Taken For A Ride 2- Chrysler & Kerkorian

Chrysler Group Sales Speculation -- Taken For A Ride II: Judgement Day

Everyone knows who Bill Vlasic is right? He's the Detroit News reporter who co-wrote the definitive account of the how Chrysler and Mercedes became the stilted and fubar married couple they are today. Vlasic and co-author Bradley A. Stertz's "Taken For A Ride" starts with an attempted takeover by a certain peppermint patty-flavored corporate raider...by the name of Kirk Kerkorian. So it's quite interesting for us that with Walter P. Chrysler's name-sake getting taken for a second ride in the past ten years, and with KirkKerk and Jerry York's Tracinda Corp. taking another shot at the company this afternoon, we would have received the following e-mail forwarded to us. It's from Kim Cowser at Harper-Collins soliciting Vlasic as the definitive speaker on the subject of the German-American hybrid. We wonder if he's getting any calls today. Full text of the e-mail after the jump. – Ray Wert

Kerkorian Offers $4.5 Billion for Chrysler [NYT]

From: Cowser, Kimberly Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 3:09 PM To: Cowser, Kimberly Subject: Bill Vlasic, author of TAKEN FOR A RIDE: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler, is avaliable to comment on negotiations surrounding Daimler-Chrysler's potential sale

Bill Vlasic, author of TAKEN FOR A RIDE: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler --the national bestseller that revealed the behind-the-scenes drama of the 1998 Daimler-Chrysler merger--is available to comment on Daimler-Chrysler's confirmation today that they are in negotiations with a number of parties about the sale of its money-losing Chrysler division.

As this story continues to unfold, I hope you'll keep Bill Vlasic in mind as an expert source. Bill currently covers the automotive industry for the Detroit News and is the author of TAKEN FOR A RIDE: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler, which reveals the behind-the-scenes drama of the 1998 Daimler-Chrysler merger.

I have pasted more information about Bill Vlasic and TAKEN FOR A RIDE below. Additionally, attached please find his article from today's Detroit News. Please let me know if you'd like to see a copy of the book or wish to get in touch with Bill.

Best,

Kimberly Cowser
HarperCollins Publishers