• Detroit Free Press, Monday, June 9, 2008 10:30 AM

Chrysler chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli wants no whining about Chrysler products not getting a fair shake from Consumer Reports magazine or the latest J.D. Power and Associates report on vehicle quality. Last Wednesday, he fired off an email urging employees to seek to understand the harshest critics of the company, and then to get to work on solving the shortcomings cited by those critics.

Nardelli's email was sent about five hours before the 2008 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study results were released at a lunchtime briefing in Detroit. His message was preemptive in a way, preparing the troops to hear some bad news. He hammered home points that he has been repeating since taking the helm 10 months ago: Don't hesitate to confront problems; everything is about pleasing the customer; raise the standard defining quality.

Nardelli says outsiders might not tell the full story of what's going on at Chrysler, but they do shape public perception about its products. If Chrysler is to survive and prosper, the journey must begin with unflinching candor about the way things are.

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