Nardelli’s chief strategist clashing with engineers already?
From the article: “One of Chrysler LLC’s top engineers left the company Tuesday because of a dispute with senior managers, a person with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday.
Mike Donoughe was leading the company’s effort to develop a new generation of global midsize cars. The person said Donoughe clashed with Peter Arnell, a marketing consultant hired by Chrysler Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Nardelli. The person asked not to be named because Chrysler wasn’t publicizing the reason for Donoughe’s departure. ”
Hmmm… That didn’t take long. What do you guys think? Was Arnell behind this departure or is it just a coincidence? WSJ refers to Donoughe as “Star Engineer”. Before his departure, Donoughe was working on Project D. The Project D initiative had been examining how Chrysler went wrong with the Sebring and Avenger and what the company could do to become more competitive. The ideas under consideration include joining with other auto makers and developing rear-wheel drive models.
Dispute cited in top Chrysler engineer’s departure - detnews.com
March 27th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Peter Arnell was a polarizing figure the last time he was involved with Chrysler.
Why do you bring a guy like this in to Chrysler when he almost caused a dealer riot the last time he worked with Chrysler.
The stupidity just never ends!
March 28th, 2008 at 5:57 am
This didn’t take long. Not sure all is well at the top. The marketing is terrible and there isn’t much going on to make one feel that this company gets it.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Too many cooks in the kitchen. C needs a straightforward org chart with no extraneous “seagull managers” floating around. There’s nothing to figure out anyway: customers want attractive, reliable, affordable vehicles. It’s a matter of execution. And the mid-level managers and frontline engineers can’t execute when they are getting direction from 37 different people.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Anyone who is the least bit surprised by this story, or even faintly believes that it wasn’t a clash with management, knows nothing about the way this company operates inside. He probably suggested some know-nothing EVP had no idea what he was talking about (which is pretty much a given there) and got shown the door. Like all the other capable people who have already left, he’s better off.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:15 am
I totally agree with Warhawk…M. Donoughe was a confident, outspoken kind of guy. His teams respected him and he got results. I know he was extremely frustrated with the place even before Cereberus and team showed up. Now, with King Nardelli spouting off his ridiculous left-over GE rhetoric, and beating everybody into submission, and hiring idiots like Arnell to assist with the whipping, guys like Mike (who do still have the b-lls to tell the Emporer that he’s wearing no clothes) unfortunately can’t fit in that place anymore. There are so, so many “seagull managers” walking around Auburn Hills that you need to spend about 80% of your time kissing butt, making sure everybody is “in the loop”, constantly explaining and re-explaining yourself to anybody who is at a higher level and decides that they “need to know”, and teach and re-teach every single “newbie” that walks in…and then you can focus on your real job/task at hand. Forget about having a weekend or two off…But God forbid you don’t show immediate and constant progress, no matter how often the “noise” and interruptions pull you away. No wonder the place is in a stagnant quadmire of mediocrity (at best).
March 31st, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Smells like Arnell wants to mess with the applecart.
Home Depot Expo does not translate to the car business.
From a dealer’s point of view Cereberus–Nardelli–Press have been great and have made many needed moves quickly.
Hiring Arnell seems like a mistake but only time will tell.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:10 pm
This is the way “team nardelli/arnell” works…they did the same at Home Depot, each walking away with millions (nardelli with about 115 more than Arnell), each scorching the earth they pass, each brow beating anybody who even “smells” like they know more than they. Team nardelli/arnell will bring down Chrysler like a Trojan horse, from the inside out, and will again walk away richer than all of us reading this “combined”…god help the folks at Chrysler and any other company that considers hiring these two, especially Arnell, who knows only what he reads, yet knows nothing about “how” because he never has!
April 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am
Isnt nardelli only going to get oaid if he bring s this company to profitability?
If he brings the company down he isnt going to get shit!