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Even among automotive enthusiasts, few realize the extent of Lee Iacocca's successes or even his background. When Chrysler bought AMC all they really wanted was the Jeep division but they had to buy the whole package to get it. When FCA (now Stellantis) bought Chrysler all they really wanted was the Ram truck division. Like Ford's "new" T-Bird, once the market is saturated with buyers wanting the Charger and/or Challenger it's sales will flatten; that's happening already. So it's questionable how long they will remain, but if they bring enough profit they may be around awhile.
I don't know why everyone bad mouths the Mustang II. I had one and I sorta liked it. Yes it had no power. But that's any car with a four cylinder. The gas mileage was acceptable. It was somewhat sporty looking. It wasn't any worse than a lot of cars from the 70's.
"Was it really a marriage made in heaven? Find out in part two. Stay tuned!" I was so absorbed into watching that when I heard this I let out a string of swear words.
It's not quite a scam, but people confuse it with something it isn't (a replacement for intensive treatment for people with severe psychological issues/disorders) and then get mad that it isn't that.
I remember hearing a story about a closeted homosexual who got kicked out of his family when he tried coming out and his therapist on better help told him to just be straight and stop being gay instead of acting helping him
Yes better help is a crap service for multiple reasons but I ain't gonna fault a RU-vidr for tryna make money especially given the quality of his videos
They recently got caught selling patients’ mental health data to advertisers such as Facebook and Snapchat. They also got caught having unlicensed therapists several years ago
@milfordcivic6755 There's snake oil salesman everywhere. Also, why would someone go into therapy to make money? Therapists don't make shit and their student loans are ridiculous.
Daimler - Chrysler merger was a part of my Master's degree thesis in 1999 as a case study (US - EU relationships). I lucked out and had a chance to talk to a couple of Daimler execs in Berlin and they were all incredibly upbeat about the whole thing :) I loved the Cab Forward design of the era. Those cars looked genuinely good. And then there was the Atlantic concept. OMG!!! Unrelated but... I loved Saturn as a concept, it was what Dacia became to Renault, it's just way more reliable. The first cars were great, IMHO, but then GM imported Opels and rebadged them... which boosted the prices, naturally, and also created a situation where Saturns, a budget alternative, was selling European Opels that were in EVERY WAY better than what GMs offered in that era.
GM imported Opels and sold them through "Buick Opel" dealers going way back (1958-1975), so that "badge engineering" wasn't a new thing at all. Saturn ended up cannibalizing existing GM car sales, whilst adding another layer of expense for design, manufacturing, and marketing, for a product that wasn't sufficiently differentiated en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Corporation .
Of course they were upbeat about it. They were robbing cash rich Chrysler of resources, promised modern and competitive platforms, and drove them off a cliff once the accounts ran dry. The Daimler execs and designers were reluctant to share their best tech and designs, and instead sold Chrysler old designs at a ridiculous premium (Pacifica/Crossfire). I love most of the DaimlerChrysler products, but it was never a merger of equals. I think they could have done so much more as a merger I did the same case study in college, it was an amazing case study I agree!!! Glad someone commented on it.
Ah, Chrysler... I don't want this brand to die. But it looks like that's what's going to happen. Let's hope Chrysler's next launch is a success. I never had a strong connection with this brand, my parents never had a Chrysler, I don't plan on having one, but I don't want it to just die.
This so spot on. I worked at Chrysler at the time of the merger with Daimler, and it was pretty messy. I am a Mopar hard core fan at heart, and on of the problems with today's line up is the infamous CAFE standards. That's why they have to END all of their 5.7 Hemis, 6.1 Hemis. At a time they were absolute best sellers. How not to LOVE a Hellcat?? No other car maker has such a line of sports oriented vehicles like Chrysler, and this comes form a loooong line of cars. Remember the 5.9 Grand Cherokee? The first fast SUV? And the Grand Cherokee Trackhawks? Simply awesome SUVs. They made the best minivans, and everybody played catch up all the time. Of course mistakes were made like everybody else in the industry, but the passion they incite in their followers is at a level greater than any other brand. Long live Mopar!
Ed, you hit it on the head with this one. A few highlights from an old Detroit guy. 1. I knew no one who owned an Eagle. 2. People used to be delirious about their K-cars. That's how bad things were. 3. The first Dodge Ram on the block made everyone's jaw drop. 4. The Cherokee singlehandedly saved upper middle class mothers from minivans. 5. Yes, we all wanted a Viper. How you know all of this living in Europe amazes me.
