Mark Norman has been chairman, president and chief executive officer of DaimlerChrysler Canada since Jan. 1, 2004.

Before his appointment, he was vice-president, sales and marketing operations for parent DaimlerChrysler Corp.

He joined DaimlerChrysler in November, 2001, after nearly 10 years at Ford Motor Co. Born in Chicago, he received a BA (Economics) from Rice University and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Norman, 37, and his wife have three children.

Vaughan: The Canadian-built Chrysler 300C is setting sales records in North America and selling out in nearly every other world market. Can I call this the car that saved Brampton?

Norman: You can call it the car that saved Brampton, you can call it the Car of the Year for Motor Trend and for Money Magazine and What Women Want in Good Housekeeping; just remember to call it.

Vaughan: But what would you have done with the Brampton factory without the 300C, because overcapacity is a big issue in this industry?

Norman: That's a good question, because overcapacity is a huge issue and that's why we're excited that Brampton is the lead plant for us, not just in the 300C but also for the Dodge Magnum and the Dodge Charger that's coming out next year.

There's flexibility built into Brampton and that feeds the product renaissance in Chrysler Group. And we're proud of what Windsor's doing in minivans and the Pacifica. So there's a product renaissance that starts in Canada.

Vaughan: It was pretty gutsy to go back to rear-wheel drive for these new cars. I was surprised you did it.

Norman: It really was, but I tell you, with ESP, the Electronic Stability Program, being standard on every 300C sold in Canada, I can throw somebody the keys who has never driven a rear-wheel-drive car, or hasn't driven one for years, and say "don't worry" whether it's raining, it's snowing. No problem.

It's safer with balanced handling, and that's been key to its success in the marketplace. And it's a real strength of the Daimler Chrysler merger to say we've got the technology in rear-wheel drive, in body engineering, in North America power train, in North American styling to really bring the strength of the global corporation together on this car.

Vaughan: So how much Mercedes-Benz is there in this one?

Norman: I think there have been estimates of 20 per cent but the key isn't in the percentages; it's in how the various different pieces come together in a holistic, integrated solution. It's exciting.

Vaughan: You are a manufacturer north of the border. The border can get plugged, it can be closed for security reasons. How significant is the Canadian-U.S. border for a Canadian-based manufacturer or parts supplier?

Norman: We produce two and a half times as many cars in Canada as we sell in Canada. But the people who see the border issue first are the suppliers. And our suppliers have done a great job managing variability and lead times.

Frankly, there's a perception that things are worse than they are and that delays tie us up all the time. It's that 1 per cent that can spike and that gets everybody out of sorts. It drives volatility into the business, which isn't good for our plants.

Vaughan: A lot of the southern U.S. states are pitching the industry by saying you should build factories in the South because you don't want to go across the Canada-U.S. border.

Norman: That's a huge point. It's not just Canada that's involved here. It's a northern cluster. It's manufacturing and parts development from Illinois through Ohio, south as far as Tennessee, that's all interrelated with manufacturing operations in Ontario and Quebec.

It's the whole northern cluster that's at risk here. If there's any delay in the flow of goods and labour, material and capital within that cluster, it can go somewhere else. Whether that's the southern United States or Central America or Asia, who knows? There's a lot at stake here, not just manufacturers in Ontario.

Vaughan: The Canadian dollar has gone up in a big hurry. What are the implications for you at Chrysler of Canada of an 84- or 85-cent dollar, because I guess when you came to this job it was in the low 60s.

Norman: From the demand side here in Canada, there's more revenue from the vehicles we sell in Canada and there's more cost in the vehicles we produce in Canada. So we're fairly naturally hedged in that regard.

But if you have a tool-and-die company in Ontario that has U.S.-dollar denominated prices and the Canadian dollar goes up 18 or 20 per cent, your margins are compressed by that amount. What has to happen? You have to drive productivity gains. You might even drive some layoffs or salary compression.

Michael Vaughan Live is on at 6 to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday on Report on Business Television.