From: rvkl60@email.sps.mot.com (Tom Mathes)
Subject: Re: Honda vs Ford (+ Chrysler now)
Organization: Motorola Inc, Austin, Texas
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:57:03 GMT

In article <1866@rwja.umdnj.edu> jpark@rwja.umdnj.edu (John Park) writes:
>
>I personally feel that Ford makes better cars than Chrysler.
>My dad bought a Taurus a few years ago, and I thought it was a pretty
>spiffy car.  I'll seriously doubt buying a Chrysler until that 
>bastard Lee "blame your failures on somebody else" Iacocca has left
>that company for a few years so that it can recover.

He does more than his fair share of complaining, but lots of it is
directed to a U.S. Federal Government that seemed unwilling to take
any action to help out any U.S. industry.  Things changed since the
mid-80s, and probably will change more with this new administration.

If you listened to Mr. Iaccoca, he really complained about the
closed markets in Japan, and less about what they did in the U.S.
He just asked for open markets, but when that fails, he was bitching
about closing ours.  It's a natural reaction; he wanted both
sides to play by the same rules (but he did get overly shrill after
awhile).

>Iacocca headed Chrysler for a decade (during its decline), asked the
>U.S. government to shell out 2 billion dollars of our taxpayer
>money to bail it out, and under his tyranical leadership it still
>went down.

Wrong.  That guy headed a company during a rise, a decline, and a
rise again.  The goverment NEVER PUT UP 1 RED CENT OF U.S. TAXPAYER
MONEY TO BAIL OUT CHRYLSER!!  That is a big falacy that few under-
stand.  The goverment put up loan *guarantees*, that is, IF Chrysler
failed to pay back the loans, the Feds would cough up the difference.
CHRYSLER PAID BACK EVERY RED CENT OF THE LOANS EARLY!!  The U.S.
government *never* put any money to help them out after all was said
and done.  In hindsight, it was a good move.

As for their "decline", Chrysler did have trouble in the late
80s with some lackluster product, namely their cars.  BUT, they
started a wildly succesful niche, the mini-van, in which they still
dominate the U.S. market.  They also bought out the remnants of AMC
from Renault, just for the Jeep line.  They beefed up reliability,
and also brought out the new Grand Cherokee (I don't like these
types of vehicles, but I must admit the G/C is a spiffy looking
sport utility vehicle).  Iaccoca was also the one responsible
for turning Chrysler around in the early 80s.  He was even
responsible for re-introducing the ragtop to the American market
(remember when Caddy's last ragtop in the 70's was hailed as
the "last convertible ever"?).  

Iaccoca's problem in the mid-80's was that his company got complacent,
and he took his eyes off the business.  Cars like the Dynasty were due
to him; he loves boxy looks and chrome.  When Chrysler set out to
design the LH midsize cars, Bob Lutz, the Prez of Chrysler and the
driving force behind the Viper, the G/C and the LH cars, convinced
Iaccoca to stay out of the way when they designed the LH.  Iaccoca
hated the styling of those fabulous pieces of machinery, but at
least he knew to listen now.  Looks like Chrysler has some of
the neatest new products out on the market right now, and with
the PL cars out next year (competitor in the Saturn/Honda class),
they should be a formidable company to compete with.  And let's
not forget the Viper, probably the hottest new car to hit the
streets since the Cobra ;-).

>  He sidetracked
>the media so that it focused its scrutiny on the american worker,
>and not on management.  He did this by bringing up PM Miyazawa's
>statement that "american workers are lazy," causing anger to build up
>at the japanese, and smokescreening his own responsibility as 
>head of a large auto corporation.   By the way, Miyazawa's statement
>was a hyped & liberal translation by an AP reporter. I'm not 
>sure what he really meant to say.

Don't forget, the media did a number on the Big Three's top execs
on their trip to Japan with President Bush.  They got no quarter
at home, and there has been lots of grumbling in board rooms to
correct former excesses (witness the ouster of GM's top managment
last year).  Slowly, we are correcting our problems.  We Americans
eventually police ourselves.

I find it peculiar when people say "Bad American!!" whenever they
say anything not nice about folks outside of the country, but say
"he was probably misquoted" when referring to something ill
said about Americans.  Miyazawa did indeed say what he said,
and meant it.  It just wasn't meant for consumption outside
of Japan.  And the Japanese call us racists!!

> I think the new wave of the future in auto production would be
>"lean production" and by not treating factory workers like
>robots, and instead encourage the floor worker to get more
>involved in decision making and creative problem solving.  
>This would in turn encourage greater job satisfaction, and 
>in fewer destructive strikes, and less bad moral.  
>All this is results in better quality.  It's unreasonable to 
>expect extreme high quality if the job satisfaction sucks, and
>the work day is extremely boring.  People aren't robots. 

This is already happening in most U.S. companies, whether they 
make cars, electronics, etc.  Anyone who works in a manufacturing
plant knew this years ago.

>In the meanwhile, if I buy a car, I'll put my dollars in a Ford car.

Good for you; they make some nice autos.  Now, if they could do
their own engineering the way Chrysler does (except for the
Diamond-Star triplettes) and GM does.  I wonder about Ford at
times; they seem to have to use Mazda too often.  I'm glad Ford
produced a killer luxocoupe in the Lincoln Mark VIII on their own.
Gotta love that 280bhp 32V Modular V8!!.  At least Ford is in a lot
better shape than Mazda right now; Ford is profitable, but Mazda is
bleeding cash (reported in the Jan. 11 "Business Week").

>--I have nothing against Chrysler the company. I have everything 
>against that teflon media wizard Iacocca, and blockhead selfish
>managers of companies that have zillions of employees relying on them.

You get your wish soon.  Iaccoca is set to retire within the next
few months.

BTW, don't crucify a company just 'cuz a top exec is a jerk.  If
that were the case, then lots of other companies in several countries
should be boycotted too.  If a Chrysler car appeals to you, then
by all means buy it!!  If I were in the market for a mid-sized
car right now, the LH sedans would be my top choice.  They are
probably the best engineered mid-sized cars in that price class
on the planet.

Tom Mathes                                e-mail : rvkl60@email.sps.mot.com
Motorola Inc. / MOS Memory Products Div.  phone  : (512) 928-7627
Austin, Texas
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan