Ya, the team at Chrysler really screwed up letting Lutz go. Lutz was born in Austria and speaks fluent German and Italian. Word on the street in Detriot is senior brass at Chrysler felt that Lutz was getting a little to friendly with the new owners of Dalimer Benz and feared that he would be made Chairman due to cultural issues. End result? Lutz got the axe.
From that point on Chrysler has been in a tail spin in sales. In particular their bread and butter minivan line is hemmoraging from the competition, Honda and GM are frequently mentioned. The Durango and Ram have gone stale (the basic lines haven't changed on the Ram since 1996 - Ford and GM have both updated since and GM is updating in 2003 and Ford in 2004) and the press feels the Ram in particular is under powered, despite the wide range of engine offerings.
Thre are two things I don't like about Lutz's design philosophy. First is his attitude toward creature comforts. If you look at Chrysler products they are Spartan on the inside. Don't get me wrong, they are well built and have everything you need, but when you look at a Dodge Interpid and compare it to a Ford Taurus it's like looking at a Klingon Bird of Prey versus a Federation Star Ship. The Ford is just more "cushy" with more gee whiz options.
Lutz doesn't believe in gee whiz. If you're hoping for Pontiac heads up displays or on screen navigation to appear in an Avalanche with Lutz calling the shots, it's not going to happen. He will surely add a little more zip to the interiors (look at Dodge/Chrysler - Lutz likes wood, albiet faux wood and the do use very high quality interior plastic).
The second thing I don't like is Lutz wants to take GM back to the Roger Smith days. In those days a Pontiac looked like a Chevrolet looked like a Buick looked like an Oldsmobile. Lutz feels that GM is wasting a lot of design energy by doing different sheet metal on each product line. He wants to go back to using trim, tail lights, front clips and rims to changing the look of vehicles. This is the only thing that scares me about Lutz, and one of my biggest problems with the Chrysler/Dodge product line, especially the cars.
However Lutz has been given free reign at the General. The good news is he has vehemently protected the GM line, and chided the press recently for hammering GM on their product line. He correctly pointed out that the GM truck line is ahead of the curve, and at least one reporter in one story admitted that Lutz was right on that point. He also has flat out said he sees no reason to make changes to the Avalanche (well the sales numbers say it all).
Lutz is said to have put the skids on the new Deville (I think it was the Deville) delaying it for a year and changing "every inch and angle" on the outside. Rumor has it he is also holding up the launch of the new S-10 and was the axe man for the Camaro/Firebird. He has also killed some projects outright. He likes the Aztek, calling it, "like an ugly dog that grows on you," and has ordered a complete re-skin for 2003 including no more cladding. He's also said the Pontiac "ribs" on the bottom is going away across the entire product line. He's also going to axe a lot of redundant car lines.
GM has also squirreled away some of the top folks at Ford, disgusted with how Jacque (now relieved of his duties) was running the company into the ground. Ford has HUGE problems right now. They are losing market share, GM is up their rear end in truck sales, they've lost their footing on car sales after the all oval designed Taurus turned off buyers from 96 to 00. The Firestone/Explorer debacle hasn't helped. The Escape is plagued with huge problems and the F-150 came across as a death trap in crash tests.
The General has a huge opportunity for four key reasons:
1) Lutz doesn't mess around - he is "the man" in Detriot
2) Ford has serious product and quality problems. JD Powers report proves this putting Ford in last place for US car manufacturers in quality. Also Ford's cash reserves are relatively speaking low compared to GM. They can't slug it out in the rebate war/finance war as long as GM, and Ford is already suffering from a loan portfolio filled with bad debt.
3) The Germans are running Chrysler into the ground. Period. Chrysler was unstoppable until the buy out and now they can't stop losing money. Chyrsler can't compete in the finance/rebate wars either. The Dodge Ram is selling very well, but repeat buyers are suffering.
4) GM has taken the crown in owner loyalty among GM brands. Tied to that, in the latest quarterly filing 31% of GM buyers are coming from brands outside of the GM family. That is a huge statistic for GM and they trumpeted this loud.
I'll admit I was a Ford guy for more than a decade but I put my business where it's at. And right now, GM is all over it.
Go General!
Chief---
Who is more loyal to his sports team then what he drives
(Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins, Astros, Celtics fan - need I say more)
