Chrysler to File for Bankruptcy

Why am I not surprised? Let me share my most recent experience with Chrysler. I believe it illustrates why the company is in such dire straits. Well, part of the reason, anyway.

Two years ago when I was car shopping, I had done my research. I chose my criteria and turned to my favorite source: Consumer Reports. My criteria were simple:

1. Must get positive reviews from Consumer Reports in most categories. (More on that in a moment.)

2. Must get "decent" gas mileage.

3. Must be "affordable". I was somewhat flexible on what that meant, but $30k was certainly above my upper limit.

4. Must seat four with some level of comfort. Bonus if I can bring a dog or two as well.

I then went through CR. Depending on the definition of #2, the available choices were exceedingly small. Why trust CR so much? Because there was no way I could ever review the cars with the level of professionalism they can. You have to use some criteria to make an intelligent decision, after all. CR gave me a way to weight what was important, with reliability being a big deal for me.

By the time I showed up at the Chrysler dealership to service Kat's van, I'd already decided I was probably going to get the Prius. However, I really thought it was only fair if I gave the American producers a chance. So I talked to a salesman and asked what he wanted to sell me. I made sure he knew I was looking at the Prius.

What did he show me? The Chrysler 300, a car with EPA rated milage of 15 MPG.

Folks, that's lower than my Cherokee. 25 MPG was my rock bottom milage I'd qualify as "halfway decent", and 35 was really the number I was thinking about. The Prius, in comparison, gets 50 MPG.

What kind of moron is told by a potential customer, "I'm thinking about a Prius," and then shows a car that gets 15 MPG?

Well, there are answers to that question. I have no idea if they're good answers. But the potential answers are:

1. The sales dweeb really is a moron.

2. The sales dweeb was secretly a Toyota salesman in disguise.

3. Or the real answer: Chrysler didn't make cars that got decent milage. They were too busy selling their crap cars right out of the 50s.

Maybe that worked out okay for Chrysler in the past. But that's short-sighted. The writing has been on the wall since the 70s, and yet the company wasn't remotely prepared for the trend.

And THAT is why they are now filing for bankruptcy protection. Don't blame the economy. Blame their own shortsightedness.