The Rise and Reinvention of Chrysler Minivans

The Rise and Reinvention of Chrysler Minivans
Author: David Zatz
Publisher: Busistories
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2020-01-25
Genre:
ISBN: 9781393518655

This is how cars are created: engineers, planners, and designers started arguing about key issues a full ten years before the first van left the factory. Join us as we dive into their world, envisioning a brand new segment in a dying corporation, getting turned down, and then, during the rebirth of Chrylser, finally coming together quickly and on a minimal budget to create a new icon. The minivan was a daring project; they had barely any money, but needed to create a new vehicle from the ground up, going where nobody had been. The insiders' stories are told with previously-unpublished photos of the original clay models and sketches dating back to 1974. (The ebook does not contain all the photos from the print version; it does have nearly all the images of sketches and clay models. The print book has a black and white interior, and is otherwise identical to the pricier Amazon and Barnes & Noble editions.)

The Rise and Reinvention of Chrysler Minivans

The Rise and Reinvention of Chrysler Minivans
Author: David Zatz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2020-01-17
Genre:
ISBN: 9781099615719

This is the story of how a niche-creating car is created; engineers, planners, and designers started arguing over alternatives over ten years before the first van left the factory, and executives rejected the idea at least twice. This book dives into the reasons behind their decisions, electric and natural-gas versions, concepts, and assembly plants as it follows Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth minivans through major corporate upheavals, new generations, and serious competition from GM, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, right into the present day.

Mopar Minivans

Mopar Minivans
Author: David Zatz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2019-02-04
Genre:
ISBN: 9781793800312

In the early 1970s, Chrysler started working on a "magic wagon" -- a completely new passenger van that would fit into a normal garage. It was a daring project for a company that was strapped for cash. This book taps the people who created the minivans, with previously unpublished photos of the original clay models. It is not just a story of a vehicle, but of the people who pushed it through the development process, brought it to life, and refreshed it in the face of intense competition. Engineers, planners, and designers started arguing over alternatives ten years before the first van left the factory. This book dives into the reasons behind their decisions, and some of the ways minivans could have been very different; it also covers electric and CNG minivans, engines and transmissions, concept cars, and the assembly plants. The paperback is generously illustrated with full-color design studies and photos of the final product; the Kindle version has fewer photos, but still covers the original clay models and the concepts. "It's incredibly rare when the auto industry creates an entirely new class of vehicle, and rarer still when that innovation is an unqualified success story, but such was the case with Chrysler and the development of the minivan. "In Mopar Minivans, Zatz uses the people who were there to retell in vivid detail the largely forgotten story of how this innovative people mover evolved into a quintessential piece of American family life for two generations. It's a story that showcases not only how the automotive industry can work at its best, but also the ways that the industry's prevalent groupthink mentality can stifle innovation." -- Larry Vellequette, Automotive News "I am amazed how complete you are, having not been on-site in the front trenches during agreements, disagreements, and, yes, even skirmishes, at times." -- Chrysler employee David Zatz founded Chrysler-focused web site allpar.com; he also holds a Ph.D. in social and organizational psychology from Columbia University, and has been a business consultant for 20 years.

The Critical Path

The Critical Path
Author: Brock Yates
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 320
Release: 1996-08-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780316967082

The story of how Chrysler's minivan team created an automobile that captured the 1995 Motor Trend Car of the Year and other major awards - and reinvented a perilously entrenched corporation in the process - is as dramatic and inspiring a story as any in business today. Brock Yates, one of the most respected writers in the auto world, was given unprecedented access to Chrysler - every planning session, presentation, budget review, test drive, assembly line start-up, and marketing launch. The result is a book that unveils the mysteries of modern car-making, revealing how cars are shaped through countless interlinked decisions ranging from size and power to door configurations, color selections, and innumerable other interconnected details. It also captures the complex process by which the thousands of separate pieces that make up a car are designed, tested, manufactured, and marshaled into place at the exact moment they are needed. For any reader who cares about cars, this is the most intriguing look inside the mysteries of their creation ever written. At the same time, The Critical Path recounts an extraordinary drama of all-too-human managers attempting to make something new, in a new way, inside a corporate culture that resists them at every turn. The story of how Chrysler's minivan platform team kept their commitment to quality, schedule, and budget - with a $3 billion investment and the company's fate palpably in the balance - is as encouraging a tale as has emerged from American business in years. The unprecedented triumph and Chrysler's resultant comeback is a lesson in successful management that will be savored by any reader interested in how great companies make breakthroughproducts.

