At the New York auto show in 1995, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian (#53 of the world's richest people, according to Forbes in 2006) announced that he would make a $20 Billion dollar bid to buy Chyrsler Corporation....