A Bernhard encore back in Motown?

Bernhard: Ridnig to the rescue at Chrysler?

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Automotive News / November 13, 2006 - 1:00 am With Bernd Pischetsrieder making his surprise exit from the top job at Volkswagen, can VW brand chief Wolfgang Bernhard be far behind? And would the dashing Bernhard return like a white knight to solve all the woes at the Chrysler group?

Bernhard returning to senior DaimlerChrysler management is unlikely for now, in Germany at least, according to a German DaimlerChrysler source.

"There are tensions between the trade unions and the works council that Dieter Zetsche has managed to get to the place where they are just manageable," said the source. Bringing back Wolfgang Bernhard - the former Chrysler group No. 2 exec who riled German trade unions and Mercedes insiders - might provoke a hostile reaction from those powerful groups, the source said. And there's no indication that Zetsche wants to give up running the Mercedes Car Group anytime soon.

But some within DaimlerChrysler would welcome back the hard-charging Bernhard in North America, where he was instrumental in guiding Chrysler's product resurgence. Said a source who knew him well: "He broke a lot of eggs. But he had to."