The charismatic Wolfgang Bernhard may be set to become the new Chrsyler chairman after Cerberus closes the deal to purchase the company from Daimler-Benz.
After an acrobatic lay-off from Volkswagen, for which the German carmaker is well known, he joined Cerberus as an adviser on the Chrysler deal. Insiders report that he is currently reviewing the planning of future products.
Is Wolfgang Bernhard the right candidate to turn around Chrysler? The former Volkswagen’s CEO is charming but his past experiences cast doubt over his abilities. At Chrysler, he was given credit for the turnaround that happened a few years ago but Chrysler’s recent situation seems to prove his achievement is far from successful.
At Volkswagen, he attempted to restructure the company but met with strong resistance not only from unions but also from Ferdinand Piech, chairman of VW. We will not see the results before next year, when Volkswagen will launch the Golf VI. Wolfgang Bernhard revamped the production system in order to cut costs by £1,300 per Golf VI.
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