Tom LaSorda must step up to the plate

Automotive News / AUBURN HILLS MI - - It would be easy to blame Joe Eberhardt for all of the Chrysler group's problems. Certainly the former global sales, marketing and service chief played a big role in creating the ineffective incentive programs that failed to reduce swollen inventories and the heavy-handed tactics that alienated dealers.

But making Eberhardt the scapegoat won't solve anything.

Now is the time for Chrysler group CEO Tom LaSorda to step up and be the leader, not just a stand-in waiting until Wolfgang Bernhard or some other relief pitcher arrives in Auburn Hills.

LaSorda can do it.

First and foremost, LaSorda and Chrysler must reduce the automaker's huge inventories without doing further damage to its brands. Next, they need to fix the sick allocation system that was a large part of the problem. Dealers tend to have a better idea about which vehicles their customers want, and the automaker shouldn't force them to take dogs. The company must rebuild the partnership with its dealers and customers immediately.

LaSorda also needs a little help from Stuttgart. DaimlerChrysler must be clear about whether the Chrysler group might be for sale. Keeping Chrysler in limbo will only undermine what LaSorda and his team must do, just as the prosperous Chrysler turned into a loser after Juergen Schrempp bought it and then did nothing with it.

This is no time for a crisis of confidence inside or outside the company. LaSorda needs to act quickly and decisively to restore the confidence of all the stakeholders so that the Chrysler group doesn't get sucked into the same morass as Ford Motor Co.