Chrysler's bumpy road

As a proud owner of 3 Chrysler vehicles in the last 15 years, I was disappointed to see it dead last in ratings (by carmaker) in the recent Consumer Reports annual auto issue (subscription needed to see detailed ratings on 262 vehicles it evaluated). The wheels really appear to have fallen off during the Daimler regime.

In the 90s at Gartner, I had cataloged some of Chrysler's supplier innovations. They were later written up in a HBS Case study "How Chrysler created an American Keiretsu"

Now I see CIO magazine talk about its IT outsourcing efforts. The success in the 90s was more about how it leveraged its Tier 1 and later suppliers. Much as us in technology think we are important, not sure IT outsourcing can help them much.

In private hands now, I hope they successfully turn it around. My kids in particular have very fond memories of its minivans.