Frank Stronach, the Canadian auto-parts mogul and founder of Magna International Inc., has just the drink to pep up haggard employees in Auburn Hills. This is the mogul's way of playing it cool with the rising heat in the battle to acquire the recuperating American division of DaimlerChrysler AG.
In 2006, the Canadian mogul, tagged as one of the hot bidders for the Chrysler Group, lent his name to Frank's Energy Drink which is a super-caffeinated beverage. The franksenergy.com website describes the energy drink as the one that "keeps you yodeling all night long." The fruity, vitamin-laced energy drink is the invention of two young entrepreneurs from Stronach's native Austria. It is priced at about $1 a can in Canadian grocery chains and pizzerias. Is your auto company tired, listless and in need of "authentic Austrian energy?"
Frank's is especially formulated to cater to the young males needs who can join an online contest for a night on the town in "Frank's Energy Limo" with the "Energy Girls" - a cheerful crew of leggy blondes with braided hair and obviously healthy physiques.
A smiling Stronach, who is heading Magna's effort to buy Chrysler from German automaker DaimlerChrysler AG, is featured on the Web site along with the official "Frank's" motto - "Fun. Fame. Fortune. And really comfortable lederhosen." According to the energy drink's advertisement campaign, "Frank's Energy Drink Kicks Butt," Gene Simmons of the rock band Kiss, is one of the passionate endorsers of the drink.
Providing Frank's workers with energy drink is like delivering chilling breeze from the . It is Stronach's way of playing it cool. The heat is on in Auburn Hills and the automotive industry in general. And a breeze of refreshing air is necessary to soothe the plight. Earlier, the Bush Administration has named a new manufacturing czar. Analysts in the industry said that he is certainly not full of hot air.
After leaving the post open for over three months, the Commerce Department named retired Rear Adm. William "Woody" Sutton as the new assistant secretary for manufacturing and services. But the appointment is still to be confirmed by the Senate.
It can be recalled that Al Frink left as manufacturing czar in December, one month before the Democrats took power in Congress. Frink was the first to hold the post that President Bush created during the 2004 campaign. The said post is in response to the condemnation that too many American manufacturing jobs had radically perished. The said subject is not new to Sutton.
Until February, Frink was president of the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, a trade group representing manufacturers of over 90 percent of North American-produced central air conditioning and commercial refrigeration equipment. Air conditioner manufacturers have experienced bumpy rides in the previous years, closing several major American factories and moving production abroad. Since 2000, America has lost about three million manufacturing jobs, and the state of Michigan has lost most amid a radical downsizing of the American auto industry.
An analyst stressed, "But we can hear Bush now: "You're doing a helluva job, Woody!" Did he make the wrong call?" He added, "Was GM's Paul Ballew, in his monthly conference call with analysts and reporters, trying to deflect attention from the automakers' down sales month or just striking a blow for marital bliss?"
In a phone interview with Ballew, he queried: "Do you have to get that, Rod?," referring to Lache, analyst at Wall Street. "No, I don't," Lache answered. "It's my wife." "Um, Rod, maybe you better take that," Ballew said. But Lache declined to take the advice.
