The Detroit News
National Automobile Dealers Association Chairman Ed Tonkin sought to impress Sergio Marchionne with his mastery of Eye-talian when he introduced the Chrysler-Fiat CEO on Tuesday at the NADA/IHS Global Insight Conference in New York.
"I've been practicing my pronunciation," he boasted.
"It's Mar-chee-ohhhhh-nay," he said. "I also know how to say Fair-rahrrr-rhee."
Marchionne was unimpressed. "There's an easy American pronunciation of my name: Marchionne," he said. "And let's just stick with Ferrari."
Yearning for a sole mate
At Tuesday's "Learn, Meet, Succeed" seminar hosted by the Engineering Society of Detroit, arrivals to the society's Southfield headquarters were baffled by the sight of a lone lady's black high-heeled shoe on the sidewalk. It didn't seem like traditional engineering attire -- until the Insider realized the errant shoe was indeed in the right place to be reunited with its owner. Obviously, she was a hydraulic engineer.
"And how did you know that?" a co-worker asked.
"Because," Insider replied, "it was a pump."
Find a tiki, win a Wrangler
At Chrysler Group LLC, the spirit appears to be strong even if the pace of new product launches remains weak.
The Auburn Hills automaker is filling the gap until this summer's launch of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee with some wacky Jeep Wrangler giveaway contests. They harken back to the days of the prankster Chrysler that liked to have Jeeps slam through huge windows or corral bulls in downtown Detroit at auto shows -- before stern new owners and dwindling resources extinguished the carefree spirit.
A feistier Chrysler is scheduled to kick off a Jeep promotion today by inviting five trivia winners, including a man from Wixom, to the New York auto show to dig through a giant sandbox to find a hidden tiki and win a Wrangler Islander. Three more tikis will be hidden across the country, and the first treasure hunter to find each tiki and call the attached phone number wins another Islander.
Would-be winners must go to Jeep Tiki Web sites, Twitter and Facebook pages for clues about the tikis' whereabouts. The stunts may not add directly to the goal of breaking even this year, but they promise to turn Wranglers into the 21st century's version of buried treasures.
"I've been practicing my pronunciation," he boasted.
"It's Mar-chee-ohhhhh-nay," he said. "I also know how to say Fair-rahrrr-rhee."
Marchionne was unimpressed. "There's an easy American pronunciation of my name: Marchionne," he said. "And let's just stick with Ferrari."
Yearning for a sole mate
At Tuesday's "Learn, Meet, Succeed" seminar hosted by the Engineering Society of Detroit, arrivals to the society's Southfield headquarters were baffled by the sight of a lone lady's black high-heeled shoe on the sidewalk. It didn't seem like traditional engineering attire -- until the Insider realized the errant shoe was indeed in the right place to be reunited with its owner. Obviously, she was a hydraulic engineer.
"And how did you know that?" a co-worker asked.
"Because," Insider replied, "it was a pump."
Find a tiki, win a Wrangler
At Chrysler Group LLC, the spirit appears to be strong even if the pace of new product launches remains weak.
The Auburn Hills automaker is filling the gap until this summer's launch of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee with some wacky Jeep Wrangler giveaway contests. They harken back to the days of the prankster Chrysler that liked to have Jeeps slam through huge windows or corral bulls in downtown Detroit at auto shows -- before stern new owners and dwindling resources extinguished the carefree spirit.
A feistier Chrysler is scheduled to kick off a Jeep promotion today by inviting five trivia winners, including a man from Wixom, to the New York auto show to dig through a giant sandbox to find a hidden tiki and win a Wrangler Islander. Three more tikis will be hidden across the country, and the first treasure hunter to find each tiki and call the attached phone number wins another Islander.
Would-be winners must go to Jeep Tiki Web sites, Twitter and Facebook pages for clues about the tikis' whereabouts. The stunts may not add directly to the goal of breaking even this year, but they promise to turn Wranglers into the 21st century's version of buried treasures.
No comments:
Post a Comment