????2007年在克萊斯勒公司（Chrysler）的發展史上留下了無法抹去的痕跡，背后有一個不為人知的原因：當年5月14日，戴姆勒克萊斯勒公司（DaimlerChrysler）宣布，將克萊斯勒集團（Chrysler Group）80.1%的股份作價74億美元出售給賽伯樂資產管理公司（Cerberus Capital Management）。這等于是公開承認，它的跨國、跨文化并購以失敗告終。當時，克萊斯勒的市值僅為1998年并購前1998年市值的一個零頭，而且自并購后，它的狀況便開始每況愈下。一年之后，雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）宣告破產，在隨之而來的經濟危機中，政府被迫于2008、2009年向克萊斯勒公司注入巨額資金。但2009年8月30日，它還是宣告申請破產重組。

????這家公司差點就在手術臺上宣告不治了。正如史蒂文?拉特納在他的專著《全面整改》（Overhaul）中所述，政府派出的汽車業特別工作小組幾乎每次開會都會為了如何處置克萊斯勒公司而來上一場辯論。獲得了經濟顧問的少數票支持后，有關該公司存亡的決策問題最終直接由白宮來拍板。而奧巴馬總統決定，克萊斯勒公司應該獲得救助。據拉特納稱，這個決策的理由是，“投資60億美元讓克萊斯勒重獲生機要比投個幾十億美元直接葬送它要好得多”。經過了更多扣人心弦的激烈談判后，美國政府最終決定將克萊斯勒20%的股份連同其運營控制權拱手交給菲亞特公司（Fiat），以換取菲亞特的技術和管理專長。

????菲亞特的技術對克萊斯勒來說到底貢獻幾何比較難以衡量，但菲亞特的管理對它產生的作用倒是毋庸置疑。2005年到2009年，克萊斯勒的銷量從230萬輛一路下滑到931,402輛，去年則大幅反彈回到了170萬輛。在前任東家戴姆勒和賽伯樂的管理下，克萊斯勒始終無法獲得投資，產品在業內毫無競爭力可言。首席執行官馬爾喬內非常明智地懂得，如何能利用最少的資源將克萊斯勒的汽車和卡車最大限度地升級換代，并讓克萊斯勒獲得了長達37個月的持續增長。盡管它的轎車業務距離業內龍頭還落后甚遠，但在皮卡和運動型多功能車（SUV）上克萊斯勒現在已具備了充分的競爭力。

????換言之，多虧馬爾喬內和菲亞特，克萊斯勒避免了被清算的厄運，保住了300,000個工作崗位，現在已經重新成為一家富有活力的公司——這讓人更難以理解為什么現在合作雙方非要爭得不可開交，弄得底特律也不得安生。原因可能是，菲亞特一度拯救了克萊斯勒，而現在克萊斯勒卻要開始拯救菲亞特了，這真讓一些人抓狂。

????這個想法在2009年可能還顯得很不靠譜，但今天卻成了現實，而克萊斯勒并不是唯一一家正把歐洲汽車廠商拉出泥潭的美國公司。目前，歐寶（Opel）和福特歐洲（Ford of Europe）正分別靠通用汽車（General Motors）和福特汽車（Ford）北美分公司供養著。歐洲正深陷財政危機，加之人口老化，工會勢力強硬，產能遲遲得不到削減，使強大如大眾汽車（Volkswagen）這樣的公司也陷入了混亂。

????The year 2007 resonates in Chrysler history for another reason: It was on May 14 that DaimlerChrysler publicly conceded the failure of its cross-ocean, cross-cultural merger by announcing the sale of 80.1% of the Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management for $7.4 billion. At the time of the sale, Chrysler was worth only a fraction of its pre-merger 1998 price, and its fortunes only declined from there. Lehman Brothers went bankrupt a year later, and in the ensuing downturn the government was forced to pump billions of dollars into Chrysler in 2008 and 2009 before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on April 30, 2009.

????The company nearly died on the operating table. As Steven Rattner related in his book Overhaul, the question of what to do about Chrysler was debated at nearly every meeting of the government's auto task force. After a close vote among economic advisers, the decision about its survival went to the Oval Office, where President Obama decided that Chrysler should be saved. "It was better to invest $6 billion for a meaningful chance that Chrysler would survive than to invest several billion dollars in its funeral," was the rationale, according to Rattner. Further cliff-hanging negotiations were required before the government agreed to pass 20% of Chrysler along with operating control along to Fiat, in exchange for Fiat's technology and management expertise.

????Whatever contributions Fiat technology has made to Chrysler are hard to measure, but the impact of Fiat's management has been undeniable. Chrysler sales, which had fallen from 2.3 million in 2005 to only 931,402 in 2009, have rebounded smartly and reached 1.7 million last year. Under previous owners Daimler and Cerberus, Chrysler had been starved of investment and left with the weakest product line in the industry. CEO Sergio Marchionne smartly identified where he could most upgrade Chrysler's cars and trucks with the fewest resources and set Chrysler on its 37-month run. Though its passenger car lineup still lags the industry's best, Chrysler is now fully competitive in pickups and sport utility vehicles.

????In other words, instead of being liquidated at the cost of some 300,000 jobs, Chrysler is now a viable company, thanks to Marchionne and Fiat -- which makes it all the more difficult to comprehend the heat of the dispute now consuming Detroit. Where once Fiat rescued Chrysler, now Chrysler is in a position to rescue Fiat, and it drives some people nuts.

????That idea may have seemed far-fetched in 2009 but it is reality today, and Chrysler won't be the only company helping out a European carmaker. General Motors' (GM, Fortune 500) and Fords' (F, Fortune 500) North American operations are supporting Opel and Ford of Europe respectively. Europe's financial crisis combined with its aging demographic and the intransigence of labor unions in the face of overdue cuts in factory capacity have pushed even mighty Volkswagen into a tailspin.