The Top 5 Best Things That Came Out of the Chrysler - Mercedes Merger

[Music] hey guys so i'm excited to bring you today's video focusing on the daimler chrysler merger this is another mini series idea i had looking at some of the best things to come from the merger and then in the future we'll check out some of the best examples of how mercedes screwed chrysler over and it will culminate with a history and analysis video of the entire merger so for today we're looking at some of the best products that came from chrysler and mercedes typically using their synergy and combining resources to make the products so let's dive right in we'll start with a brief overview of the merger to give some context the long version of this will have its own video later in the mid-1990s chrysler was close to bankruptcy and had surveilled a failed hostile buyout attempt by investor kirk krikorian chrysler's advisor saw a need for the company to merge with another automobile maker in order to survive in the competitive car industry according to analysts sales of at least 4 million cars would be necessary to become one of the top future players in the automobile industry chrysler brought some benefits to the table they had high profitability that was achieved by low research and development expenses and a well-aged product portfolio with many popular and well-established models daimler benz had the cash to keep pricer alive and they liked the prospective synergies and market capitalization they had some of the highest production costs in the industry and they saw this as an opportunity to share the cost of the new technologies reducing their r d costs jointly develop mid-sized cars with chrysler and overall improve their competitive position in the market with the merger projected sales were 4 million cars in 1999 with expected cost savings of 1.4 billion immediately in the first year and 3.5 billion per year within two to three years the shares exchange were valued at 38 billion dollars u.s the world's largest cross-border deal at the time the merger was famously dubbed a marriage made in heaven and a merger of equals creating a company with more than 440 000 employees a market capitalization of 92 billion and annual revenues of about 130 billion there were issues of contention like whether the merger actually delivered synergies and successfully integrated the two businesses and whether this was actually a merger of equals and not just a takeover for daimler bans to take advantage of chrysler in the end things just didn't work out the german and american corporate styles and attitudes were constantly clashing and in the end daimler was more controlling with chrysler forced to do as they were told things went belly up in 2007 with daimler selling 80.1 percent of chrysler group to the american private equity firm cerberus capital management on may 14 2007 however despite the failure in the end daimler chrysler is a gift that keeps on giving to this day i read a great quote that said quote daimler chrysler bit into an apple spit out the seeds and the tree is still bearing fruit end quote and another one that said quote this means one other thing even failed marriages can produce beautiful offspring end quote so let's look at some of the combined efforts of the two companies we'll begin out in left field with the chrysler crossfire one of the first joint products from the two companies this was a quirky rear-wheel drive two-seater in both convertible and coupe fashion that was intended to be a car that built up the image of the chrysler brand at the time it was only around from the 2004 to 2008 model years with the price tag starting around 29 000 for a base coupe and rising to 45 000 us for the srt6 and you can add about 5000 to that if you wanted the convertible daimler chrysler wanted the car to have a lasting impression on customers due to its looks and to make an impression with looks that were unique almost sculptural the car shares much of its dna with mercedes specifically sharing 39 identical parts with the mercedes-benz slk which had models from 1996 to 2004. that mercedes was built on the r170 platform while the second gen starting in 2005 was upgraded to the r171 platform so essentially daimler gave chrysler their old r170 platform as a hand-me-down for the crossfire chrysler dealers were also required to invest in specific equipment tools and parts to be able to sell this new model chrysler was responsible for the interior and exterior styling but almost all the components such as the wheelbase track engine and engine bay transmission chassis and suspension ended up being shared with the r170 platform some of the parts on the crossfire that were identical to the mercedes-benz slk-320 included the engine bay seats dashboard and interior controls which could basically be swapped between the two cars unlike most of the cars of its time the crossfire does not use a rack and pinion steering system instead it uses a recirculating ball system that was employed on the donor r170 platform even the name crossfire refers to the fact that this was kind of a mashup between chrysler and daimler benz and that it shares parts with both companies more shared parts the base unlimited models came with a mercedes-benz m112 e32 3.2 liter v6 engine that made 215 horsepower and 229 pound-feet of torque a six-speed chrysler nsg 370 manual was standard that was