Zetsche: Future Of Chrysler- Will Outdo Japan

James R. Crate writing for Automotive News reflected on a vision of the Chrysler group in 2010.

"It won't consider itself part of the Big 3. In fact, it'll be more Japanese than American in thinking and practices.

It will sell 1 million more cars and trucks a year than it does today. Cars will make up a bigger share of total sales.

And it won't be the industry's laggard in manufacturing efficiency or quality anymore; it will be a leader.

Dieter Zetsche has dribbled out many fragments of this vision since taking over as Chrysler group CEO in November 2000.

But in a briefing for media at Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., last week, he strung the pieces together for

the first time into a unified picture of where he intends to take the automaker. "The survival of the company is no longer

at stake, I am happy to say," he told reporters. "This management is fully committed to lifting this company from the struggle

for survival to setting a new standard of excellence." Central to Chrysler's transformation, Zetsche says, will be a breakaway

from what he calls the Big 3 business model - pushing demand through the use of incentives - in favor of the Japanese model of

pulling demand with desirable, safe-to-own product. The breakaway, he says, will be achieved by producing high-quality, high-impact

"segment-changing" cars and trucks at a cost that will be among the industry's lowest. He said Chrysler will spend $30 billion on

product development from 2002 through 2006.