The down-sized Cherokee went on sale in 1984, Chrysler acquired AMC in 1987. I owned a 1986 Cherokee Chief for 17 years. My brother and sister-in-law were so impressed with it they bought a 1988 Pioneer. They've owned nothing but Jeeps ever since.
@@joemama38minivans offer more interior space without trying to look obese as suvs of all classes do, you immediately see they are impractical, inefficient, overweight and the driver has ego issues and needs betterhelp.
Small correction: the cloud cars were only the 1995-2000 Chrysler Cirrus,Dodge Stratus, and Plymouth Breeze . The Cab Forward Look was based and called the LH platform and most everything else was based on the LH design
The LH platform (correct me if I am wrong!) literally stood for "Last Hope", replacing the Dodge Dynasty (pronounced "Die-Nasty), New Yorker and Fifth Avenue. I remember seeing the then-new LH New Yorker for the first time at the Detroit Auto Show, and I thought it was absolutely beautiful, where Chrysler ought to be. That was then... this is now.
I guess, for many years, I was told it stood for "Last Hope". Then, I found this just now from Hemmings Motor News ((it was joked as the "last hope")... "As pointed out on the 300M Club's website, contemporary journalists joked that the platform's LH designation stood for "last hope," and indeed, much of the company's non-truck/Jeep/minivan fortunes rested on the LH cars." - Daniel Strohl, Hemmings Motor News, May 8, 2020
I'm disagreeing with some of the low points, which actually were sales successes. The Pinto & Mustang II sold massively, so in turn did the Vega and Corvair initially.
Corvair was mostly a solid car.. Nader did a hit job. GM simply cheaped out on some parts, in their typically GM way. They have a unique talent for shooting themselves in the foot by cheapening out on components.
The Mustang II did make Ford some serious cash but I never understood why they couldn't just use the Maverick platform to build a "new" downsized mustang off of. It's not like they didn't have the tooling laying around. They made Granadas up until like 1980 I think before they moved to the fox platform.
It should also be noted that the Ford Mustang II ended up being a major boon to the American automotive aftermarket. Front suspensions from wrecked Mustang IIs were adapted by street rodders. It had the right tread width, was fairly light and compact and had a pretty good suspension geometry. Companies like Heidts and Fatman Fabrications started creating crossmembers that could be used to adapt the Mustang II IFS to street rod frames, and then started manufacturing their own components as the Mustang II disappeared from salvage yards. You can still purchase Mustang II based front suspensions from Heidts, Fatman and a variety of manufacturers which probably don't have any Ford Mustang II components, and may have altered geometry.
K-cars weren't the only innovation Iacocca used to turn Chrysler around. He also introduced the rebate to the automotive market, which brought customers flocking and allowed paying back the government loan seven years early. He seriously deserves his own episode; the American automotive... milieu would be far different today if it hadn't been for Lee Iacocca.
He didn’t quite introduce the rebate to the automotive market. That was a pre-Iacocca tactic that Chrysler launched on January 12, 1975, during a Super Bowl commercial featuring Joe Garagiola.
Chrysler definitely cut too many corners on quality in the 90s. The early LH cars really on paper are great cars. A smooth and powerful modern engine, a high tech electronic 4 speed, tons of interior space, modern styling, good handling for a big FWD sedan. But in reality, the transmissions are prone to failure, general build quality isnt great, and interior fit and finish is just trash. If they tried just a little bit harder, more of the LH cars would survive and would still be a popular used car these days.
It’s not so much the transmission itself failing from poor design, but Chrysler not educating their customers about the proper fluid for the 41TE/41LE transmission; which at the time was ATF+3 which was improved into ATF+4 which is still used today; customers would top up their transmission with Dexron-III or Mercon-V; which are much “grabbier” fluids than ATF+3/ATF+4 which would proceed to burn up the clutch packs and bands, contaminate the transmission fluid with burned clutch material that would circulate throughout the entire transmission and basically sign the transmission’s death certificate. (Insert the classic GM 4L60E “Oops, All Neutrals” joke here) it wasn’t a bad transmission otherwise they wouldn’t have used the basic design all the way into 2020 in the base 4 cylinder Journey!
@@colinschmitz8297 and where they improved the interior, they launched the 2.7L “Sludgemaster” V6 which completely tanked the reputation of the LH2 platform.
