Why are you so sure? I bet there are rumblings within the Daimler-Benz bit to get rid of the Chrysler bit.
So far the merger/takeover does not appear to be a great success for Mercedes. It's true that car sales tripled overnight, but at what cost to the company? Both companies? (i.e. Daimler-Benz and Chrysler) From what I have picked up from this group, a number of good designers have left Chrysler, and I am not sure the gap can easily be plugged?
Again, from what I seem to pick up here, the Chrysler division can't decide to whom it is selling. To the 'masses' with relatively inexpensive cars, or to the slightly better off with 'premium' cars? Moves upmarket can work, Audi being a good example, but the stakes seem to be far greater with Chrysler, given the relatively large number of cars sold. By how much do you have to raise the price and profit margin per car to compensate for loss of, say, a relatively small 15% in volume?
And I gather there is a ferocious price war raging in the US, at least among the Big Three...
DAS
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