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The Detroit News | Sunday, January 8, 2012 | 21A
OPINIONS
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The members of The Detroit News editorial board are Jonathan Wolman, Nolan Finley, Jeffrey Hadden, Manny Lopez, Henry Payne, Ingrid Jacques and GaryHeinlein. The Detroit News editorial pages operate independently of the paper’s news coverage, offering our opinion and additional commentary on issuesof public interest. Nolan Finley can be reached at [email protected].
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JONATHAN WOLMAN, Editor and Publisher
Donald W. Nauss, Managing EditorGARY MILES, Deputy Managing EditorMICHAEL BROWN, Asst. Managing EditorFELECIA D. HENDERSON, Asst. Managing EditorWALTER T. MIDDLEBROOK, Asst. Managing EditorPAM SHERMEYER, Online EditorMARK HINOJOSA, Director of Interactive Media
Nolan Finley, Editorial Page Editor
Media days for the 2012NorthAmerican Internation-al Auto Show start Monday butcoverage has already begun atThe Detroit News. Get all thephotos, stories and analysis onthe show and the industry atdetnews.com/autosinsider.
Check out columns andcommentary atTheMichigan-View.com on colleges beggingObama formoremoney, theIowa caucus results and NewHampshire predictions, right-to-work legislation and other com-pelling topics.
Syndicated columns:Tho-mas Sowell says America needsaman of action in theWhiteHouse, not an ideologue;FromaHarropwrites that tiny RhodeIsland is amodel of civility forthe nation; andClarence Pagesays Obama’s actions on im-migration are hurting him.
Detroit News photog-raphers have been chroniclinghistory for decades. See picturesof today’s stars and historicalnews events at detnews.com/photogalleries.
WeekendDrive:DetroitNews auto critic Scott Burgesstells readers about the 10 thingshe thinks he learned fromDe-cember and year-end auto sales.Read his reviews and othercolumns at detnews.com/bur-gess. Get photos, specs and re-views of the cars and trucks atdetnews.com/drive.
The Detroit News opinionpage is on Twitter attwitter.com/detnewsopinionand onFacebook; search De-troit News Opinion.
TheDetroit RedWingsare in Toronto to take on theMaple Leafs today in a 7 p.m.game. Check back at det-news.com/redwings to get high-lights, photos and game specs.
Critics’ Choice: See ourentertainment experts’ picks.
WeekendHomestyle:Find advice fromGlennHaegeon home repair, makeovers anddesign.
SUNDAY ON THE WEB
You will find more stories, photos and opinion today at detnews.com,the website of The Detroit News.
Workers put the finishing toucheson displays for the auto show.
T here’s no better way to open the North American International AutoShow at Cobo Center than with the news fromChrysler that it isstarting a third shift at the JeffersonNorth Assembly plant, and
adding 1,100 workers. It comes at the same time that Italian automakerFiat meets its last goal for taking over Chrysler— the production of a 40-mile-per-gallon vehicle.
Fiat, which was handed Chrysler by theObama administration as a condition of theDetroit automaker’s government bailout, hasbeen a better fit for Chrysler than could havebeen hoped.
Chrysler sales increased26 percent last year, and thecompany is at last postingreal profits.
And while theWhiteHouse had hoped Fiat’s arrayof small vehicles would saveChrysler, the rebound isriding on the automaker’straditional strengths —Jeeps, SUVs, trucks andminivans.
In fact, the Italian automaker, whichcountsMaserati and Ferrari in its family, willuse a Jeep platform to build an SUV forMaser-ati.
SergioMarchionne, who is CEO of bothFiat and Chrysler, has been smart to let Chrys-ler be Chrysler.
Chrysler’s last attempt to adopt a foreignparent — the disastrous Daimler merger —followed a different course, with the Germanstrying to reshape Chrysler into a Europeanautomaker.
Daimler managementmodels, productdesigns andmanufacturing strategies were
forced on Chrysler, and the failure was nearlyfatal.
Fiat has brought efficiency to Chrysleroperations, but without a wholesale change ofthe automaker from top to bottom, and with-out booting those with an understanding ofthe North Americanmarket.
The payoff is stronger revenue and expand-ed product lines for Fiat, andmore jobs forAmerican auto workers.
Chrysler has been to the edge of the abyssmore often than any other automaker.
It had no business surviving the industrycollapse of 2008-09.
That it did is a tribute to themanagementskills of Marchionne and to the resilience ofthe Chrysler team.