Jeep is the gift that just keeps on giving ..not only will it save Chrysler a second time, but it's allowing Stellantis to restructure all the struggling brands like Fiat .Lancia. Alfa .Vauxhall Opel. Maserati etc with the proceeds....it even may save Stellantis itself.
Stellantis doesn't even understand the North American market, much less North American automobiles and trucks. They have no ideas, and have allowed Chrysler to wither on the vine.
Chrysler always reminds me of those 80's action TV shows that end with the next episode's beginning. "Tune in next week to see how the gang's going to get out of this one!"
I’ve got a lot of touch points with this episode. Owned 2 CJ-5’s and 2 Grand Cherokees. All served well. Also had 2 (yeah 2) Renault Alliances. Slow but fun to beat and cheap. As for K cars, the best Army staff car we ever had was a Reliant K. You couldn’t kill that thing. Until it finally gave up the transmission on the Schuylkill Expressway one evening. The cab forward cars were an incredible sight. Immediately made my then new Lumina look 10 years old. Oh and a coworker had an Eagle Talon TSi just like the one in the video clip you had. It was a fun machine!
I still have my 2001 XJ. They are still a fairly common sight around here, even now. See one almost every day. My '84 Alliance was a tin can, but not a bad car.
11:50 When this generation of Ram hit the market it wasn't popular due to "retro styling" so much as it has a raised central hood reminiscent of North American semi trucks. Ford and GM looked boxy and outdated in comparison, and looking like a semi helped market Rams as strong and powerful. Great video as always Ed!
Nooo Ed nooooo. I had to stop watching and dislike this video cause of the awful sponsor. Betterhelp is known for some of the worst business practices when it comes to mental health
Don’t repeat things you hear on the Internet without actually looking into them. I met a great counselor through BetterHelp and I’m not trying to defend all of their practices but if you can’t afford $60 a week, that’s more of a you problem.
My uncle, a Chrysler's retiree, would often riddle: "How do you pronounce DaimlerChrysler?" "Daimler" As a finance guy he always knew how the bread was buttered. As a Detroit kid the Pentastar logo will always be mostly old parts and rust.
This isn't particularly accurate. When the Mercedes and Chrysler merger happened, Chrysler had a huge rainy day fund which Mercedes ended up pilfering. Chrysler was absolutely not in dire straights like it is being portrayed in this video. They were still doing extremely well financially. Mercedes mismanagement and typical German arrogance ruined this merger of "equals".
Agreed, The narrative he has that they failed to let them know that you have to keep an eye on Chrysler or it falls apart is precisely the opposite of what happened. The problem was Daimler did not treat Chrysler with respect. They removed the things that worked and kept in place the things that were already a problem. They drove away their best talent.
Chryslers rainy day fund was pilfered by Mercedes. They were sinking, and used the Chrysler rainy day fund to shore up the company. After they recovered, they dumped Chrysler. That is what happened. Chrysler was stripped and raided. Then dumped. Chryslers product research and development was also raided. Chrysler was the number one producer of Van's for decades. Then they lost the title to Ford. At the same time they were dumped, Mercedes started to enter the van market in the United States. Their van technology was stolen too. Everyone who I know who has had a Mercedes has not had it for long. They ended up getting rid of it. Wonder why?
Pinto was a good Car after the $8 part was replaced and the mustang 2 sold like Hot cakes and were reliable you must listen to the idiots who picked them apart.
Re Better Help: It’s pretty simple, anything RU-vidrs start to hype collectively has to be a scam. No legitimate product or service needs so much advertising. Someone somewhere is making a ton of money and this time it’s on the backs of the most vulnerable in our society. Nice.
I miss the good old days of Chrysler almost as much as I miss watching your superior videos without being punished every three minutes by commercials because RU-vid want everyone to pay for something that they've been getting for free for years. I hope they pay you well, Ed. Your videos are way too good for their greedy corporate asses. 🐰
Thank you for being balanced about Lee Iacoca. ALOT of RU-vidrs are willing to ignore the flaws in his character, and just focus on his saving Chrysler. This makes their choices a whole lot clearer.
They turned to crap in a hurry.. I had an aunt that had a new 1996 LHS.. Interior was very cheap, and it showed.. parts and pieces fell apart and self destructed in a hurry.. They did use some decent leather for the seating surfaces, I'll give them that.. but the interior switchgear was garbage, and exterior paint jobs were junk.
GM had lots of stuff in the 70s-90s. K-5 blazer was built that entire time, Buick GNX, fear and loathing Eldorado, largest v8 fitted to a car, GNX, 3800, Syclone/typhoon, ZR1 c4, lotus Carlton. They tried to innovate, they were the first with air bags, cylinder deactivation and diesel but it never worked out for them.
