This ad doesn’t reveal how tough and competent Detroit is. It shows how the federal government picks winners and losers. Guess which part the taxpayers play?
J. P. Freire
Washington Examiner
2/7/2011
You may have noticed that Chrysler released the longest ad in Super Bowl history on Sunday night, featuring the new Chrysler 200 driven by Detroit native rap star Eminem, an ad that CEO Sergio Marchionne says cost less than $9 million. But given that the company’s CEO also announced this past week that is seeking a “better deal” on government loans, it is likely that this ad had more to do with getting political support than selling cars. Besides, is spending millions on a Super Bowl ad appropriate for a company that received a taxpayer bailout to recover from a bankruptcy?
Maybe the ad wasn’t an appeal to car buyers, but rather politicians. According to the Detroit News, Chrysler is seeking a better deal on its bailout:
“I am paying shyster rates,” Marchionne said, noting that Chrysler had no choice in 2009 but to pay the high interest rates the government set as part of its $15 billion Chrysler bailout. “We had no choice… I am going to pay the shyster loans.”
He called the loans “a thorn in my side.”
Chrysler’s also in talks with banks to refinance its debt and plans to have an “agreement in principle” by end of March, he said.
Marchionne spoke at an auto industry conference sponsored by JD Power at a hotel here ahead of the National Automobile Dealers Association three-day convention. He said he is hopeful that the company can win an agreement in principle for $3 billion in low-cost Energy Department retooling loan — a move that is necessary for Chrysler to win private financing, Marchionne said.
That’s right: Chrysler took $15 billion from taxpayers, to which it wasn’t entitled, and at an industry convention its CEO calls taxpayers a word that is defined as “someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law, politics and used car sales.” Message received: “Taxpayers’ money saved a car company from bankruptcy and all they got was this lousy Super Bowl commercial.”
And what a commercial…
The article, with video of the commercial, continues at the Washington Examiner.
Update: Super Bowl ad touts dead city, bailed out car company, at American Thinker.
