Iacocca rips auto industry, warns: Don't sell Chrysler
The 82-year-old Iacocca -- who was urged to run for president in the 1980s after turning around Chrysler -- also says he's for higher federal fuel-economy standards, warns that Chrysler could become a "shattered remnant" if sold and offers suggestions for Detroit's automakers to turn their businesses around.
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"We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car," Iacocca and coauthor Catherine Whitney write in the first page of "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"
"I hardly recognize this country anymore," he wrote.
The book, Iacocca's first in more than a decade, combines a name-dropping memoir, business advice and harangues about politics and the state of the U.S. economy that sound more like filmmaker Michael Moore than the man who shot campaign ads for Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos last year.
Iacocca, who did not return a message seeking comment, eases up on the auto industry, critiquing its decisions but praising General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner and Chrysler Group President Tom LaSorda. He even calls GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who chafed when Iacocca passed him over for the top job at Chrysler, a "savvy veteran."
He saves his most blistering criticisms for former Chrysler Chairman Bob Eaton and Juergen Schrempp, the former head of Daimler-Benz who oversaw the DaimlerChrysler merger. Iacocca describes the morning in 1998 when he found out about the merger as "the lowest low. ... I gave 15 years of my life to saving that company, and now I wondered if it was worth it."
He admits to scaring Eaton by supporting billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's 1995 bid to take Chrysler private. Eaton and Chrysler's board fought off that bid, but Eaton was concerned that Chrysler needed a partner to survive and Daimler-Benz was the most willing alternative. Iacocca says Eaton was outmaneuvered by Schrempp and gave up Chrysler's heritage too easily, allowing Daimler to buy Chrysler rather than form a true merger of equals.
Those feelings eased a bit when Dieter Zetsche arrived as chief executive at Chrysler in 2000 and sought out Iacocca for advice. Iacocca praises Zetsche, but warns that the damage done to Chrysler may be irreversible.
"I'll always believe that if I hadn't chosen Bob Eaton to succeed me as chief executive at Chrysler, it would still be a strong, profitable, American car company," Iacocca writes. He warns that if Chrysler "is kicked to the curb, it will be a shattered remnant of the great American car company it once was."
Eaton could not be reached for comment.
As for the rest of the auto industry, Iacocca advises several strategies for turning business around, including building smaller cars and hiring smarter executives. He says higher fuel-economy standards and a gas tax would help reduce oil consumption, and that the Detroit automakers will not succeed in the long term without agreements from the government and the United Auto Workers on pensions and health care costs.
Since retiring from Chrysler in 1992, Iacocca has dabbled in several ventures, from electric bikes to olive oil, never shying from the spotlight or the occasional stunt. Before Chrysler resurrected his career as an auto pitchman in 2005 with ads starring him and rapper Snoop Dogg, Iacocca had freelanced, riding one of his electric bikes around TV talk-show host David Letterman's studio in New York.
Iacocca's political history has as much seesawing as his post-Chrysler career. He was a good friend of Ronald Reagan, but became an avowed Democrat after Republicans opposed the Chrysler bailout in 1980. He turned down Democratic offers to run for president and attacked Al Gore's environmental positions in 2000, but backed John Kerry in 2004 and praises Bill Clinton in his book.
Iacocca admits that he campaigned for Bush in 2000, because he was a friend of his father, and discussed becoming ambassador to Italy with the White House. But the first 20 pages of the book are devoted to a blistering critique of the president and his policies on Iraq and other issues.
"George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites," Iacocca writes after listing his "nine C's of leadership" and the ways in which the president fails on each. Bush "prides himself on being faith-based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will."
White House spokesman Alex Conant said the administration "does not do book reviews."
-- The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. T.R. April 10, 1899