Taken for a Ride

It was the deal heard round the world. In May 1998, a stunning $36 billion merger was announced by Chrysler, the all-American automaker, and Daimler-Benz, the German manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz luxury sedans. The "Wall Street Journal christened the deal "the biggest industrial merger of all time." The marriage of Daimler and Chrysler promised to rock the global auto industry and draw up a blueprint for international consolidation on an epic scale.But the union of Chrysler, the blue-collar maker of Jeeps and minivans, with Daimler, the crown jewel of German industry, didn't turn out to be a merger made in heaven. When the dust settled, Daimler had bought Chrysler, and the shock waves reverberated on both sides of the Atlantic. An American icon lost its independence, and a German giant grew in power and influence.The DiamlerChrysler deal brough together two automotive superpowers and triggered a chain reaction among competitors seeking partners around the world. In a grippingnarrative ripped from the daily headlines, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz of the "Detroit News go behind the scenes of the defining corpoVlasic, Bill is the author of 'Taken for a Ride' with ISBN 9780688173050 and ISBN 0688173055.