Attention: TDR Forum Junkies I could go into a tirade about sensational headlines, tabloid journalism and magazine/newspaper/TV advertising revenue. But I think you get the picture without my unnecessary babbling.
The latest victim(s) of the sensational headline(s) are the folks at FiatChrysler (FCA). Just last week the folks at Wired magazine made the headlines with FCA as their target when they hacked into a Jeep vehicle. At least one television anchor person I watched was fearful about the drive home (geez).
Or, was her trepidation just more sensationalism? Don Henley’s song from the 80s, “Dirty Laundry” comes to mind: “We’ve got the bubble-headed bleach blonde that comes on at five. She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye. It’s interesting when people die. Give us dirty laundry.”
If one bothered to read the Wired story and other summaries of the event, one could get past the hype to learn that the authors had access to the vehicle prior to their shenanigans and that they were working with Chrysler for nine months prior. An example of “white hat” hacking? Indeed.
Okay, now that that FCA story has some perspective, let’s talk about the latest FCA headline, the record fine that was handed down by the government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The story from the Wall Street Journal tells us that the total fine was 105 million dollars.
Before I tried to understand the where-tos and why-fors of the NHTSA fine, I wondered about the amount. No doubt 105 million is a big number. But as numbers go, it needs some context. Context will tell us if the fine is a big deal or just another day at the office for the FCA employees.
Time for a Google search. An inquiry to find out FCA’s total sales for year 2014 and their profit for 2014. With these numbers we’ll be able to see what’s up with the headlines that ran at the bottom of the television screen that played in the background of my local restaurant on Sunday.
From FCA’s 2014 annual report - 2014 net profit of 717 million compared to a net profit of 2.2 billion in 2013.
According to the Detroit Free Press, “The drop in revenue for 2014 was attributed to higher recall costs, the cost to overhaul some of the automaker’s plants to build new models like the Jeep Renegade and Chrysler 200, and the cost of acquiring Chrysler shares previously held by the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust.”
“The automaker took a $500-million charge in 2014 to cover the cost of purchasing Chrysler shares from the UAW trust. Also, Chief Financial officer Richard Palmer said the automaker incurred $650-million in costs in warranty and recall costs in 2014. Those costs were driven up by the recall of vehicles with airbags made by Takata and the recall of 1.56 million older-model Jeep Grand Cherokees and Libertys.”
The latest victim(s) of the sensational headline(s) are the folks at FiatChrysler (FCA). Just last week the folks at Wired magazine made the headlines with FCA as their target when they hacked into a Jeep vehicle. At least one television anchor person I watched was fearful about the drive home (geez).
Or, was her trepidation just more sensationalism? Don Henley’s song from the 80s, “Dirty Laundry” comes to mind: “We’ve got the bubble-headed bleach blonde that comes on at five. She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye. It’s interesting when people die. Give us dirty laundry.”
If one bothered to read the Wired story and other summaries of the event, one could get past the hype to learn that the authors had access to the vehicle prior to their shenanigans and that they were working with Chrysler for nine months prior. An example of “white hat” hacking? Indeed.
Okay, now that that FCA story has some perspective, let’s talk about the latest FCA headline, the record fine that was handed down by the government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The story from the Wall Street Journal tells us that the total fine was 105 million dollars.
Before I tried to understand the where-tos and why-fors of the NHTSA fine, I wondered about the amount. No doubt 105 million is a big number. But as numbers go, it needs some context. Context will tell us if the fine is a big deal or just another day at the office for the FCA employees.
Time for a Google search. An inquiry to find out FCA’s total sales for year 2014 and their profit for 2014. With these numbers we’ll be able to see what’s up with the headlines that ran at the bottom of the television screen that played in the background of my local restaurant on Sunday.
From FCA’s 2014 annual report - 2014 net profit of 717 million compared to a net profit of 2.2 billion in 2013.
According to the Detroit Free Press, “The drop in revenue for 2014 was attributed to higher recall costs, the cost to overhaul some of the automaker’s plants to build new models like the Jeep Renegade and Chrysler 200, and the cost of acquiring Chrysler shares previously held by the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust.”
“The automaker took a $500-million charge in 2014 to cover the cost of purchasing Chrysler shares from the UAW trust. Also, Chief Financial officer Richard Palmer said the automaker incurred $650-million in costs in warranty and recall costs in 2014. Those costs were driven up by the recall of vehicles with airbags made by Takata and the recall of 1.56 million older-model Jeep Grand Cherokees and Libertys.”
