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Daimler-Chrysler - Getting there

One of the reasons the company failed so badly was that it could not offer enough products to serve and increasingly fragmented market.

Other issues included quality control, too much investment and a slow production line (40 hours to build each car, compared to 20 hours of other car makers, such as Honda and Toyota).

Now Chrysler is benefiting from Mercedes’ new technology, making cars bigger and more powerful and pushing the brand upmarket.

The company is also in a better position with United Auto Workers union, especially as the union has been worried about the big three car makers which are losing more staff.

Mercedes uses thousands of robots which cuts labour costs tremendously, which have now been transferred to Chrysler.

However, BMW is expanding and VW’s trendy Audi cars are seen as threatening Daimler Chrysler. The company also has to do something about the Smart brand which, since its creation with the inventor of Swatch watches, has failed dramatically. They have tried to sell it, but there are no takers so far.

(For general car industry update, see Car Industry in general)