sourced from mercedes while the 5-speed was a 5g tronic transmission also from mercedes specifically the wsa 330. the 3.2 liter engine was manufactured at daimler chrysler's v engine plant in germany but chrysler added their own air take and exhaust systems the srt6 models came with a supercharged version of that m112 3.2 liter v6 called the e32 ml built by amg so this was literally an amg engine that was also used for the c32 amg the slk 32 amg and the a32k amg but now it was under the hood of a chrysler this engine packed a lot more power than the base model with 330 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque srt6 models could only be had with the 5-speed auto this time the w58580 from mercedes i've always found the crossfire to be a really unique vehicle with a nice design and some decent performance as the base engine is capable of 0-60 in 6.3 seconds while the srt6 could do it in about 5 seconds with a 13.3 second quarter mile and as we saw the car gets even more interesting once you see how much of a mashup it is between the two brands moving along we all know about the dodge charger challenger and chrysler 300. they rode on chrysler's lx platform which was their full-size rear wheel drive platform introduced in 2004 for the 2005 model 300 and magnum the lx was developed in america to supersede the previous chrysler lh platform which had underpinned the cab forward vehicles such as the chrysler concord and dodge intrepid the magnum charger and 300 were on the lx platform while the challenger got a shortened version called the lc as expected these platforms were redesigned and modified over time for example in 2011 the charger and 300 used the ld platform while the challenger used the la beginning in 2015 so that it could support an 8-speed automatic however they were still closely related to the original lx now the mercedes connection it's flat out wrong to say that these muscle cars are simply a carryover from a mercedes e-class like some might say or believe but there was indeed lots of german influence in parts used here dodge had sent a team of engineers to germany to study the upcoming mercedes w211e class which had models from 2003 through 2009. the e-class rear-wheel drive layout made it easier to incorporate the all-wheel drive option which all four lx vehicles got at some point so the lx platform was derived from the w211 the open differentials used from 2005 to 2014 were also mercedes designs that were built under licensed by chrysler the suspension setup can trace its routes back to mercedes with dodge using the front control arm design from the w220s class that was around from 1999 to 2005 and the 5 link rear suspension from the w211e class dodge also used the nag 1 also called w5a580 the 5-speed automatic transmission and transfer case which was a mercedes design that was also built under license at chrysler's plants daimler chrysler knew this transmission was adaptable for the all-wheel drive models again that would come later on the lx cars many other parts of this platform like steering columns drive shafts seat frames and electrical components like the esp controller and the engine modules also came straight from the mercedes parts bin the hvac system also came from bear one of mercedes suppliers most of these would even have daimler part numbers and tristar logos on them on the earlier 2005-2010 vehicles the updated platforms such as the ld weren't exactly all new but they did change the geometry of the suspension and would later ditch the five-speed nag one for the zf 8-speed auto the platform has continued to evolve slowly phasing out the mercedes parts so in the end the lx was engineered by chrysler and built at their plants in north america but the mercedes connection was always deeply rooted in the platform as dodge based the lx off the w211e class and took the front and rear suspension transmission and transfer case electrical components and other parts that we discussed straight from the company that chrysler had merged with certain parts like lower control arms on the challengers are still interchangeable to this day with that w211 e55 amg this next one isn't typically brought up when discussing the ghosts of the daimler chrysler era but it would be the pentastar v6 engine named after chrysler's old logo if you know anything about chrysler you'll have heard about this engine it's everywhere under the hood of almost every vehicle the chrysler has built and it's chrysler's best selling engine in both the us and canada it's found in 3 liter 3.2 liter and most commonly 3.6 liter displacement while it debuted at the 2009 new york auto show and released in the 2011 jeep grand cherokee models development on it actually began back in 2004 kind of in the middle of the daimler chrysler era and the development continued through the divorce of the two companies and through the dark days under interim owner cerberus capital management so while there certainly isn't as much relation between the brands as there was the lx platform it is impossible to say how much influence or involvement daimler had in the rnd and design of the engine there is some connection however between the chrysler pentastar and the mercedes m276 engine no parts are shared but mercedes took the basic engine design and architecture and the 60 degree v design for that m276 which was different than their 90 degree v design from