Though he really should have used the "Maserati" version and not the Town & Country, which is actually in a weird way kind of cool...the former could never possibly be mistaken for cool in any way
I discovered your channel a few months ago and it has quickly become my favorite automotive channel. I worked for a company in the late 80s - early 2000s that was heavily involved with Chrysler's new platform launches from the ZJ (Grand Cherokee) until the 300 and You have hit the nail on the head so far. Can't wait for part 2 ❤
As a young Dutch man, your knowledge of US auto history is amazing. 95% of Americans have *zero* knowledge of anything automotive unless it slaps them in the face.
My wife's Reliant was a terrible car, with new tread it slid on any snow/ice rusted out under the hood causing exhaust leaks, road noise etc etc. I'm sure they made money on those things. The period Ed based this video on was a perfect storm of expensive energy, high inflation, high interest rates and unsold cars (sounds oddly familiar doesn't it?)
What most people don't realize is that Chrysler's cab forward cars, ( Concorde, intrepid, vision, final new yorker) wasn't even their idea. The eagle premiere platform actually provided the basis for the lh platform. In a way, AMC saved Chrysler with its dying breath
Chrysler need to pull out of Stellantis (if thats even possible). Grab a big loan and start making cheap $25,000 or under cars (neon - k car) with their own in house designed bodies and engines. Forget about ford and gm compete with Toyota. Then forget about electric cars.
I always thought that the Plymouth Horizon was the better Crysler product of the late 70s and early 80s. perhaps the K sold better because it looked more like the old Valiants.
A very good summary, Iacocca had a big hit with the K-cars, but then they kept on with too many variants for much too long. Buying AMC to get Jeep was a smart move, but should have divested all the associated brands sooner. Wish they'd kept the original [AMC]Eagle, though. The LH series of the 90's were fantastic, super roomy and comfortable. Probably the best result of the Daimler-Chrysler marriage was that the Jeep Grand Cherokee became a G-Series Mercedes without the Mercedes price.
@@scottbiddle3967 Yeah they looked great and fresh in the 90s, especially the Eagle model. I was a bit puzzled by how fast they disappeared from the road after 2000, and somewhere read something about transmission problems.
As a kid in the mid-1960's, I understood that Chrysler competed head-on with Buick, both upper-medium priced makes. It was so obvious and simple, that, literally, even a 4-year old could understand it. I have had no idea what Chrysler is, or what it directly competes with since 2001, when they pulled the plug on Plymouth after starving Plymouth of product since the mid-seventies (the Chrysler Cordoba was originally supposed to be the then-new Plymouth Sebring, but was given to Chrysler because they needed a smaller car to sell, for example).
Lee Iacocca didn't name Bob Lutz to succede him because he couldn't dominate Lutz. Later, Iacocca and Kirk Kerkorian tried to perform a hostile takeover of Chrysler. Bob Eaton panicked and made the dealto merge with Daimler, which put Chrysler under the control of Daimler's leadership. Chrysler's $12B in cash was spent to purchase shares of Mitsubishi Motors, Western Star Trucks, Detroit Diesel,....showing that Daimler's real interest was in gaining control of Chrysler's cash assets and their $1B profit per quarter. They also milked more money from Chryser by forcing the purchase Mercedes engines, axles, and transmissions for prices that didn't make sense when applied to Chrysler vehicles. Also, Chrysler Financial was folded into Debis AG and profits from MOPAR parts were also no longer credited to Chrysler. Without the profits from financing and spare parts sales, as well as with a change in accounting methods, Chrysler suddenly became unprofitable and Daimler management put their own man in charge of running Chrysler.
Iacocca has admitted he made a big mistake not picking Lutz to replace him. Hen has said "It was the one time I made a decision based on emotion as opposed to logic". Also you left out the fact that Diamlers/Benz was hard up for cash in the late 90s. They wanted the merger so they could keep the lights on, Chrysler was already working on the LH platform's successor which would become the LX cars. They didn't really need the partnership but Eaton thought it would be a good idea, Lutz did not. Which is why he eventually left. Diamler also didn't see Chrysler as a real competitor with the LH cars which changed when they found out about Chrysler's planned return to making large RWD sedans which in the eyes of the Diamler board members would eat into MBs sales.
I never have but the malaise era and forward for chrysler felt like that. I hope combustion cars stay forever so everybody can experience cars like challengers and such.
