From USAT 's June, 2008 account of the much-cited Harbour Report on auto manufacturing: 

Chrysler's Toledo South plant, which makes the Jeep Wrangler, was the most productive assembly plant in North America in 2007 after improving its productivity by 38 percent to 13.57 hours per vehicle. But Jeep had the lowest quality rating of any brand in a J.D. Power and Associates survey released Wednesday. The survey measures both mechanical and design problems in the first 90 days of vehicle ownership.

Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler's vice president of manufacturing, said Thursday that productivity doesn't really relate to quality, and that Chrysler is working hard to improve its quality.

"The quality piece for us still continues to be a journey," he said. [E.A.]

P.S.: Chrysler can learn from its new partner:  Chrysler scored second to last in customer satisfaction in this 2009 survey of "vehicle ownership satisfaction" in the U.K.  Only one company did worse! ... That company? FIAT. ...

P.P.S.: Quote of the day, for the actual today, goes to Robert Farago of TTAC , and relates to GM :

Evercore Partners predict that the zombie automaker will return to life (though not as we know it) by 2014. What’s more, stock in New GM will be worth $48 billion straight out of the gate. Hang on. I’m lousy at math (as you know). But if the United States government owns 60 percent of a $48 billion New GM, our share on day one would be worth $28.8b. So, if the feds dumped those shares, we’d "only" lose $19.2 billion. SELL!

3:21 P.M.

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