Lee Iacocca Steps Down

Lee Iacocca steps down and Bob Eaton is appointed as Chrysler Chairman. Bob Lutz is there to show his support. Eaton was lured away from General Motors where he was on the fast track to the Presidency. His appointment at Chrysler derailed the rise of Bob Lutz who would eventually go to work for General Motors and help that company revitalize its product line up. Eaton's tenure at Chrysler was short but very profitable for him. He engineered a 'merger of equals" with Daimler that resulted in an enormous boost in value of his Chrysler stock.
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[@MaliciousSRT]

There is no telling where Chrysler would be today had Bob Lutz been chosen.

[@davidhine2228]

Bob lutz got screwed he was the right man for the job not Eaton.. All Eaton did was sell the company to Benz. Lutz would have do a better job

[@forgottengraves]

@@davidhine2228 exactly! All Eaton wanted to do is cash in on the merger.

[@FrankBullitt390]

Lee Iacocca himself said choosing Eaton instead of Lutz was the biggest mistake of HIS LIFE

[@8corymix8]

It would've still been Chrysler. Iacocca was brilliant but not picking Lutz was a terrible decision that destroyed Chrysler

[@harryrez]

Such a shame what happend to this company. Such beautiful cars under Lees tenure. His leaving was the begining of the end. No Doubt, Lutz should have gotten the job.

[@broadstreet21]

From what I observe, most companies or entities naturally choose successors different from the incumbent, as though it's a natural rule of succession, whether it's a captain of a sports team to a president of a company or even nations. Eaton as a successor was no exception. Sometimes, this change of leadership style works (enter Apple), sometimes it doesn't (here in Chrysler).

[@MrRea112]

Yes Iacocca’s biggest mistake was selecting Eaton instead of Lutz. This decision transformed Chrysler from an interesting edgy product driven car company (Chrysler’s strong USP) to a corporation that was sold to a conservative luxury car maker who didn’t understand the brands they acquired and killed it as they moved away from these core strengths.

[@weegeemike]

What a bad move. Eaton was in way over his head and all he cared about was the $$. Being an outsider he didn't have that Chrysler pride and creativity and understanding of the history of the company. All he did was cut quality and take credit for the success and turn around of the company with products that technically debuted during his tenure that were in the pipeline long before he set foot in Highland Park and later Auburn Hills. Lutz would have been great with product development and focusing on quality and reliability and assure that the company would not be bought out. Lee later said this was a mistake and boy was it. All these years later the company doesn't even exist really now that it's an afterthought of a subsidiary of 2 foreign automakers. Also. RIP LEE IACOCCA the greatest auto CEO of all time.

[@adamtrombino106]

Eaton and Lutz were a good team, for a while, and from 95-00, they made a good deal of $ and better than ever cars, for Chrysler. BUT he did sell out to the Germans, who, as we know bailed out on it and sold to a holdings company who knew nothing about cars.... Now we have Fiat. We have seen that though Fiat has brought a couple of new and profitable things to the table, product quality and innovation has suffered with few exceptions. . Indeed Fiat has tried to dump Chrysler twice, though it would be a stupid move. Only Dodge, Jeep and Ram to a lesser extent, makes Fiat $, and they have been sucking Chrysler dry in the process overseas. WP Chrysler, and Lee, have got to be kicking themselves.

[@kcarman88]

A big mistake..letting eaton take over...Bob Lutz should have been chairman

[@kowalski5599]

Eaton sold Chrysler to Daimler and the first thing Daimler did was kill the Cherokee XJ platform. What a terrible decision.

[@KingRoseArchives]

He sold out GM and Chrysler but made a ton of money for himself.

[@MaliciousSRT]

Not as widely known is that they also immediately killed the 99 charger concept (that was to be built) and stole the 4dr coupe look for themselves and called it the CLS.

[@weegeemike]

Don't forget that they killed Plymouth right after the merger along with the XJ. Lutz would have kept Plymouth and given some life and attention to the brand, the evidence of this was the PT Cruiser which was meant to be a Plymouth (it really looks like one too with the same egg crate grill like the Breeze and the Voyager that was the brand identity at the time) and that wound up being a successful vehicle that would have given Chrysler the faith to keep it around and develop cool new products for the brand

[@jaydoeslife4307]

Lutz should have been installed Chairman/CEO

[@texas994a]

Just reading body language and confidence, it's obvious from his very introduction, that Eaton was in over his head. A big mistake and blunder in succession planning and execution.

[@corradettimotorsports360]

the day Chrysler was injection with poison that killed it. RIP Chrysler

[@robertlittin5196]

Iscocca's "Pinto" at Chrysler was to choose Bob Eaton... had Lutz been Chairman/CEO there would of NEVER been the Chrysler Diamler-Benz merger which was a real cluster-f°ck. LEE looked like he already had "buyer's-remorse" during the press conference...

[@joekurtz8303]

Met Bob Lutz when I worked at a Whittier subcontractor( C.S.🏁) doing High Output conversions in 89'

[@aguerra1381]

Who would have thought then that the merger with Daimler was just around the corner.

[@nyyanx23]

A very fucked moment for Chrysler.

[@elgeneralxx]

I had a blue 1987 Chrysler fifth avenue. Reminded me of a black pimp car. I just sold it. I miss the plush seats and the Lee Lacoca smell

[@Zomsky]

I like the bit where they say Bob Eaton

[@James-Noris]

Iacocca even admitted years later not choosing Lutz was a huge mistake.

[@dougsmith7908]

What a scheister Eaton was

[@mrgurulittle7000]

Sad. Lutz should’ve been chosen.

[@petertornabeni602]

should have been Lutz

[@STEELROUGHERSTOONS]

:(