Media Biased Toward Japan, Iacocca Says

Lee A. Iacocca still has the fire in his belly, the angry flame that comes from years of Japan-bashing.

But now the question is, does the rest of America care anymore? Can Iacocca still sell cars by wrapping himself in the flag?

That’s what the Chrysler chairman intends to find out in the coming weeks. In a remarkable national public relations campaign, dubbed “Chrysler 90’s” and kicked off here Wednesday, Iacocca berated the press--and American consumers as well--for continuing to believe that Japanese cars are better than comparable American ones.

“Japan today is wrapped in a Teflon kimono, especially when it comes to cars,” Iacocca complained to reporters at a press conference at the start of the campaign Wednesday. “Maybe it’s just time to start peeling back the kimono a little bit.”

In command of the full-throated hyperbole and protectionist zeal that has long been his trademark, Iacocca began the six-city promotional tour--accompanied by some of Chrysler’s current and future models--in an effort to counter what he sees as a media bias in favor of the Japanese and against Detroit.

“Every time I pick up the paper, I seem to see another story that reinforces the idea that anything made overseas is better than anything made in America,” Iacocca scolded reporters.

“I for one am getting damn tired of hearing it. At Chrysler, we’re not going to let that kind of crap go unchallenged anymore. We’re going to speak out . . . anyplace we can get anybody to listen.”

Iacocca launched his counterattack in the midst of Chrysler’s worst slump since the recession of the early 1980s. Just last week, Chrysler announced its first quarterly loss in seven years, and analysts have been openly wondering how long Chrysler can remain independent in an industry dominated by global giants.

As a result, the campaign seems reminiscent of a similar public relations blitz by General Motors two years ago--dubbed “Rogerama” by reporters because the traveling show featured GM Chairman Roger B. Smith. The GM campaign was designed to reverse a flood of negative publicity surrounding GM’s worsening sales slump.

Iacocca began his assault on the Japanese even while conceding that Chrysler is now heavily dependent on them for help in engineering and manufacturing its new cars. In fact, many of the Chrysler products on display behind Iacocca as he spoke came from the Japanese.