They are making RIGHT-hand drive MRs for the Japanese and therefore British market... not LEFT-hand drive MRs.

Again, before 's financial woes were amplified by a D-C jumping ship, there was a delay of 4-5mnths between the '04 GSRs and the MRs. Why? Why would a company make a car that won't sell when its core customer base is waiting for the MR?

Because they need to retool from GSR/RS LEFT-hand drive to the MR LEFT-hand drive. That's why.

And, likely to further dampen any hopes of an MR coming is the following:
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=107df08842133631 .

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Guys, I have to say I'm disgusted that lied about defects that lead to customers being pick-pocketed out of waranty claims, informed purchases as well as deaths of both customers and non-customers.

I'm also disgusted that they didn't re-evaluate following their first bail-out by D-C (then Daimler-Benz) and focus on quality, customers.

I have to say, I'm going to wait and see what happens before I buy an Evo.

Even if Tokyo bank, Mitsu Corp, Mitsu Holdings, and the Japanese government infuse $6-8billion U.S. (the $2billion just will keep them afloat and not allow for appropriate development of products), if the culture doesn't change, I'm buying elsewhere... including Subaru.

buisness as usual won't cut it. The third bailout without change won't be the charm.

Remeber, fish alway smells from the head, and unless a true change in leadership arises, as a car manufacturer is done.

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I've been saving for an Evo for a few years now and news of the MR really got me excited.. at this point, should I even bother waiting for the MR? (I should have enough for an Evo by July this year)

 

You may have lost me, but, I don't really think it takes 4-5 months to retool from the GSR to the MR. They're essentially the same car.

As for the right-hand drive cars, I was not aware that they did not have left-hand MRs out yet in other markets. So yeah, that might take some time to retool, but still, 4-5 months?

I will agree with one thing you said. Mitsu is up the creek, for now anyway. I still believe they'll get capital from somewhere though.

DaimlerChrysler sucks. Daimler should never have merged with Chrysler in the first place. And now with this Mitsu decision, who knows what they're doing. Throwing some numbers together, before they backed out, they had a $1.61 US billion investment in the company. After pulling out, they have a $1.21 US billion investment in the company. By not providing money for a company that they depend on for a lot of things, they not only lost $400 million dollars in a matter of days, but they'll really lose if the company doesn't find help soon, cause no one is gonna take Daimler's share in Mitsu off their hands at this time. Brilliant if you ask me.

 

Nice job calculating D-C's 37% stake in ...

But, that's not all they invested thus far. When they initially bought a controlling stake and then bought out Volvo's $300million U.S. in '00 (thus 37% stake), they required to invest an additional $2billion U.S. to date to bail out a second time.

So, D-C lost effectively $2.4billion to date (including the devaluation of 's stock following D-C's refusal to invest more money).

But, that is $4-6billion less than is needed to get not only afloat but effectively producing quality products again (to date, is in the hole at least $6-8billion).

So even if goes under, D-C comes out on top since they will only lose an additional $1.2billion, instead of countless billions trying to revive to what many analysts believe is a dying company... that's why their stock went up following the anouncement of severing ties with .

 

LOL, this could go on and on, but, you also have analysts who agree with me:

Case in point, I think the $7B investment is worth the increases in benefits from economies of scale from working with Mitsu on various vehicles. The wildcard of course would be turning around the culture so Mitsu doesn't screw up anymore (scams, etc.). Mitsu and Chrysler go together. Daimler should make both survive or ditch them both.

 

Getting back on the MR topic...

1. If the company can make it through the next few months or years, they'll still make Evos. And they'll still show up here. Afterall, they sell more here than elsewhere, and they're not gonna ignore one of their biggest markets after they've already entered it. Whether the MRs show up or not, I dont know, it would help if they already made them or were planning to make them soon in left-hand drive. I just don't see them shutting down shop on the MR and having down time when they can still manufacture and sell for profit.

2. We can thank greedy dealers who turned people off to Evos in the first place, so now they have '03s sitting on their lots and not making orders for new ones from the factory.

3. If it is indeed the end, I suggest to those who are waiting for the MR to go and get a GSR now. Maybe orders will be taken for MRs for the rest of us, and maybe you'll get your Evo while you still can.

4. If the company goes out of business, all the people complaining about resale value might not complain anymore.

 

So, although Daimler-Chrysler may not have positive support on this site, they did do the right thing financially .

So does Daimler-Chrysler suck? Well yes and no... Schrempp definitely had the right idea to develop and expand auto markets in Asia and U.S., esp. in the U.S. by trying to appeal to more buyers without diluting the image of Mercedes... but he forgot the one basic rule of buying out a company... especially when the company is repetitively on the verge of economic ruin...

They hide the bad things about themselves .

When a company needs money, they make new products, but don't put the investment into developing, manufacturing and materials to garuantee a quality product.

