But by 1995 that ratio was reversed: Ward’s Automotive Yearbook, 1996.
“We wish we could just shrink-wrap”: Former Chrysler executive, interview by author, 2009.
“We started jumping for joy”: Ibid.
“We’ll have the size, the profitability”: Another former Chrysler executive, interview by author, April 21, 2009. When the cover was pulled off the new vehicle: Former Ford executive, interview by author, 2009.
“It’s wonderful to be in this industry”: Gregory L. White et al., “Bumper Crop,” The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 1999.
Eight: Potholes and Missed Opportunities
“the largest auto show exhibit ever”: “General Motors Begins Construction of Largest Auto Show Exhibit in North America,” PR Newswire, November 12, 1999.
At the “line-off” ceremony: Former Toyota executive, interview by author, 2009.
“Don read books—and let the other guys know”: Retired UAW staff member, interview by author, 2009.
“Our job was to prevent management”: Mike Bennett, interview by author, March 13, 2009.
“the greatest threat to our livelihoods”: Ibid.
“like heaven; a nice, clean new plant”: Ann Fox, interview by J. Halpert, March 2009.
“You felt more loyal,” she would explain: Ibid.
“People would shoot back: ‘You Saturn guys’ “: Former Saturn executive, interview by author, 2009.
“Where does that put the rest of what GM builds?”: Kathleen Kerwin, “Saturn: GM Finally Has a Real Winner,” BusinessWeek, August 17, 1992.
One senior executive: Elmer Johnson, former GM executive vice president, interviews by author, 2009.
“The UAW thanks Brother Ephlin”: UAW convention brochure, July 20, 1989, Walter Reuther Labor Library, Wayne State University.
“Can America Still Compete?”: S. C. Gwynne, “Can America Still Compete?” Time, October 29, 1990.
“scares the liver out of”: Ibid.
“Shinjirarenai” (“Unbelievable”): Former Honda executive, interview by author, 2009.
Dealers were equally enthusiastic: Tom Zimbrick, interview by J. Halpert, March 2009.
In these decisions Mike Bennett tried to play: Bennett interview.
He was Stephen P. Yokich, the child: Terril Yue Jones, “Stephen P. Yokich, 66, Former President of UAW,” Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2002.
“The cardinal’s a fucking prick!”: Stephen P. Yokich, interview by Jacob Schlesinger and Paul Ingrassia, Detroit, 1988. 129 It was the sort of utter craziness: James R. Healey and Micheline Maynard, “The Uncivil War,” USA Today, June 29, 1998.
The strike’s impact caused the entire: Associated Press Financial News, July 16, 1998.
“I mean it’s nuts,” Yokich told reporters: Healey and Maynard, “The Uncivil War.”
fill out an internal “score sheet”: Micheline Maynard, “Toasting New Harmony,” USA Today, December 16, 1998.
“building lean and agile’ plants too quickly”: Thomas Donlan, “Now a Strike of Capital,” Barron’s, August 10, 1998.
a peace parley with Yokich: Maynard, “Toasting New Harmony.”
“I’m optimistic … I think we’ll make it work”: David Sedgwick, “GM Plan to Reinvent Factory Gets Cautious OK from UAW,” Automotive News, January 18, 1999.
“I haven’t been involved”: Jennifer Bott and Ted Evanoff, “President of Auto Workers Union Undecided on General Motors’ Car Plan,” Detroit Free Press, January 13, 1999.
“put a muzzle” on Mark Hogan: David Sedgwick, “GM Comments on Yellowstone Get Frosty Response from UAW,” Automotive News, May 17, 1999.
“So, I hear you’ve just been fired”: Mark Hogan, interview by author, February 10, 2009.
“I’ve got to go dark”: Ted Evanoff, “To Please Union, General Motors Quiets Talk on New Manufacturing Plans,” Detroit Free Press, May 27, 1999.
regarded Yokich as a bully: Art Baker, interview by author, March 11, 2009.
“I wake up at night sick”: Bennett interview.
Nine: From Riches to Rags
The Germans did get to drive Vipers: Gregory L. White, “Test Drives and Presents Help Lubricate a Car Merger,” The Wall Street Journal, September 18, 1998.
“See you later, boys”: Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz, Taken for a Ride (New York: HarperBusiness, 2001).
the size of the business cards: Former DaimlerChrysler executive, interview by author, 2009.
another squabble: Ibid.
“get back to doing what we’re really good at”: James Holden, interview by author, October 23, 2009.
“the biggest business mistake of my life”: Another former DaimlerChrysler executive, interview by author, 2003.
“If this business plan was a movie”: Holden interview.
“It had to be done”: Tim Burt and Richard Lambert, “The Schrempp Gambit,” The Financial Times, October 30, 2000.
“Occupied Chrysler”: Jerry Flint, “Occupied Chrysler,” Ward’s Auto World, November 1999.
“getting butts into seats”: Justin Hyde, “Focus on ‘Getting Butts into Seats’ at Chrysler,” Reuters, March 28, 2001.
“So now you have your monarchy back”: Alex Taylor III, “The Fight at Ford: Behind Bill’s Boardroom Struggle,” Fortune, April 3, 2000.
