Chrysler to Introduce 11 New Cars and Trucks
In an upbeat assessment of its future, the Chrysler Group of Daimler Chrysler said Thursday that it will introduce 11 vehicles in the next three model years and spend $30 billion on new product programs over the next five years.
Eighteen months into an overhaul designed to return it to profitability and increase the volume of cars and trucks it sells, Chrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said the auto maker aims to sell 1 million more vehicles by 2011.
“We are clearly focused on lifting this company from a struggle for survival to a position of excellence,” Zetsche told reporters.
Chrysler will strive to make its passenger cars more competitive with Japanese and European imports, which have gained significant market share in the last 15 years while Detroit’s Big Three have faltered.
“The only way to win is to take the imports on and fight back,” said Zetsche, sent out by DaimlerChrysler’s Stuttgart headquarters in November 2000 to turn around the ailing Chrysler.
Chrysler has identified product leadership, operational excellence and customer experience as areas to hone. Zetsche cited Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. as competitors to match in customer experience, and Toyota and Nissan Motor Co. in operational prowess. For product leadership, he said, many auto makers perform well, but Volkswagen is as close as any of them.
“We have to be at benchmark levels on all three axes,” Zetsche said. “Where we really want to lead is product leadership, and match the best in the other two categories. This is the ‘disciplined pizazz’ we are talking about,” referring to a motto thrown about lately in the Chrysler headquarters here in this suburb north of Detroit.
Though Zetsche did not offer many specifics about the 11 new models planned, he said among them are the already-announced Pacifica part-sport utility, part-station wagon with three-row seating and the sporty Crossfire coupe, both due to go on sale next year.
The other new cars due in the next three years will be replacements for current models such as a redesigned Dodge Viper and a new line of large sedans to replace the Chrysler LHS and Concorde and Dodge Intrepid, or derivatives of existing models such as the heavy-duty Dodge Ram pickup.
“It sounds like a lot of them are variations of existing themes,” said Jim Hossack of the Tustin-based consultancy AutoPacific. “Only a couple are likely to get incremental volume [gains]. I’m amazed at the new product coming on [across the industry], and I see this as a way for Chrysler to maintain their position, but insufficient to gain market share particularly given the strong thrust of many of the imports.”
The Chrysler Group--which consists of the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands--launched a three-year plan in February 2001 consisting largely of cutting 26,000 jobs, closing plants and eliminating other costs. The company had an operating loss of $1.9 billion last year but has posted an operating profit of $888 million in the first two quarters of 2002 and says it expects to post a profit this year. Chrysler does not make public its net earnings.
“Cost cutting is clearly benefiting the company,” Morgan Stanley auto analyst Steven Girsky wrote in an analysis of Detroit’s auto makers. “With profits recovering well ahead of Ford and less significant balance sheet issues than GM, DaimlerChrysler may have the least risk among the Big Three.”
Shares of DaimlerChrysler were down $2.40 to $41.10 on the New York Stock Exchange.
