Nation : Iacocca Battles ‘Teflon Kimono’
Lee A. Iacocca today announced an advertising campaign aimed at boosting Chrysler Corp.’s sagging sales, complaining that rival auto makers from Japan are cloaked in a “Teflon kimono.”
The Chrysler chairman, surrounded by 20 cars in a huge hotel ballroom used more for hosting political fund-raising dinners than for glitzy news conferences, told reporters that the No. 3 U.S. auto maker will “speak out in its ads” to emphasize American quality.
Iacocca began by showing a Chrysler commercial slated to air March 1. “I think America’s getting an inferiority complex about Japan,” Iacocca says in the commercial. “Everything from Japan is perfect and everything from America is lousy.”
As an elaborate light display bathed Chrysler’s car display, Iacocca complained that “Japan today is wrapped in a Teflon kimono.”
He said that although he is not belittling the Japanese--who provide some of his company’s line--Americans must learn that U.S. cars are also high quality.
