Burton Speaks

The whispers in the wind lately seem to pertain to DaimlerChrysler spinning off the "troubled" Chrysler unit and trying to sell it to some poor fools who have, apparently, never owned Chryslers before.

I am, by and large (and somewhat inexplicably), a fan of American cars - despite having owned several of them. I think that General Motors and Ford have the potential to make some of the most beautiful cars on the road, and I trust them. However, you'll note that I didn't include Chrysler (the third of the "Big Three") in that list. Mainly due to the fact that - for the most part - I've found them to be frustratingly unreliable and they have a habit of chewing through transmissions every 100,000 miles or so. But that's just my experience.

Anyway, American car companies appear to be losing money (at least in North America) where our appetites for large SUVs seems to be tempered by obnoxiously expensive fuel. Tragically, certain companies seem to think that these large vehicles are the only way to make money. That idea doesn't seem to be working for them.

I am going to say this: I'm about a year from getting my MBA, and when I graduate I'd love the opportunity to come try to help out whoever ends up owning Chrysler. I'm serious. I would love to be part of the team that finally turns Chrysler around.

Here are my plans, once I'm at Chrysler:
(1) Make the small cars feel nice, not cheap. (Small vehicles shouldn't just be entry-level vehicles!)
(2) Emphasize fuel economy AND performance.
(3) Come to market with a small, efficient turbo-diesel engine that can power the smaller cars (and run off biodiesel!)
(4) Work on the long-term reliability of the automobiles.

And those are just the first items I'd hit. I've got big ideas... trust me!