Fiat is an Italian company and it now owns58.5 percent of the AuburnHills automaker,butMarchionne respects that Chrysler is anAmerican icon, and recognizes the importantrole the company plays in Detroit.
He has become part of this community,agreeing to chair the next UnitedWay fun-draising drive.
Chrysler, the automaker nearly everyonethought was terminal, has risen from itsdeathbed and is creating jobs in Detroit.
And it has an Italian CEO to thank.Viva la Italia!
Now majority-owned by Italian automaker Fiat,the company’s American products drive profits
OUR EDITORIAL
Chrysler makesanother comeback
Marchionne
Please see Page 8A in Monday’sDetroit News for answer grid.
W alking frommy officeto Cobo Center Thurs-day— the first of a
couple of dozen back and forthsto the Detroit auto show I’llmake over the next two weeks— I felt the familiar antici-
pation build-ing, theeagerness topushthrough thedoors andjoin theexcitement.
I’ve cov-eredmaybe30 of these
auto shows duringmy timehere. It never gets old. It neverfails to revmy engine.
Maybe it’s the Detroit inme,but I love automobiles. I canspend a full hour at the showexploring a single car or truck,circling the exterior, running ahand across the curve of afender, sinking into plushleather, staring at an enginecompartment crammedwithparts I can no longer identify.
That doesn’t change even inthe bad years. And there havebeen some very bad years forthe North American Interna-tional Auto Show, years wheneven the brightest spotlightscouldn’t chase the gloom.
Years like 2009. The Amer-
sitting on the Cobo Centerfloor.
These are some of themostexciting andmarketable vehi-cles I’ve ever seen from the BigThree. All three automakershave winningmodels in nearlyevery category, from tiny cartsto behemoth trucks.
I’ll admit to being a homer,but it makesme proud to seethree companies that had beenso recently written off stickingit to the global competition.
I’m particularly eager tospend time with the newDartfrom Chrysler. The Plymouthversion of the Dart wasmy firstnew car nearly 40 years ago.
It’ll be good to reflect onwhat’s happened to this indus-try during the four decadesbetween those two vehicles.
And it will be reassuringthat through all the turmoil,the near-death experiences, therestructurings and retreating,Detroit and it’s automakers arestill here, and look like they willbe for another 40 years. If youdon’t believe that, come to theshow and spend some timewith the cars.
They’ve never been better.
[email protected](313) 222-2064
Nolan Finley is editorial page editorof TheNews. Readmore at
detnews.com/finley.
ican automobile industry wassuch a pariah then that nobodyfrom outside of Detroit wantedto attend, and the press corpsspent far more time speculat-ing on the Big Three’s demisethan it did reviewing the prod-ucts on display.
That was the year theycouldn’t give away CharityPreview tickets because no oneclose to the industry dared tobe photographed laughing ordrinking champagne.
Three years later, the autoindustry is roaring again.Washington types will beknocking each other over try-ing to get through the showdoorsMonday. Charity Previewticket sales are up 20 percent ormore.
Ford, Chrysler and GeneralMotors just posted stunningsales gains, and are edgingcloser to recapturing half of theNorth Americanmarket. An-other year like this, andmaybewe can lay to rest that gratingDetroit Three label and callthem the Big Three again.
A lot of folks, particularly inWashington, want to take cred-it for Detroit’s relatively quickcomeback. And some of themdid help.
But the reason we’re smilingand raising our champagneglasses again here is what’s
NOLANFINLEY
Product drives Detroit revival
Pistons of the pastI wish Bill Laimbeer, Isiah
Thomas and RickMahornwere themanagers of thePistons (“Year of rebuildingfor lowly Pistons,” Dec. 31).They would slap some ofthese big egos out the door.
TomMiller,Davison
Stronger unions neededI find it interesting that
some people say the only wayto save Detroit andMichiganis to go after union benefits(“Concessions alone won’t fixcity,” Jan. 1). I was raised inthe 1950s when unions werestrong and aman could raisea family on one paycheckwhile mom stayed home andtaught the kids family values.I don’t see what’s changed.Maybe the unions need to bestronger.
TomTheeke, Plymouth
End oil subsidiesCongress did not go far
enough in ending just theethanol subsidy (“Gas pricesup statewide,” Jan. 4). Thecombined profits of Exxon-Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Shelland BPwere in the billions,yet these companies are stillreceiving subsidies and taxbreaks. If it is right and prop-er to kill the ethanol subsidy,I see no reason to retain themfor Big Oil.
Patrick Flannery,Detroit
LETTERS
