What They Said in 2000

“Do we wish it never happened? Sure we do. But we’re big boys; we can handle it.”

--Ford Chief Executive Jac Nasser, asked in December whether he wished the year had never happened because of the Ford Explorer’s involvement in the Firestone tire problems

“I come before you to apologize to you, the American people, and especially to the families who have lost loved ones in these terrible rollover accidents.”

--Masatoshi Ono, then-chief executive of Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., at a congressional hearing in September

“I’m tired of hearing that the whole blame rests on the tires. To say our tires are the only reason for Ford Explorer rollovers and accidents is very unfair.”

--John Lampe, upon replacing Ono as chief executive of Bridgestone/Firestone in October

“I’m going north to finally take a few days off.”

--Ford Vice President of Communications Jason Vines, speaking to reporters just before the Labor Day holiday, after three weeks without a break because of the Firestone tire recall, and the same day Ford announced a 3% drop in August sales; reporters mulled the headline “Vines Heads North as Ford Sales Head South”

“The structure we have now with Chrysler was always the structure I wanted. We had to go a roundabout way but it had to be done for psychological reasons. If I had gone and said Chrysler would be a division, everybody on their side would have said, ‘There’s no way we’ll do a deal.’ But it’s precisely what I wanted to do.”

--Juergen Schrempp, chairman of DaimlerChrysler, in an October interview with the Financial Times on how he had planned from the beginning to acquire and subjugate Chrysler, not merge with it

“To close one of the largest transactions in the history of the automotive industry, defendants Daimler-Benz and DaimlerChrysler blatantly lied to all concerned in a scheme masterminded by defendant Juergen Schrempp.”

--U.S. financier Kirk Kerkorian, DaimlerChrysler’s third-largest shareholder, in a November lawsuit seeking $9 billion in damages, claiming Schrempp deliberately misled Chrysler Corp. stockholders in proposing a “merger of equals” between Chrysler and Daimler-Benz

“Restructuring a company is not rocket science.”

--Dieter Zetsche, newly named chief executive of the Chrysler Group, sent out by Schrempp to fix Chrysler, in December

“We love its business case.”

--Ron Zarrella, president of GM North America, in June when asked whether he liked the Pontiac Aztek

“One loved it, and the other two didn’t like it. I think that’s probably the way it’s going to continue to play, and I think that’s OK.”

--GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, referring to his own children, and prospects among the public, when asked in June whether he liked the Pontiac Aztek

“I can’t imagine that an adequate number of inmates from the Millard B. Fillmore Home for the Criminally Ignorant and Aesthetically Challenged would be able to afford the vehicle to support its investment.”

--James Hall, senior auto analyst with AutoPacific in Detroit, when asked in December whether he liked the Pontiac Aztek

“You will be really convinced that this is a real revival. This is not short-term profit.”

--Nissan President Carlos Ghosn in announcing in November that the troubled Japanese auto maker recorded a $1.6-billion profit for the first half of fiscal 2001

“I chose him because he can tackle foreign culture without any hesitation. During these changing times, raising consciousness about ethics is critical. But unfortunately my management vision did not penetrate the company’s ranks.”

--Katsuhiko Kawasoe, in announcing his resignation in September as president of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and his appointment of Vice President Takashi Sonobe as his successor. Kawasoe stepped down to take responsibility for the company’s acknowledgment that it had been filing away consumer complaints about Mitsubishi cars for more than 20 years without reporting them to authorities.

“Most of us like what we get used to. In the retail business, we have to change that habit and have to look at the Internet as an opportunity, not a threat.”

--Harold Wells, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Assn., in January

“The visual cues are all Oldsmobile; the engineering work is done by [Italian builder] Bertoni. It’s to attract someone who might be an import buyer. It could sell as an Opel in Europe.”

--Oldsmobile designer Jeff Perkins in November, describing the Oldsmobile O4 convertible concept car that will be shown at the Detroit auto show next month

“Obviously this is a very difficult and painful decision--but in the current environment, there was no workable solution.”

--GM Chief Executive Wagoner, in December, on the elimination of the Oldsmobile brand after 103 years

--Compiled by TERRIL YUE JONES