It’s too early to tell whether Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne can save that endangered automaker. But it is clear already that he knows how to use speeches to help turn his company around.  A month ago he spoke in New York to the National Automotive Dealer’s Association on (what else) transforming Chrysler. That speech is definitely worth a read – especially because it’s breath of fresh air after all the wease-ly,  responsibility-shirking remarks by Titans of Finance these days.

Marchionne acknowledges his industry’s failures (we “got into businesses we did not know how to run and, in doing so; we created clumsy bureaucracies that impeded innovation in what should have been our core expertise: making cars that consumers want to buy.”) He’s frank about how much Chrysler needs government help.He also lays out specific steps Chrysler is taking to turn things around (more fuel efficient cars, more R&D, better engines, etc) AND he sets out his vision for the revitalized company – (“a profound transformation, both in terms of quality and quantity.”)

One of the things I liked most about the speech is the clever way he addresses one of the biggest questions about the merger – can the conflicting cultures of a European company and an American one really be blended in a way that works?

To take on the skeptics, he does an extended riff on how “Bruce Springsteen showed us the power of change.” It’s not just a throwaway line: he talks about the Boss’s song structure and lyrics in a way that shows he (or his speechwriter) really is a fan. Subliminal message: if this Italian guy knows archetypical American music so well, maybe an Italian firm and an American one can work together to make and sell good cars.