Chrysler Exit: Mike Donoughe & The Nutria Hat

Remember the Kenny Roger's Roasters episode of Seinfeld where the Nutria hat falls apart inside the restaurant and Jerry says "That's not gonna be good for business" and his friend the restaurant manager says "That's not gonna be good for anybody!"

Well, I have the same feeling about Mike Donoughe, a top engineer at Chrysler LLC, who just departed the company. Mr. Donoughe was working on the double high priority "Project D" which will replace the failing Sebring/Avenger. Rumors floating around the street say that Donoughe left in a clash with management.

Chrysler is spinning the story that there was no clash. Right, because 24 year veterans of a company at the top of their game walk out the door all the time. Not! So what was the "non issue" that led to Mike's exit? Supposedly "direction and pace of the project" were being called into question. While surfing through an AllPar forum thread on Project D, one poster quoted a Chrysler engineer who stated that Project D was like "banging your head against a wall" because Chrysler management was asking people to do a lot with very little.

Donoughe's rapid exit isn't the first high profile Chrysler employee to suddenly disappear. Let's not forget media guru Jason Vine's quick exit late last year. Also of note is a recent Automotive News story that reads "Chrysler's exec trio: Reports of friction mostly fiction." Well, it can't all be fiction if issues like this keep popping up like Whack-a-Mole. According to the AN story, the biggest squabble is between Bob Nardelli and Jim Press. I'm not aware of what they are bickering over, but without hesitating I'd take Press' side in any automotive related argument.

It's my most sincere hope that Chrysler LLC does not fall apart like a cheap Nutria hat. However, it can ill afford to lose big guns like Mike Donoughe and still expect to field competitive entries. Was Donoughe frustrated at being pushed too hard? Are corners being cut to rush a product to market? Have unrealistic targets been set? Who knows what set off Donoughe, but it had to be a pretty big deal.

source: wsj