Chrysler bailout going to Terminator 4 sponsorship deal

Terminator with Chrysler Logo

By Zack Newmark
January 22, 2009 9:50 PM
Filed Under: American, Chrysler, Corporate/Financial, Movies

Chrysler LLC has announced a sponsorship deal with the makers of Terminator: Salvation, but refused to disclose the cost of the deal. In a move that is certain to upset many, the financially strapped company is ponying up what little cash they have to see their cars featured in short cameos during Terminator 4.

The American automaker recently received $4 billion in a taxpayer-funded government bailout. Chrysler was reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy, and would not have been able to pay their suppliers without the loan. Still in a dangerous position, the privately-owned company cut over a third of their employees.

Chrysler was shut out of many product placement deals recently. General Motors inked a deal with The Transformers live-action films. Ford got in on the action with their Knight Rider deal, featuring a Mustang, Flex, and F-150.

But those deals were made before the economy took a nosedive, and before a bailout of the auto industry was even considered. Critics of the deal think Chrysler's cash is better spent elsewhere, especially since the company's products are already well-known by the public. A better use of the bailout funds may be to directly market their cars and trucks to potential customers based on the merits of those vehicles, and not by product placement in a sci-fi/action flick.

"This spring, Terminator 4 comes out and we will be one of the sponsors," said Chrysler media director Susan Thomson. In her presentation at the Automotive News World Congress, she said, "We have a following with the Terminator movies and we are going to continue with that."

Only time will tell if Chrysler's marketing strategy will work. Terminator:Salvation, starring Christian Bale, opens in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and South Korea on May 22, with other markets worldwide getting the film soon after.

Chrysler will likely ask for an additional $3 billion in federally backed loans when they present their restructuring plan next month.

Source: Reuters

Comments

SRT8
January 22, 2009 10:09 PM
They deserve to go bankrupt

guidofanconi
January 22, 2009 10:20 PM
Wow, what the hell is Chrysler going to feature, its Sebring?? Bankruptcy can't come soon enough!!

hata0101
January 22, 2009 11:10 PM
they've spent taxpayers' money improperly, now they're going to spend Fiat's money & drag the other company in deficit? what the hell is this kind of mis-management? don't they learn a lesson yet when Daimler drop them?

Motor_Yakuza
January 22, 2009 11:31 PM
Well , Chrysler use to make profit when they merged with Daimler, in a decade the leadership of Daimler put Chrysler in deep $h!t.

khd
January 23, 2009 12:25 AM
this is not the time for these silly marketing gurus to be making decisions, let the engineers run the boardroom and lets get some real improvements, its not like any serious sales will be achied from silly investmenst such as this... if i was an american taxpayer i would be fuming,

Wickedated
January 23, 2009 12:26 AM
I hear there'll be a PT Cruiser Terminator

jko2001
January 23, 2009 12:37 AM
I belive that Terminator: Salvation is in post-production, meaning that this Chrysler deal would have been made long before the bailout. This would most likely have been a payable due to the production company that Chrysler has been obligated to pay. The bailout would be used for those matters. As to whether they should have made this deal in the first place is another story.

Xanavi23
January 23, 2009 12:40 AM
Im inclined to believe you, a movie with as much special effects and production as this usually was in production for a long time.

kosherdogs
January 23, 2009 12:29 PM
It is sort-of in post. They're still doing some reshoots, and they're trying to decide if they should squeeze in Linda Hamilton or Schwarzenegger somewhere.

Xanavi23
January 23, 2009 12:41 AM
I understand the reasoning for this, marketing and advertising, i just hope they didn't spend too much. Chrysler needs to be careful with its cash...im pulling for them but they gotta get their **** together.

BabyMilo
January 23, 2009 1:05 AM
Chrysler suck at spending their money! First the ThankYou America ad in the newspaper and now this!! Seriously they deserve to go bankrupt, no one give them a cent more, theyll just waste it on usless cr*p maybe a chrysler toaster, and not making new better cars.

