When the big German auto company Daimler 1)took over Chrysler, it was 2)billed as a great marriage for the new global economy: DaimlerChrysler. And that was just about the last piece of optimistic news out of the merger. It’s been straight 3)downhill since then and tonight, DaimlerChrysler says it will have to cut 26,000 jobs to survive. A 4)drastic action with no guarantees, especially in a slowing economy. Industry analyst Jim Hall says no wonder there are job cuts. “It was not a surprise but it was shocking. It wasn’t a surprise because they’ve been hit pretty hard with 5)a bunch of new model launches that haven’t gone really well for them. Costs going up and then 6)on top of it, a market that’s in 7)decline from the volume 8)standpoint. “A company 9)riding high just a few short years ago. Now suddenly losing its longtime 10)dominance in mini vans to competition from Honda’s 11)Odyssey. Losing out too on the popularity of its new PT Cruiser because it misjudged demand and now can’t make enough. And struggling to 12)get along with its new German bosses. “On top of the issue of basically new owners, you also have two different corporate cultures and language. And all of those things sort of worked together to make it much difficult to 13)turn it around”