That's where the Mercedes was very, very good.

There is fairly little overlap between Chrysler and Mercedes. In the U.S, Chrysler's product line pretty much tops out at $30,000. That's where Mercedes begins. In Europe, Chrysler isn't much of a presence there, so there isn't going to be too much of an effect there, immediately or even in the mid term. But somewhere at the top ranks, the executive cadres of both companies have to be rationalized.

There is definitely more interest in fuel-efficient cars like hybrids. When the price of gas is high, everyone is interested.

Engines were calibrated so if you gave up one second of 0-to-60-performance and gained a half-mile-per-gallon in fuel economy, you would make that trade-off every day. Cars were just awful.

This is absolutely what was needed to satisfy Wall Street.

It's very exciting, very intense. You have to be tuned in to every vibration, every sound, because if things go wrong, they go wrong fast.