Bill Vlasic

Once Upon a Car is the brilliantly reported inside-the-boardrooms-and-factories story of Detroit’s fight for survival, going beyond the headlines to chronicle how the country’s Big Three auto companies—General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—teetered on the brink of collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. In a tale that reads like a corporate thriller, Bill Vlasic, who has covered the auto industry for more than fifteen years, first for the Detroit News and now for the New York Times, takes readers into the executive offices, assembly plants, and union halls to introduce a cast of memorable characters, many of whom are speaking out for the first time, including the executives who struggled to save their companies but in the end had to seek a controversial, last-gasp rescue from the U.S. government. Vlasic goes behind the scenes to portray the men at the top during Detroit’s last stand. Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors, tried to turn around a dying company, only to be forced to resign as a condition of the government bailout. Bill Ford, great-grandson of the legendary Henry Ford, had the will to keep Ford alive but needed the guts to hire an unknown outsider, Alan Mulally, to transform the company before it crashed. At Chrysler, leadership was constantly changing as new owners tried in vain to fix the smallest of the beleaguered Big Three. And through it all, the president of the United Auto Workers union, Ron Gettelfinger, fought to save the jobs of the men and women who build American-made cars and trucks. This tale of an iconic industry in crisis is more than a big business drama and provides a rich, unvarnished portrait of how Detroit’s decline affected tens of thousands of workers and dozens of communities nationwide. The story moves from the gleaming corporate skyscrapers and massive auto plants to the halls of the U.S. Congress and into the Oval Office, where President Obama and his aides wrestled with how to keep General Motors and Chrysler from going out of business. Vlasic shows why the bailout worked, and how Detroit can succeed under new leadership and build automobiles equal to any in the world. Once Upon a Car tells a uniquely American tale of success, failure, and redemption. It is an important and illuminating chapter in an astonishing story that is still unfolding. And no one is more qualified to write it than Bill Vlasic.

The Fall and Resurrection of America's Big Three Automakers--GM, Ford, and Chrysler

Once Upon a Car

Bradley A. Stertz

Here is the book that exposed the Daimler-Chrysler "merger of equals" as a bold German takeover of an industrial icon. Taken for a Ride reveals the shock waves felt around the world when Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler for $36 billion in 1998. In a gripping narrative, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz go behind the scenes of the defining corporate drama of the decade -- and in a new epilogue chart its chaotic aftermath.

Cars, Crisis, And A Company Once Called

Taken for a Ride

It was the deal heard round the world. In May 1998, a stunning $36 billion merger was announced by Chrysler, the all-American automaker, and Daimler-Benz, the German manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz luxury sedans. The Wall Street Journal christened the deal "the biggest industrial merger of all time." The marriage of Daimler and Chrysler promised to rock the global auto industry and draw up a blueprint for international consolidation on an epic scale. But the union of Chrysler, the blue-collar maker of Jeeps and minivans, with Daimler, the crown jewel of German industry, didn't turn out to be a merger made in heaven. When the dust settled, Daimler had bought Chrysler, and the shock waves reverberated on both sides of the Atlantic. An American icon lost its independence, and a German giant grew in power and influence. The DiamlerChrysler deal brough together two automotive superpowers and triggered a chain reaction among competitors seeking partners around the world. In a gripping narrative ripped from the daily headlines, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz of the Detroit News go behind the scenes of the defining corporate drama of the decade. With groundbreaking reporting, they reveal the untold story behind the unsuccessful attempt to take over Chrysler by its biggest shareholder, the reclusive billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, and its legendary retired CEO, Lee Iacocca. Their startling grab for the smallest of Detroit's Big Three automakers sparked secret talks between Chrysler and Daimler on a massive joint venture. The first deal collapsed, but it set the stage for the final, intense negotiations between Chrysler chairman Robert Eaton and Daimler chairman Jürgen Schrempp. It was hailed as a historic "merger of equals," but the euphoria evaporated amid a clash of cultures, identities, and personalities. The action moves feverishly around the world with larger-than-life characters in the high-stakes arena of international automaking. Taken for a Ride follows the twists and turns in the road to DaimlerChrysler and, in the end, emerges as a cautionary tale of the risks and rewards of going global.

Bill Vlasic

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