My Slant on Things

My Slant on Things
Author: Ed Dreistadt
Publisher:
Total Pages: 87
Release: 2021-05-31
Genre:
ISBN:

Tales from the days when men were men, cars were cars, and junkyards were everywhere. Did you ever spend the day in a wrecker's yard, searching for the perfect parts for your old car? Did you reclaim and restore-on-the-cheap an old $200 junker given up for dead? Follow Gary (and Ed and Dave) as they meander through the junkyards of their memories, full of slant sixes, comaradaderie, mistakes, and achievements. Generously Illustrated with period sketches and photos.

The Second Automobile Revolution

The Second Automobile Revolution
Author: M. Freyssenet
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 484
Release: 2009-04-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 023023691X

The rapid takeoff of the continent-sized national economies and the increasing expense of extraction have led to strong tensions in petrol prices and a race towards alternative driving systems. This book analyses the emergence of a second automobile revolution through the trajectories of automobile firms since the nineties.

Entrepreneurship Strategy

Entrepreneurship Strategy
Author: Lisa K. Gundry
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2006-08-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1452262446

In this engaging and practical book, authors Lisa K. Gundry and Jill R. Kickul uniquely approach entrepreneurship across the life cycle of business growth—offering entrepreneurial strategies for the emerging venture, for the growing venture, and for sustaining growth in the established venture. Written from the point of view of the founder or the entrepreneurial team, the book offers powerful and practical tools to increase a venture's potential for success and growth.

The Complete Book of Ford Mustang

The Complete Book of Ford Mustang
Author: Mike Mueller
Publisher: Complete Book Series
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2022-01-25
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0760372888

The Complete Book of Ford Mustang, 4th Edition details the development, technical specifications, and history of America’s original pony car, now updated to cover cars through the 2021 model year.

Introduction to Business

Introduction to Business
Author: Lawrence J. Gitman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1455
Release: 2024-09-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Millionaire Fastlane

The Millionaire Fastlane
Author: MJ DeMarco
Publisher: Viperion Publishing Corp
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2011-01-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0984358102

10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Is the financial plan of mediocrity -- a dream-stealing, soul-sucking dogma known as "The Slowlane" your plan for creating wealth? You know how it goes; it sounds a lil something like this: "Go to school, get a good job, save 10% of your paycheck, buy a used car, cancel the movie channels, quit drinking expensive Starbucks mocha lattes, save and penny-pinch your life away, trust your life-savings to the stock market, and one day, when you are oh, say, 65 years old, you can retire rich." The mainstream financial gurus have sold you blindly down the river to a great financial gamble: You've been hoodwinked to believe that wealth can be created by recklessly trusting in the uncontrollable and unpredictable markets: the housing market, the stock market, and the job market. This impotent financial gamble dubiously promises wealth in a wheelchair -- sacrifice your adult life for a financial plan that reaps dividends in the twilight of life. Accept the Slowlane as your blueprint for wealth and your financial future will blow carelessly asunder on a sailboat of HOPE: HOPE you can find a job and keep it, HOPE the stock market doesn't tank, HOPE the economy rebounds, HOPE, HOPE, and HOPE. Do you really want HOPE to be the centerpiece for your family's financial plan? Drive the Slowlane road and you will find your life deteriorate into a miserable exhibition about what you cannot do, versus what you can. For those who don't want a lifetime subscription to "settle-for-less" and a slight chance of elderly riches, there is an alternative; an expressway to extraordinary wealth that can burn a trail to financial independence faster than any road out there. Why jobs, 401(k)s, mutual funds, and 40-years of mindless frugality will never make you rich young. Why most entrepreneurs fail and how to immediately put the odds in your favor. The real law of wealth: Leverage this and wealth has no choice but to be magnetized to you. The leading cause of poorness: Change this and you change everything. How the rich really get rich - and no, it has nothing to do with a paycheck or a 401K match. Why the guru's grand deity - compound interest - is an impotent wealth accelerator. Why the guru myth of "do what you love" will most likely keep you poor, not rich. And 250+ more poverty busting distinctions... Demand the Fastlane, an alternative road-to-wealth; one that actually ignites dreams and creates millionaires young, not old. Change lanes and find your explosive wealth accelerator. Hit the Fastlane, crack the code to wealth, and find out how to live rich for a lifetime.