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Quote:

HAHAHAHA!!!

When I was a kid, my Great Aunt, who was always kind of snotty and always drove Cadillacs bought a Cadillac Cimmeron (Cavalier). When she showed up to the family reunion in it, she was showing it off to everyone and how much smaller it was, and the quality of it and on & on & on.

Later that afternoon, she wanted to take all of us kids into town for ice cream, so we all went to the car, and she began to fiddle with the door, and couldn't get the key to work. So she went around to the other side and couldn't get that one to work either. We went to get my uncle who upon getting to the situation started laughing out loud. The rest came over to see what he was laughing at....My great aunt was putting her key into my Uncles Cavalier!! She didn't believe him, she walked around the car and swore it was her Caddy. For the rest of the week my uncle saying "who knew, I bought a cadillac for the price of a Chevy".

She was so pissed. The next year she showed up in a NEW Cadillac DeVille.

Packard53: Exactly right.

And Fiat was abandoned not only by the US market, but also the Italian and European market as well.

But in the meantime, modern engineering, stylish design, creative advertising, and intelligent leadership have certainly turned things around.

But today Chrysler is in such bad shape that my only hope is that their association with Fiat does not tarnish Fiat's reputation.....

Owen: I think that when it comes to buying auto persons in Italy, France, Germany, and other countries tend to be nationalistic. They will tend to buy auto's made in their own country's not auto built in the US and exported to other countries. The cars built in the US aren't ideal for markets in those countries with the price of fuel they have
and narrow roads and street in the inter cities of these countrys

American cars that are built and exported have never sold in great numbers. People tend to forget that GM owns Opel
in Germany, Vauxhall in England, Holden in the land that Mal lives in, and various partnerships with Japanese and Koren car companies.


John F. Shireman

<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v33/ronaldo/?action=view¤t=chrysler_sebring_sedan.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/ronaldo/chrysler_sebring_sedan.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

It is interesting that many of the products that Guscha talks about as "American" are not made in the U.S. They are sold by U.S. companies but made overseas.

Fiat's reputation throughout the world has been tarnished for many years. So joining forces with Chrysler can't tarnish Fiats reputation to much. The jury is still out around the world about Fiat.

John F. Shireman

...and yet sales are good, financially the company is sound and it's seen as Chrysler's salvation.

Strange isn't it. Perhaps you should notify Chrysler and warn them of what they're getting into...

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"The jury is still out around the world about Fiat."

Countries where Fiat has manufacturing plants:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_locations_of_Fiat_Group_car_manufacturing_sites.png

Now please show us a map of where Chrysler has manufacturing plants.

Thanks in advance.

I would say that outside of the USA, Mexico, and Canada Chrysler has none. I believe that within the last year Chrysler sold a manufacturing plant to Fiat located in Brazil

Since Chrysler was owned by MB for over 10 years there was no need for Chrysler to have manufacturing plants located throughout the world. The present owners of Chrysler don't want to invest any money in Chrysler it would be impossible for them to start construction on any new plants off shore.

Don't kid yourself about one thing Fiat wants to be a world player and needs Chrysler badly to be a world player. It needs Chrysler production factories in the USA, because it lacks the money to start from the ground up in the USA. Fiat also needs Chrysler because of the Jeep brand and Chrysler's knowledge in building four wheel drive vehicles and SUVs. The reason for this is so that Fiat can compete in the growing demand for four wheel drive vehicles and SUVs in the expanding markets of Russia and China. In this area of building four wheel drive vehicles and SUVs Fiat lacks the knowledge to compete on the world stage.

John F. Shireman

"In this area of building four wheel drive vehicles and SUVs Fiat lacks the knowledge to compete on the world stage."

http://motortorque.askaprice.com/reviews/auto-0604/fiats-sweet-little-sixteen.asp

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portlandon : that's a funny story.

Sad thing is, GM didn't even learn from the Cimmaron. Years later they took a homely family sedan, the Opel Omega, (didn't even bother to change the styling, except for the front grille texture) gave it a Cadillac badge and called it the Catera.

Advertising featured Cindy Crawford (by then pretty much retired from modeling) and an animated duck.

The advertising tag line: "The Caddy that zigs".

Is it any wonder that American luxury car buyers turned to Lexus?

The Japanese and German auto execs must have been breaking out the champagne when they saw that one.

Oh... and then there was Ford putting a Lincoln badge on a Ford Granada and calling it the Lincoln Versailles...

About Packard, etc. When I was a kid, I remeber my father telling me that the government forced the "Big Three" to help out Studebaker-Packard, and other smaller companies. This was supposed to be a government move to prefvent monopoly.

I don't know if that story should rest aside the 50 mpg carburetor the oil companies wouldn't allow on the market.