[ti:Former Chrysler Chief Lee Iacocca Dies at 94] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.01]Lee Iacocca, a leader in the American automobile industry, died earlier this week in California. He was 94. [00:11.49]Iacocca was the son of Italian immigrants. [00:15.97]In his 32-year career, he helped launch some of the country's best-selling and most important vehicles. [00:25.49]They included the Ford Escort, the Ford Mustang and the minivan. [00:31.88]But he will be remembered mostly as the businessman who saved the Chrysler Corporation and made it profitable again. [00:42.26]In 1970, Iacocca became president of Ford Motor Company. [00:49.08]He famously fought with Chairman Henry Ford II, who later called the young man "conceited." [00:57.63]Ford fired Iacocca in 1978. [01:02.60]The following year, he became chairman of the Chrysler Corporation. [01:09.54]The business was collapsing due to $5 billion of debt. [01:16.39]Its manufacturing system was too large, and it only made big cars that the public did not want. [01:24.54]Banks would not loan Iacocca money. [01:28.21]So he worked with the United Auto Workers union. [01:33.20]Together, they persuaded the government to approve $1.5 billion in loan guarantees [01:41.77]that permitted Chrysler and its workers to continue to make cars. [01:47.87]Bud Liebler is a former Chrysler spokesman and once worked closely with Iacocca. [01:57.33]Liebler said of his former colleague, [02:00.67]"He went to Washington and made all these crazy promises, then he delivered on them." [02:07.12]Iacocca persuaded the unions to negotiate a lower salary. [02:14.18]He closed some factories and made smaller cars. [02:18.87]He spoke to the public in his TV advertisements. [02:23.26]In them, he said, "If you can find a better car, buy it!" [02:28.70]Iacocca also admitted Chrysler had made mistakes, but said the company had changed. [02:36.87]The plan worked. [02:39.40]Chrysler made cars that were not too costly, did not use too much gas and had space for six people. [02:47.64]In 1983, Chrysler paid back its government loans, with interest, seven years early. [02:56.98]That made him a hero for many Americans. [03:01.67]Later, Iacocca wrote two best-selling books and was once suggested as a presidential candidate. [03:08.98]His colleague Bud Liebler said of him, [03:12.26]"He sucked the air out of the room whenever he walked into it. [03:17.23]He always had something to say. He was a leader." [03:20.85]He also remembers that Iacocca could get angry if employees did something he did not like. [03:28.58]But a few minutes later Iacocca would act like nothing had happened. [03:33.60]"He used to beat me up, sometimes in public," Liebler remembered. [03:39.75]When people asked how he could put up with that, Liebler would answer: "He'll get over it." [03:46.74]In recent years, Iacocca was fighting Parkinson's disease. [03:52.43]But Liebler was not sure of the cause of death. [03:56.40]I'm Susan Shand. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM