Up next in 10
Creating the CTC! (Chrysler Tech Center)
Feb 4, 2025
The story how the Chrysler Tech Center (CTC) and headquarters in Auburn Hills was created, in around ten minutes! #mopar #chrysler #ctc #automotivedesign #auburnhills #highlandpark
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and I'm here to talk about something
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that I found just recently and this is a
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commemorative mug dedicated to Quality
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for the Chrysler Technology Center
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October 1991 Advantage Chrysler and that
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brings up the story of how the CTC was
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created so let's talk about that for a
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bit nobody expected Chrysler to be able
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to build this kind of an edifice this
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kind of a setup with Testing
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Laboratories and at a late time in its
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development uh sort of enforcement of
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the cross functional team approach that
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they were adopting then which they
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called platform teams because it was a
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bunch of people from different functions
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would get together to develop a new
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platform or in reality a new car on a
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new platform so they had one of these
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for the Vipers many say that that was
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the test of the idea and keep in mind
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that this was the same idea that AMC had
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used for many many years because they
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didn't have enough people to have
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specializations in you know to the point
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that Chrysler did they didn't have a big
1:00
enough product line they weren't doing
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enough product development they couldn't
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keep it going Honda though also did
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cross functional teams you could really
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argue that even before the first Skunk
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Works incidentally the original Chrysler
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team The Three
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Musketeers of zader BR and skeleton not
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in that order uh actually worked on a
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cross functional team basis and that
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they actually really did do what
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Chrysler would later call a platform
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team to create the first Chrysler so the
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Chrysler Technology Center was pitched
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by Executives engineers and Architects
1:33
and they all work together on it in what
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John Roberts who was with the project
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from start to finish actually called a
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platform team approach in its own three
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people were involved originally Jack
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Leon from facilities who uh he credited
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with being the father of the whole
1:49
project Gary derer I might be saying
1:51
that wrong from facilities and John
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Roberts himself so they started out in
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plant 4 of Highland Park in an abandoned
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bathroom before the project got its own
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real digs in 1983 the first formal
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engineering team was made up of Bob zenf
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Felder and John Roberts and reported to
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the head of engineering Bob Sinclair who
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incidentally Bob Sinclair had run the
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the valant team which was the first
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modernday platform team or cross
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functional team approach within Chrysler
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the Valiant was a major runaway success
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across the entire world the Valiant was
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successful but after that Bobs and cl
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refused to ever go back and use it again
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until the CTC itself irland Park was
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Chrysler's World
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Headquarters from before it was founded
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in 1925 it was where the first Chrysler
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was developed so what they did was they
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set up their guidelines and what they
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called Black Books not the British TV
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show but books of guidelines and the
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first one was done in 1985 22 different
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approaches had been uh examined now for
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the center's development they then
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looked at four approaches Roaches for
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further uh refinement so they originally
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planned to spend about $500 million on
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this move move the engineering over but
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leave the dino cells where they tested
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engines and leave the headquarters
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behind especially and I can imagine that
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this would have been a very freeing
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experience for the engineers involved on
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the project but Bob Sinclair at
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engineering and some others within
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engineering they really really wanted
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all of engineering to move over
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including state-of-the-art Test
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Facilities and they also deserve credit
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for that because that's exactly what
3:32
happened there and without those
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state-of-the-art Test Facilities
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probably Chrysler's Resurgence in the
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1990s would not have happened or it
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would have looked very different and not
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as good that that included pretty much
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everything that was there that plan as
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of 1985 other than a fullscale acoustic
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wind tunnel and that was a great thing
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to have this was one way that they could
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catch up and surpass competitors so the
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team working on the CTC grew to several
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hundred people including engineering
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manufacturing purchasing and finance as
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you'd expect hundreds of people had to
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be a standalone team to work cross
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functionally and get it done and without
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that setup it probably never would have
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happened or at least it would not have
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looked as good as it did in mid 1988 the
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board approved a $1.6 billion new budget
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for the program because it had expanded
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quite a bit as you can
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see uh and at that point the development
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team moved to Auburn Hills now keep in
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mind that in 1987 chryler bought
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American Motors and so they were already
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planning this headquarters when they
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bought AMC but uh it really came in very
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handy after they had AMC because that's
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when all the stuff about cross
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functional teams actually developing
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cars came to pass and that's when
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franois cin came over and took over as
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head of engineering and he was very very
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much into Innovation he did not stand
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still and let the grass grow under his
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feet we will all Miss franois castang
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and his influence on uh what was then
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Chrysler what is now FCA us or stantis
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depending on how Global you want your
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view to be Now Lea aoka retired in 1992
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and by then the cross functional teams
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were already at work and they were doing
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their thing in the new CTC and then they
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they uh commissioned more things they
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had the full scale Aero acoustic wind
