Chrysler co-president: You can either help us or burn us all down

[Timpo]

Chrysler co-president: You can either help us or burn us all down
Posted Yesterday, 1:59 AM by Ralph Hanson


This marks the second time in two weeks that Chrysler has asked its dealers to order more stock

Chrysler has come out with its second sales plea in as little two weeks, urging dealers to order more than 15,000 cars by Monday to keep the company viable. Not one to mince his words, Chrysler co-president Jim Press told dealers over a conference call that they basically have two choices: "You can either help us or burn us all down."

The Chrysler exec also warned dealers: "If you decide not to do that, we've got a good memory of who helped this company make it."

Roughly 70% of Chrysler’s dealers took action following the company’s first plea late last month to order 78,000 vehicles they had been allocated for February. Chrysler is now desperate to keep the cash flow coming until the middle of this month when the firm is expected to meet again with the U.S. Treasury and prove its case for viability, reports Automotive News.

"By successfully keeping the doors open in January and February, we'll get the loan," Press told the dealers. Importantly, if Chrysler cannot convince Treasury officials that it can remain viable then the loans will be called back. The Treasury is scheduled to make its decision by March 31.

Unfortunately, Chrysler’s U.S. sales have fallen by more than 50% a month for the past two months and many of its dealers are struggling. As some solace, Press told dealers that if the company can make it though this “rough patch” then it would eventually be able to offer a range of new fuel-efficient models borrowed from Fiat, referring to the proposed alliance being forged with the Italian firm.

[cococly]

Can I either burn your house or Cream your Wife?

[Philly74]

alrite... tell me how the fuck would dealership be able to sell cars if consumer doesnt believe in Chrysler... keep on stocking up but in the end where's that going to go? I would buy a Chrysler had they made them more reliable *cough* neon *cough*

[Harvey Specter]

Chrysler is run by idiots and deserves to go out of business. First they fucked up by getting rid of leasing, sure GM got rid of it because they both used GMAC but Chrysler sales were mostly based on leases.

The other big mistake from Chrysler dealers was they made no attempts to find banks for consumers who were interested in purchasing cars from them. Instead they came up with a brilliant plan of offering finance deals that look like lease deals, only problem was who in the hell would finance a car for 84 months with a interest rate of almost 7% and cars which were losing almost 50% of their value in a year.

And lets face it, Chrysler has an awful line up of cars. The 300C was bold back in 2004 but Chrysler made no attempts to give it a mid life exterior refresh which the 300C is badly due for. The Challenger for the most part has been a flop and will be good as done once the Camaro drops.

[68style]

I was thinking the last car Chrysler probably sold at MSRP was the Challenger that Richard Hammond from Top Gear bought hahaha

[Mancini]

Wow. Inviting arson. Maybe he thinks the 2009 fiscal year would look better running off of business interruption insurance instead of selling product.

[Black SC2]

That's absolutely balls. How he could shift all the onus to the dealers for mistakes made by the corporate office is completely beyond me. He should know his dealer network has a long memory of who fucked up that company, and who didn't.

[SoulCrusher]

Should we feel sympathetic that they continue to produce shit quality vehicles?

[thumper]

... waiting for the fiat panda SRT turbo

[Eastwood]

What a fucking joke. Why did the government give them bail-out money in the first place if they knew they were on the verge of collapsing.

[swoo]

i hate chrysler. sold my parents a new van a few years ago at $30k with a faulty tranny, and then later on offered $1500 to take it back

[CivicTypeRice]

Originally Posted by PornoMan

Should we feel sympathetic that they continue to produce shit quality vehicles?

Don't you own a Dodge Stealth?

[hk20000]

"Hello, this is captain Obvious speaking, Dodge Stealth = Mitsubishi 3000GT."

[orange7]

I actually want to see Chrysler goes down for reasons that may not be obvious to you guys.

[jaretron]

Originally Posted by orange7

I actually want to see Chrysler goes down for reasons that may not be obvious to you guys.

enlighten us.