Thursday, Dec. 04, 2008
Chrysler
•Privately owned
•Employees: 55,000
•The company used up $3 billion in cash in its last quarter
Robert Nardelli
Chrysler's boss requested an "urgently needed $7 billion in bridge funding" by Dec. 31, or else he faces an unhappy new year.
How It Got Here After: a disastrous merger with Daimler, the company was sold to private-equity firm Cerberus. Chrysler's
big-truck, big-power posture got hammered by Big Oil.
How to Fix It: Chrysler has contracted with Nissan and VW to make vehicles for them. Perhaps a bigger linkup is in order. It needs a partner to share costs.
Best Hope for Future: Chrysler's current new-car program is focused on a small car that will be built by Nissan and on ENVI, its in-house electric platform.