Iacocca's Tightrope Act

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and tends to tire easily. During the turmoil of congressional hearings in 1979, he nearly passed out in a Capitol Hill restaurant, though he makes light of the incident now. Says Mary lacocca: "Lee's been through hell. He didn't realize how bad it was at Chrysler, or he would never have gone."

Taking a look back at his 37 years in the automobile business, lacocca reflected not long ago: "I don't know what the hell I rushed for. It's a long race. I was trying to sprint all the time. Maybe if I had to do it again I'd slow down a little." The thought is so outlandish that not even Lee lacocca can sell it.

—By Alexander L. Taylor III. Reported by Michael Moritz and Paul A. Witteman/ Detroit and Barrett Seaman/Washington

-Lynn Townsend was Chrysler chairman from 1967 to 1975. - Ranked by cars and trucks produced in 1981, the 15 largest vehicle manufacturers in the world are: GM, 6,240,380; Ford, 3,730,319; Toyota, 3,220,418; Nissan, 3,100,968; Volkswagen-Audi, 2,210,666; Renault, 1,810,365; Peugeot-Citroen-Talbot, 1,593,943; Fiat, 1,209,819; Toyo Kogyo (Mazda), 1,176,608; Mitsubishi, 1,094,793; Honda, 1,008,927; Chrysler, 1,002,464; Lada (U.S.S.R.), 830,000; Daimler-Benz, 712,315; Suzuki, 578,876.

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