Hence, Chrysler's chronic image of having novel, but poor quality products... as well as .

and Chrysler hid their reliability issues as well as the extent of their debt.

So, realizing that he was duped, Schrempp did what he had to do to save the company's existence, let alone worth... save the company that would sink you if it failed. Which he did buy investing a fortune as well as substantial talent into Chrysler... which may begin to pay-off.

But by doing so, he could not expose Daimler-Chrysler to more financial loss by investing further into , since he would never recover the investment let alone make a profitable company in less than 4-5yrs and Chrysler will need alot more money in the future. He also require a strong market value to get investor support to cont to have capital to improve Chrysler as well as Mercedes.

Plus, their's only so much talent to go around.

could have turned around in '02 following the 2nd infusion of Daimler capital, but they didn't. The leadership change could do only so much to change their culture. Yes, they made a mistake in the U.S. with the entire loan fiasco, but never learned from its lesons.

So, Daimler-Chrysler sucks because they rationally backed away from the manufacturer of the car we all love...

And because 's debt and faults are a proverbial black pit, future investment by any company is questionable... at least to the extent needed to truly bring them to life, not just resuscitate them to life support.

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I must admit, I am not too familiar with Japanese culture...

But can companies be "too big to fail" as they are here in the United States? That's the main reason why I believe they'll survive, because they're so old and big that I would think somebody somewhere in that country or abroad would bail them out.

 

Crazy29187, I don't think the cost of losing the shared platforms was equal or more than saving .

Plus, D-C will do what they've already begun to do... share more platforms, parts. Which has been pursued much more successfully than Chrysler-Mitsu have ever been able to... with the added bonus of improved Chrysler reliability.

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Its not the size... which can be a liability, but the amount of capital and asset the company posesses.

Case in point, GM. A dinosaur, but the thing that keeps saving it from extinction is the amount of money it accumulated when it was not just the largest automotive company, but also the most profitable.

Look at Enron, Pan-Am, all the Steel companies that have gone, to name a few. Titans in one age, but gone just the same... and yes for different reasons.

Not only can a large company like MMC, the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in Japan go under, the parent company, the largest company in Japan could go under as well.

Japanese companies are the most notorious for getting big and dumb (in part a culturally based reason, ironic since they can be the most clever too)... making unwise investments, decisions and needing to get bailed... Mitsu, Nissan, Mazda, all the banks.

That's why the government actually developed a bail-out fund, since it's such a recurrent theme. Also cultural not to let companies die and people to be unemployed.

But, the Japanese government doesn't have the deep pockets of yore since they bailed out alot of companies and banks, as well as the yen being weak, and needs alot of money.

So the bigger they are the harder they fall, and perhaps the first time in history a Japanese giant will fall.

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hey so if that happen what will happen to the prices of evo from the dealers if any are left or any cars from mitsu???

 

I don't know...

Dealers may liquidate remaining cars to minimize losses. Or may buy them back... since they would be in a legally actionable position to do so.

The cars then would probably be scrapped.

Just remember though... if goes under, there will be no parts for their vehicles or warranties. Including aftermarket, which if they continue to make parts, will charge a substantial premium.

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Buy your timing belts now boys

I was always under the impression, partially due to my professor who was once a director of finance at some Chrysler division, that Chrysler was in rough shape when Daimler got them, and that the alliance with Mitsu was good in sharing knowledge and increasing the benefits of economies of scale, helping to pull them out of bad territory. That's why I believe that Chrysler, after all their investment to date, will get hurt in the end of all this, cause so much of what they do is tied into Mitsu. But, who knows, you're probably right. And after all, the DaimlerChrysler shareholders certainly do like the idea of ditching a struggling Mitsu. I know I would. Let's hope for their sake this doesn't come back to hurt them.

And there's definitely a too big to fail thing here in America. Yeah, old steel companies are dead, but in recent times, big companies are supported when in trouble. Boeing lives for free essentially thanks to tax breaks and whatnot because Airbus has taken over their market share. I could go on but I'm tired. But, believe it or not, nearly 18% of all things sold in this country, excluding cars, are sold at Wal-Mart. No way the government would let them, a low price provider to so many, fail, cause inflation would skyrocket. It's also why you'll never see the government go after them about being a monopoly, but again, I'm rambling cause I'm tired...

Mitsu is in trouble, DC is still debatable, that's my stand.

BTW, I don't totally hate Chrysler. I've been given the keys to drive a brand new Viper for a day for a promotion I'm doing for the team I work for this summer. I can't wait

 

Actually, Daimler is sorry they ever got involved with Chrysler. in the first place. Their numbers (Daimler) have suffered since. And the mucky mucks in Germany (so it's been publicized..)DESPISE the Chrysler relationship for numerous reasons.

The relationship just adds fuel to the fire..