Sorry Ed been watching your stuff for a while but im out till you stop backing a unscrupulous company like Better help, we all know the FTC controversy and the huge fines they levied on BH. Its a scummy company Ed, you can do better mate 😞
I still drive the last true (pre Mercedes Benz) Chrysler. A 1999 Cirrus. Very dependable for more than 25 years now and still going strong. I suspect it will outlast Stellantis.
Chrysler, The biggest pile of junk on the road. I bought a K car in its day…..HUGE mistake. The turbo engine didn’t even make it to 30k miles. So many rattles. JUNK.
It’s crazy RU-vidrs take sponsorships for BetterHelp. They steal data and hired unlicensed professionals. It does more harm than good. Ed please don’t take another better help sponsorship. Sad to see you even took one in the first place with the drama around that company
Well, the Daimler-Chrysler merger era left Chrysler with some great underpinnings like the successful E-class for the 2005-06 300 and the Dodge Charger and Magnum station wagon and the M-class for the upcoming late '00s Jeep Grand Cherokee, which were the pillars for yet another Chrysler revival-Renaissance from 2010s onwards.
Well the cloud car name refers to the stratus, cirrus and the breeze. The cars like the Intrepid was built on the LH platform. The only good thing that came out of the Daimler merger was the LX platform.
I knew the Daimler-Chrysler merger was a mistake as soon as it was announced. It has happened a lot when a respected brand acquires one with financial problems: Studebaker-Packard, Citroën -Maserati, Renault-AMC, and recently Boeing-Douglas. The result is always a cheaper product with less quality and loss of the prestige held by their customers.
How didn't Daimler Benz have access to the American market? They first began being imported in 1952 and by the 70s were among the best-selling premium vehicles in the market.
Sorry to be nitpicky, but the Maserati TC cannot be characterized as "reliable". The Lebaran convertible who's body it shared, was reasonably reliable & sold well.
As someone who works for Chrysler Corporation, I can confirm they sometimes forget to take their meds. Although the manic phases that created 700-1075hp monsters are a lot of fun to participate in. 😂
Back in the 1970's, the 225 cubic inch displacement slant six engine almost sunk Chrysler. The engine was so reliable, cheap & easy to fix & maintain and lasted forever. People weren't trading their Chrysler cars in for new ones because the old ones kept running and that drove down sales of new cars. Amazingly enough, the K cars did not feature the slant six for that very reason!
Anyone living in the rust belt would beg to differ. Growing up in the 70s, almost everyone I knew had a slant six Dart or Valiant as the family car for a few years. While the engines and transmissions were indeed bulletproof, the bodies were notorious for premature rust.
@@martinliehs2513True. I owned four vehicles in a row that were Slant-six powered. I bought a used Dodge pickup with low compression on one cylinder so I called it a Slant-five. Still, the engine outlasted the rest of the truck.
One thing I think all the American brands have issues with is too many brands. I think one of the most obvious examples atm is Buick with GM. They are forced to be relegated as this kinda premium but not strategy. If they didnt have to worry about stepping in Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillacs toes, they could have entered so many different segments and tried to build up a better brand image. For example if GMC didnt exist they could have used a large body on frame SUV like the Yukon as their flagship. They could have tried making sportier performance cars as well. Also in the past all the American brands did very very bad rebadges. Mercury for example. Just a husk of a brand that never got to do anything on its own. Its definitely possible to manage multiple brands. But you must put effort into them.
Buying AMC don't seem to be a bad choice (especialy for jeep) but they did'nt have to create Eagle or they should continue the partnership with Renault to bring french car with the AMC brand that had customers and brand awareness
Probably the 1st American car I've seen was a '78 Cordoba. I loved that car, even dreamed about it, and spoke to the owner once. Then I've seen a Dodge Intrepid with Hawaiian plates, in Hungary, that was certainly unusual. And probably the 1st (and only) US car I had a drive in was a Stratus, which was a large barge, and couldn't see or feel the barriers of the car. So even far from the US, I still have some fond memories of the Chrysler Corporation. As for part 2, I badly wanted a Crossfire as a teen, it looked incredibly cool back then. And I still want a PT Cruiser, no matter what rubbish people talk about them, it's still cool by European standards. But I also liked most of their 2000s models, the 300C, 300M, the Concorde, Dodge Nitro and Caliber etc.
Another great job! I do enjoy all of your hard work. I always look forward to seeing that you have a new video for me to watch. One of my favorite channels.