the m272 predecessor the 60 degree v-angle eliminates the need for a balance shaft improving refinement while reducing mechanical complexity mercedes used a 3.5 liter version of this v6 for many vehicles like the w-204 c-class and the w-211 e-class to name just a few another massive product to come out of the dcx merger would be the third generation jeep wrangler jk in the early 2000s daimler chrysler began development of what they wanted to be a successor to the popular tj the program code for this third gen was of course jk the design work began in 2001 with an internal design competition held within the company that was finished halfway through 2003 with designer mark michigan's design ultimately being chosen in january 2004 work began on creating a conceptual preview 31 months ahead of the scheduled production jeep release renderings in 2004 and also the 2005 jeep gladiator concept built to preview design elements on that upcoming jk the wrangler jk ended up being introduced at the 2006 north american international auto show in detroit production began in 2006 and the last wrangler jk rolled off the assembly line not too long ago on april 27th of 2018. daimler chrysler also went an extra step and introduced a factory standard 4-door model for the first time on a wrangler stretching the wheelbase by 20 inches and calling it the wrangler unlimited that was probably the single best product decision made during the entire daimler chrysler era it was hard to imagine at the time but 75 of all new wranglers were the four-door models by 2017. the jk turned into a massive success and this is a prime example where the daimler chrysler merger tree was still bearing fruit all the way until 2018. sales started at 119 243 for the first year then dipped a bit under 90 000 before jumping back up and even surpassing 200 000 in 2015. for a bit more on the jk daimler chrysler totally redesigned the wrangler with a new suspension body and chassis it continued to have a separate body and frame with rigid live axles in the front and rear a full flat windshield and the ability to drive it without doors the wrangler jk also had part-time four-wheel drive systems with high and low gearing on most models after over 1.8 million sales and several updates just in the us alone the wrangler jk was finally replaced by the jl in 2018. we'll finish last today with the first the chrysler pacifica mid-size crossover this was the first product that was jointly created by the merch company developed by chrysler in 30 months with a cost under one billion dollars daimler's other luxury suv offering was the w163m class around from 1998 to 2005 for the first gen and that had been successful so they wanted to offer something similar with a chrysler product they heavily touted the pacifica as the next big thing forecasting sales of a hundred thousand per year but that was wildly optimistic as the sales never came close to that the pacifica ended up only being around for the 2004 to 2008 model years selling 393 471 times globally that's not all the fault of the vehicle though as it was a decent enough car for its time some factors included chrysler trying to target too large of a market that already had stiff competition and didn't consider chrysler to be a luxury brand poor marketing they already offered a similar vehicle with the town and country and also for whatever reason daimler chrysler didn't take advantage of potential economies of scale and use many shared parts with other chrysler dodge or jeep vehicles like they typically did and in the end they lost money on every pacifica sold as again that original investment cost 1 billion dollars to talk more about the specs if you're interested the pacifica was offered in front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive between 28 000 to 37 thousand dollars u.s depending on the model it did receive some mercedes-derived technologies and interior the e-class suspension and the design borrows heavily from the mercedes-benz gst or grand sport tour concept the vice president on the gst concept worked on it for three years in stuttgart and berlin and then got reassigned to the pacifica in the us so a lot of technology and parts made their way overseas the last couple years 2007 and 2008 got a restyled interior and exterior so if you're still watching you've made it to the end of the video this is just the tip of the iceberg of the daimler chrysler content but what did you guys think of the merger and do you agree with what we've covered today being some of the best stuff to come from it let me know down in the comment section below as always thanks for watching make sure to like subscribe for a lot more mopar content and i'll see you guys in the next video you

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Views: 21,378

Keywords: chrysler, daimlerchrysler, daimlerchrysler ag, daimler chrysler, daimler chrysler car, daimler chrysler merger, daimler, chrysler corporation, daimler benz ag, chrysler (organization), daimler ag (business operation), chrysler group llc (organization), mercedes chrysler merger, chrysler mercedes merger, daimlerchrysler failure, daimlerchrysler history, chrysler mercedes merger top moments, lx platform, chrysler crossfire, chrysler pacifica, jeep wrangler jk, pentastar engine

Id: CZwOOcN1T1A

Length: 14min 46sec (886 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 24 2022