He hired an “executive coach”: Former Ford executive, interview by author, 2009.
So Nasser commissioned an internal Ford study: Another former Ford executive, interview by author, 2009.
“I see too many white male faces”: Retired Ford manager, interview by author, 2009.
“Australian blue”: Current and former Ford executives, interviews by author, 2009.
“be in a fight almost every day”: Betsy Morris, “Idealist on Board: This Ford Is Different,” Fortune, April 3, 2000.
“a cross between Al Gore”: Alex Taylor III, “Jac Nasser’s Big Test,” Fortune, September 18, 2000.
A high-powered Washington consultant prepped him: Former Ford executive, interview by author, 2009.
“It’s like tying two cats by the tails”: Stephen Power and Clare Ansberry, “Bridgestone/Firestone Says It Made ‘Bad Tires,’” The Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2000.
“nobody could have done a better”: Robert L. Simison, “Behind the Wheel: For Ford CEO Nasser, Damage Control Is the New Job One,” The Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2000.
“This decision is a painful one for me personally”: Joseph B. White et al., “Ford Intends to Replace Millions of Tires,” The Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2001.
“Jack Welch has 10 guys around him”: Alex Taylor III, “Crunch Time for Jac,” Fortune, June 25, 2001.
In October he tried to recruit Jim Holden: Holden interview.
“Gee, it’s like the Lions won a game”: Terril Yue Jones, “Bill Ford Takes Reins,” Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2001.
“The question shouldn’t be about me keeping the job”: Jim Mateja, “Taking a Spin with GM’s CEO-in-Waiting,” Chicago Tribune, February 18, 2000.
“Rick’s older brother”: Former Fiat executive, interview by author, 2009.
Wagoner balked at the “put” provision: Ibid.
Around midnight on Sunday: Kathleen Kerwin et al., “For GM, Once Again, Little Ventured, Little Gained,” BusinessWeek, March 27, 2000.
A Forbes headline declared: Jerry Flint, “Time to Praise GM,” Forbes, December 10, 2001.
“Expected to operate as a play-it-safe”: Alex Taylor III, “Finally GM Is Looking Good,” Fortune, April 1, 2002.
But when the recommendations were presented: Former GM executive, interview by author, 2009.
a cover story titled “The End of Cheap Oil”: Another former GM executive, interview by author, 2009.
“When the going gets tough”: Chris Reiter, “DaimlerChrysler Won’t Back Away from Global Plan,” Dow Jones Newswires, April 8, 2004.
“I don’t like saber rattling … a surprise”: Danny Hakim, “A UAW Chief Aw
aits a GM Showdown,” The New York Times, June 23, 2005.
“We strongly believe the auto business”: GM press release, January 19, 2005.
Ten: The Hurricane That Hit Detroit
The company’s healthcare expenses: David Welch, “GM Is Losing Traction,” BusinessWeek, February 7, 2005.
In March 2005 crude oil hit a then-record price: Jeffrey Ball and Joseph B. White, “Rising Gasoline Prices Threaten Viability of Biggest SUVs,” The Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2005.
“a significant full-year loss”: GM press release, March 16, 2005. 165 “GM’s big retiree handicap”: Welch, “GM Is Losing Traction.”
“We have a problem”: Steve Miller, interview by author, January 10, 2009.
“Nobody wants to be the guy”: Justin Fox, “A CEO Puts His Job on the Line,” Fortune, May 2, 2005.
“Once again, we see the disgusting”: UAW press release, October 8, 2005.
“Behind all this financial drama”: Steve Miller, interview by author, October 12, 2005.
“Beyond Delphi, things are going”: Ibid.
“Our people are irate about the approach”: Joseph B. White and Jeffrey McCracken, “GM Presses UAW for Health-Care Deal,” The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2005.
“Our plans do not include anything”: Joseph B. White and Lee Hawkins, Jr., “GM Cuts Deeper,” The Wall Street Journal, November 22, 2005.
“It started out bad”: Peter Brown et al., “Wagoner: 2005 Began Poorly, Then Worsened,” Automotive News, December 19, 2005.
“Do you have to shoot yourself in the foot”: David Gow, “DaimlerChrysler Shareholders Rebel,” The Guardian, April 7, 2005.
“I am, and always will be, a Chrysler man”: Brett Clanton and Christine Tierney, “How Zetsche Won Top DCX Job,” Detroit News, July 31, 2005.
“in the best interest of GM right now”: Monica Langley, “Pre-emptive Strike,” The Wall Street Journal, June 5, 2006. 180 “I wouldn’t be in this job”: Ibid.
“While I will not offer excuses”: Rick Wagoner to GM shareholders, April 28, 2006.
“Who does this guy from Las Vegas”: Monica Langley et al., “Road Warriors,” The Wall Street Journal, October 7, 2006.
“It’s not logical or responsible”: Automotive News, September 27, 2006.
“The company has made excellent progress”: Jerome York to GM, resignation letter, October 6, 2006.
“We’re profitable this year”: Peter Brown and Amy Wilson, “Bill Ford: Company Is in Crisis, Not Chaos,” Automotive News, December 5, 2005.
