Mover Mike

At a meeting earlier this month, Chief Executive Robert Nardelli was asked, 'Are we bankrupt?'" Mr. Nardelli said at the meeting. "Technically, no. Operationally, yes. The only thing that keeps us from going into bankruptcy is the $10 billion investors entrusted us with."

What's even more shocking, Nardelli drove a different car home each day and then met with the engineers about the flaws like cheap plastic interiors and noisy rides.

Or, He learned that Chrysler badly lags behind on fuel-saving technologies and will have to spend billions to catch up.

Or, Mr. Nardelli was irritated to discover that a program designed to save $250 million to $300 million in parts and other costs was actually saving only $1 million because of rising commodity prices, people familiar with the matter said.

I am rooting for Mr. Nardelli. I have owned a lot of cars in my life, but I have never owned a Chrysler. My father came close when I was living at home. We looked seriously at a red Plymouth with a faux spare tire on the trunk. But in the end, bought a Ford.

I would like to see America continue to manufacture cars, but I think Chrysler, with its many near financial misses is near the end of its string.

This past week, I have posted about Smart, ZENN, Zap-X and MiniC.A.T cars. Why aren't GM, Ford and Chrysler bringing these to marke?