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tunnel uh completed in 1999 and this is
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after Daimler took over but it was
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planned in the late 80s and early 90s so
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it's pretty impressive really that the
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building was still being put
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together now uh John Roberts wanted to
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give credit to uh the people that I've
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mentioned as well as Chris Theodore who
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optimized the use of the facilities as
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they went up so Chris Theodor was one of
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the people on the team who emphasized
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that cars had to be built in a uh cross
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functional approach where you had people
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from different parts of of engineering
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and people from manufacturing and people
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from electronics and all that you have
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to have everybody working together so
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that you get an integrated system
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because a car is not a bunch of parts
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it's a system of parts and the better
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they work together the better the car
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and it's kind of funny but you know it's
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like the airflow uh was one of the first
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cars where the front and rear suspension
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was designed to work in
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harmony that hadn't really been thought
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of before and then you end up in the 60s
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you still have front suspension and rear
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suspension designed by different people
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and that is what the CTC helped to do uh
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they probably would have had a much
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harder time switching to the cross
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functional team approach platform team
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approach if they had had to stay in the
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Highland Park engineering offices where
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you might have to go to a different
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building or at least a different floor
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if you were say uh a a mechanical
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engineer and you needed an electronic
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engineer or an electrical engineer if
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you are working on uh the suspension and
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you wanted to talk to the guy who's
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designing the front
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suspension and if you read the stories
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about the Valiant development you find
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that there were a lot of areas where
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just being in the same room solved
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problems and the same was true you can
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find in my Viper
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book stories about well I was working on
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this and the guy next to me heard me
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saying this and he said well you know I
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have a solution for you so there's a lot
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of problems that get solved if people
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are in the same room or at least in in
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the same general area and Chris Theodore
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said and I wish I had still had the
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audio for this that the only bad part of
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the facility was that the executives in
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Highland Park who were at the old
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headquarters they got very lonely down
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there and they got envious and so Bob
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Eden then the CEO and the other leaders
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decided they had to move to the Chrysler
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Technology Center and that required
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building on the headquarters Tower uh
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which is the one with the great big
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pentar belt in that supposedly diimler
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tried to have removed oror also
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mentioned he thought that leuka was was
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kind of nuts to be wasting money like
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that at the time when the company was in
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uh rough times but it turned out quote
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to be one of the greatest enablers to
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creating the team's cultural change uh
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this mug which I've had set aside for
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the life me I can't recall who gave it
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to me I wish I could um it was Christ
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glor's Advantage it helped them to
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become a state-ofthe-art company it
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helped them and you know I realized that
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for some of you especially the younger
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viewers you you think of
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Chrysler it's very different now in 2024
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than it was in the early and mid 90s and
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in the late '90s Chrysler was at one
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point making what critics called the
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best cars in their class uh they were
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doing it well they were creating new
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spaces they were getting new ideas out
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um they
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revitalized the large car the large
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sedan segment which was just about dead
9:02
when they came out with the Intrepid the
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New Yorker the Concord the Eagle Vision
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uh that group of cars Revitalize the
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segment you would not have believed the
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difference between something like the
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Plymouth Sundance which they lost
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thousands of dollars on every one that
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they sold three or $4,000 on each one
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maybe in even $5,000 and this was a car
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that uh that you could buy for
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$8,000 and then they replaced that the
9:29
neon which was the best in its class in
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performance by
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far and cost a little bit more but they
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made a profit of thousands of dollars
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even with the warranty problems that
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they had with that car due to uh Bob
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Eden reportedly allegedly cheaping out
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on the design even with those warranty
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costs taken into account the Neon made
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money as a small car that was
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revolutionary for an American maker at
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the time so Chrysler used to be a
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serious autom maker that people really
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respected and took seriously not that
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long ago and yes that did all end when
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they merged with Daimler um part of it
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was damage to the reputation from all
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the journalists saying oh that's good
10:12
we'll mix up Chrysler's styling which
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wasn't their main point although they
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were good at it uh with daimler's
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engineering and quality and at the time
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Chrysler was trouncing diimler in
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long-term durability and quality study
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so it's a sad story what happened to
10:30
Chrysler but parts of Chrysler's history
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are really what's the word inspiring and
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it can tell you what to do and in this
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case you had this company that looked
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like it was dying in the late
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80s and they put their money and their
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time and their effort into this new
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facility and it did give them a new
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lease on life along with the new
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processes that it helped along and it
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and chry was reborn until
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1998 so I'm Dave from motels I hope that
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you'll come back for more
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