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Chrysler on Sale

I passed out an article from B/W which questioned whether Ford had any actual balance sheet value.  Now the experts are wondering the same thing about Chrysler.  We are studying pension accoutning in Intermed II at this time.  Please read this article about how the pension cost which is not stated on the balance sheet, may mean Chrysler has no real value.  We report, you decide, is Chrysler worth anything.  ONce again, accounting matters and how liabilities are reported matter a great deal.  This is why we, and Warren Buffet, study accounting. AS you read the article, notice that everyone is angling to get rid of some future liability, ie the pension plan, no one seems to be interested in the car and truck production.  In short, Chrysler’s liabilites now outshine the assets.

By the way, be sure to check your tires.  I picked up three metal screws in one tire, clearly they did not clean the site completely after the building was done. While waiting for my tire to be repaired I spied a  new red Dodge Durango (read body on frame 5,000 pound SUV)  complete with 22 inch chrome wheels and dual exhausts, no doubt from its hemi engine.  What was Chrysler or the buyer I wondered thinking?

Click on Hemi the Engine at this link to enjoy the cartoon.  It may be the last cartoon like this Dodge runs for some time……..

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2 responses to “Chrysler on Sale”

  1. Jordan McClary Avatar
    Jordan McClary

    Ok so we discussed that Gm might buy the very horrible Chrysler. I never liked chrysler and my automotive teacher always told me that Chrysler merely mixed the parts of GM and Ford to build a car. So nothing was really that original. But I found this article from USA today showing that GM sales were up. And they were from hardcore dealership sales, not low profit fleet sales to rental car companies. Could this be a sign that GM is turning things around? Maybe this is why GM is interested in purchasing Chrysler. If they do I think they are personally stupid. The only thing worth buying out their heap of Junk is the Dodge Viper, but then again why buy a $85K car when I can buy the fashionablly cool Z06 Vette?
    http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-03-01-car-sales-usat_x.htm

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  2. Dennis Elam Avatar
    Dennis Elam

    Actually it was American Motors that mixed the parts. Dad bought my sister a pretty nice AMC Concord. Nice car with a 4.2 L straight six, a Ford carburetor and ignition sytem and interestingly the best auto tranny ever built, the Chrysler Torqueflight. (Ok so I aged myself with that one). Chrysler was somehow capable of some great engineering in engines, (the Beach Boys song shut down mentions the wedge combustion chambered 413) the hemi dates to the 1950s and the original Chrysler 300 and the Torqueflight was the best auto transmission easily capable of handling the 425 bhp hemi engine. Viper is made in very small numbers and has that expensive Lambo 10 cyl engine so the price i s high. Chrysler never got the bodies on the older cars right, lots of rattles and squeaks and the other stuff like power windows were somewhat problematic.
    It would have been interesting if a real company like BMW had bought Chrysler, straightened out the electric and body problems and then really given chevy and ford a run for it in the truck business.
    How is it that Mercedes paid $36 B and now it is worth $0-14 B, I would say the lack of a devil’s advocate during the bargaining process, everyone in the room was just there to validate the forgone conclusion.

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