Xanavi23
January 23, 2009 3:01 AM
The Thank You ad was a good idea, gratitude is whats missing in the world today and putting out the good word on that level costs money.

BabyMilo
January 23, 2009 8:26 AM
i think that it was nice of them to say thankyou but there could of been a cheaper way to do it though, and if they did want to go with this idea they should of done it after they had made some cars and made their own money insted of using their BAILOUT money

WildMaverick1200
January 23, 2009 2:00 AM
What can Chrysler's hideous cars can make in the movie anyway? They're gonna feature a Charger going slower than John Connor on his moped? Or a crazy machine will blow up a PT Cruiser with a machine gun?

Really....Chrysler is screwed.....in a few years, they will become the example of corporate idiocy in every college in the world....

Motor_Yakuza
January 23, 2009 2:37 AM
"blow up a PT Cruiser with a machine gun?" that would be schway

browney
January 23, 2009 4:26 AM
hang on, how will they sell cars if they don't advertise like this? What would be the point in bailing out a company if they didn't advertise and thus didn't sell any cars?

blay
January 25, 2009 4:16 AM
They shouldn't be advertising through movies because it's a fairly ineffective way of reaching out. They should have built a better car (no a REALLY better car), bring it out at the motor shows and let the PRESS who go to these shows do the advertising FOR them.

Because the stuff that's in the movies right now is just trash and nobody wants trash. All they'll be advertising is their name and their name isn't very well liked at the moment...

James2911
January 23, 2009 4:27 AM
I seriously don't know how Chrysler have survived this long. They make some of the worst cars on sale today bar maybe the Challenger. In Jeremy's Clarkson's words: a Chrysler Sebring convertible, which is almost certainly the worst car in the entire world.

GanSan
January 23, 2009 9:42 AM
I agree with everything you said. I think that because they've been a long-standing US icon, people can't see past the flaws; just like Australia and Holden.

Viking79
January 23, 2009 6:11 AM
"We have a following with the Terminator movies and we are going to continue with that."

How?

T3 - Toyota Tundra pick up T2 - Harley Davidson, Ford Crown Victoria Wagon T1 - Various motorcycles, an AMC Gremlin and 1 red Jeep Wrangler in the last scene (if that's a following, that's pretty weak).

gd
January 23, 2009 11:17 AM
I'm sorry but I call bullshit on account of the fact that Chrysler put itself into the aforementioned mess. Daimler didn't mis-manage Chrysler - Chrysler mismanaged themselves into this mess and now their continued stupidity is a testament to that fact. Compare Daimler (even in its current state) to Chrysler.... Besides, you can't possibly expect anyone to put the blame on Daimler for "mismanaging" Chrysler and its assets when Chrysler had access to Daimler' parts bin and the best they came up with was the Crossfire (an old SLK with new skin, basically) when they weren't busy putting out 7000 different special editions of the PT Cruiser and making one heavy car after another with mostly the same ancient engines. Oh right, there was MDS on the hemi.... That sure did a whole damn lot to the 50's style V8 and its unquenchable thirst.... Funny because it takes for insane cars such as the SL65 AMG (well, the entire AMG lineup, pretty much) to make Daimler's current fleet average as bad as Chrysler's.... For a company that's supposed to be competing with the Japanese heavyweights and their high-mileage light-weights, they got their priorities messed up. Also, remember the "Thank You America" ad....

afterace2
January 23, 2009 4:35 PM
How about making at least a one nice car Chrysler? I mean look at Ford, they at least try to give ppl something.

Xanavi23
January 24, 2009 1:32 AM
The crossfire was nice, and pretty fast in any guise, it just needed a bigger trunk.

blay
January 25, 2009 4:13 AM
the crossfire was an unimaginative piece of s***. and it was only fast because it was basically a Merc SLK underneath.

loyo
January 26, 2009 7:09 AM
Eventually, they'll have spent all of the bailout money in stupid moves like this one, without being able to save the company. They will not only owe money to their suppliers, the banks and the employees, but also to the government. Then it'll be Chrysler's Judgement Day.

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