New owners, same issues for Chrysler

TEXT OF STORY

Bob Moon: Mark this Friday, August 3, as the day Chrysler began a new chapter in its 82-year history.

It is once again an American-owned company, and now officially being operated by the private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Now that it’s sealed the deal, the new management has its work cut out.

David Zoia is Editorial Director for Ward’s Automotive Report. He says it’ll actually be the same set of executives running the show — and trying to deal with the same problems:

David Zoia: There’s a lot of opportunity here for Cerberus, but there are some challenges here in . . . for Chrysler. I think the first thing, which is really the case with each of the Big Three, would be to get through the labor negotiations. You know, what’s critical at this stage is to get a deal that closes that competitive gap with the foreign companies that are operating here.