Eleven: Chapter 11?
“My next project may be called”: Mark Phelan, “Charged Up,” Detroit Free Press, January 8, 2007.
“I don’t care what junior analyst”: “BreakingViews,” GM Quotes, booklet, June 1, 2008.
“Our entire GM team”: GM 2006 Annual Report.
Cerberus’s founder: Andrew Ross Sorkin, “A Recluse Lifts the Veil a Little,” The New York Times, April 15, 2008.
“We’ve done a lot of things”: Micheline Maynard, “73,000 UAW Members Go on Strike Against GM,” The New York Times, September 25, 2007. 202 “bold gamble that it could get”: NPR.org, September 25, 2007.
“not impossible”: David Shepardson, “Wagoner Seeks to Quell GM Bankruptcy Speculation,” The Detroit News, July 11, 2008.
“The stunning series of events”: Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Lehman Files for Bankruptcy; Merrill Is Sold,” The New York Times, September 15, 2008.
“I don’t think it’d be a very smart move”: “Memorable Quotations of 2008,” Automotive News, December 29, 2008.
Twelve: As the Precipice Approaches
The preponderance of the material in this chapter came from confidential interviews with individuals directly involved, in a wide range of capacities, in the efforts to rescue General Motors and Chrysler. For simplicity’s sake, these interviews aren’t individually cited here; only material obtained from other sources is cited.
“Quite frankly, the White House”: David Shephardson, “In Unlikely Role, Bush Is Last Hope for Detroit,” The Detroit News, Decmber 15, 2008.
“We need these loans”: Steven Mufson, “White House Moves Toward Auto Bailout,” The Washington Post, December 13, 2008.
“I am so proud of Rick”: George Fisher, interview by John Stoll, December 2008.
Deese was going to Washington: David E. Sanger, “The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling GM,” The New York Times, June 1, 2009.
“that new-car smell”: CBS, Late Late Show, June 5, 2005.
“strategic reviews—including their potential sale”: “General Motors Corporation, 2009–2014 Restructuring Plan,” February 17, 2009.
Thirteen: Bailouts, Bankruptcies, and Beyond
The preponderance of the material in this chapter came from confidential interviews with individuals directly involved, in a wide range of capacities, in the efforts to rescue General Motors and Chrysler. For simplicity’s sake, these interviews aren’t individually cited here; only material obtained from other sources is cited.
“I guess the UST is running it!”: Neil King, Jr., and Jeffrey McCracken, “U.S. Pushed Fiat Deal on Chrysler,” The Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2009.
“Uncle Sam wasn’t going to be Uncle Sucker”: Micheline Maynard and Michael J. de la Merced, “Will GM’s Story Have a Hero?” The New York Times, July 26, 2009.
One eighty-one-year-old man in suburban Chicago: Kim Mikus, “GM Fallout,” Chicago Daily Herald, June 5, 2009.
“We prefer to restructure outside of bankruptcy”: Bill Vlasic and Nick Bunkley, “GM, Leaking Cash, Faces Bigger Chance of Bankruptcy,” The New York Times, May 8, 2009.
“more than I can handle right now”: Nick Bunkley, “GM Tells 1,100 Dealers It Plans to Drop Them,” The New York Times, May 15, 2009.
“an icon for retirement-home parking lots”: Adrian Imonti, “GM’s Death Watch 172: Buick’s Enclave,” Thetruthaboutcars.com, April 15, 2009.
The U.S. government—by default: Maynard and de la Merced, “Will GM’s Story.”
“Microsoft and Apple and Toyota all rolled”: John D. Stoll et al., “A Saga of Decline and Denial,” The Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2009.
Afterword: Another Chance
After closing twenty-two factories between 2004 and 2008: Bill Vlasic and Nick Bunkley, “Scars of an Ailing Industry,” The New York Times, July 31, 2009.
“With apologies to Karl Marx”: Sergio Marchionne, interview by author, June 4, 2010.
And then regulators delved into the data recorders on Toyota cars: Mike Ramsey and Kate Linebaugh, “Early Tests Pin Toyota Accidents on Drivers,” The Wall Street Journal, July 13, 2010.
In 2005 the company had recalled 2.38 million cars in America: Norihiko Shirouzu, “Reduced Speed, Toyota’s New U.S. Plan: Stop Building Factories,” The Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2007.
About the Author
PAUL J. INGRASSIA is an award-winning financial journalist and author with nearly a quarter century of experience in writing about the automotive industry in America and around the world. In 1993 he won the Pulitzer Prize along with his colleague Joseph B. White for their reporting on the management crisis and boardroom revolt at General Motors. Ingrassia and White coauthored Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry. Ingrassia has chronicled the car industry’s successes and epic failures over the past twenty-five years in the pages of The Wall Street Journal. As a former executive of Dow Jones, he is one of the few authors who has been trained as a journalist and has direct experience in running a business. He and his wife live in New Jersey and have three grown sons.
Copyright © 2010 by Paul Ingrassia
Afterword copyright © 2011 by Paul Ingrassia
All rights reserved.
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Crash course : the American automobile industry’s
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