THE AUTOEXTREMIST

February 9, 2011

Brother Sergio’s Traveling Salvation Show gets derailed.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 2/6, 10:00 a.m.) Detroit. Sergio Marchionne, the Chrysler Group’s CEO, was making news left and right while talking too much – per his usual “M.O.” – at an industry conference sponsored by JD Power late last week before the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in San Francisco. He said two things of note in his ramblings to the media: 1. That Fiat and Chrysler would probably be one company in two to three years, and 2. The bailout loans given to Chrysler by the U.S. government were at “shyster” rates, and that it was unacceptable. (He has since apologized for the use of that term, but what’s done is done.)

Uh, let’s review, shall we?

Here’s a guy who strolled in back in early 2009 knowing full well that the U.S. government had exactly zero options on the table to salvage Chrysler, and that if they allowed Chrysler to sink that it could conceivably drag the rest of the U.S. auto industry – and its supplier network – down with it. So Marchionne basically fronts very little of Fiat’s cash and in turn is handed the keys to Chrysler lock, stock, and barrel.

It was shrewdly calculated and there was no mistaking what Sergio had in mind for the End Game all along – which I emphatically stated from Day One, by the way – and that was to merge the companies – whether the merged entity was called Chrysler-Fiat, Fiat-Chrysler, Fiat North America or just plain Fiat it didn’t really matter – and successfully launch a second-tier global empire on bundles of U.S. taxpayer cash and on the backs of Chrysler employees, at least the ones still left at any rate. Oh it was a beautiful plan alright, as long as no one bothered to look at it too closely to see that Marchionne was getting the steal of this or any other decade.

And now he has the balls to complain about the interest rate he’s paying on the government loans? Really? (Marchionne’s Minions are feverishly trying to negotiate a better deal with the government in order to get a reduced interest rate as you read this.)

Marchionne no doubt has to be considered the Opportunist of the Century so far at the very least, intentionally weaseling his way into a situation that the government was finding completely untenable – knowing full well that he was their only option – while walking away with Chrysler for a song. But complaining about a flat-out gift that allowed him to seize control of one of the Detroit Three for basically nothing? How heroic is the sense of entitlement that this guy must have? Just because he has no life and works himself and his troops 24/7 he thinks he can blithely step up to the plate and say he’s getting shafted by “shyster” interest rates? Wow.

The one good thing about this ugly episode is that maybe the mainstream automotive media will finally stop canonizing Marchionne while equating him to the Second Coming, because his actions aren’t about doing right by Chrysler, helping out the U.S. Government in crisis, or any other nobly altruistic descriptors that have been attached to Brother Sergio’s Traveling Salvation Show since it began. No, quite simply it is about exploiting an opportunity that fell into his lap for all it was worth, and creating a new automotive empire (albeit a decidedly minor league one) out of thin air and tons of U.S. taxpayer money.

No matter how much good Marchionne achieves – and by no means is his “blending” strategy of Fiat and Chrysler vehicle architectures guaranteed to be a success – he has well and truly revealed himself to be just another in a long line of industrial pariahs, a carpetbagging opportunist whose sense of entitlement and spectacularly deep-rooted hubris knows no bounds, and one who ultimately has one interest and one interest only: Dining on the wreckage of a failed company for personal gain.

People can keep referring to Sergio as "the savior" of all that Chrysler can be if they choose to do so, but I for one am done with his Traveling Salvation Show. Because the only salvation going on here is to Sergio’s considerable ego – which is growing exponentially more odorous by the day – and to his future bank statements.

Right now two of the three U.S.-based automobile companies are under control of out-and-out mercenaries. One, Dan Akerson, was handed the keys to an industrial icon simply for being in the right place at the right time when the blatantly incompetent GM Board went looking. No little annoyances like proper credentials on Akerson’s part got in the way of the decision, either.

The other, Sergio Marchionne, seized an opportunity that was handed to him by default, because the U.S. government simply had no other options. And Marchionne shrewdly kept his real plans close to his chest, after all there was no need to reveal his ultimate strategy to the government operatives at the time when he just wanted the keys to the candy store. That would come later, which he revealed last week in San Francisco.

Akerson, needless to say is a work in progress. When you’re learning the business on the fly that’s all it will ever be too. Marchionne is no doubt a smart automotive guy, but he wasn’t able to conceal his Machiavellian tendencies for long. And now that the curtains have been pulled back to reveal the real intent – and the underlying cynicism – of Brother Sergio’s Traveling Salvation Show, maybe the genuflectors in the media can all come to realize that Chrysler-Fiat or Fiat-Chrysler – whatever it may be called when it’s one company – will be just another car company chasing market share, instead of some sort of noble crusade for the hearts and minds of the Chrysler faithful that Brother Sergio has spun since Day One.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

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