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Much of the press coverage of the takeover of Chrysler by Cerberus Capital Management L.P. has focused on what it means for Detroit and Stuttgart. Allow us please to mark what it means for New York City.

When the Chrysler Building on 42nd Street opened in 1930 it was the tallest in the city. The building's decorations evoke hood ornaments and radiator caps to this day. But when it opened, it was the headquarters of Walter P. Chrysler's automobile company.

Chrysler's headquarters later moved to Highland Park and then Auburn Hills, Michigan, and then Stuttgart. But the company stayed in touch with its New York heritage by producing, from 1938 to 1995, a model known as the Chrysler New Yorker, which was joined at times by a model known as the Fifth Avenue. Speaking of Fifth Avenue, it is home to the General Motors building, which itself was the headquarters for all of GM's overseas operation until 1978, when they were consolidated in Detroit.

All of which is simply to state that New York has a fine tradition of being a center for the automotive business, and that the takeover of Chrysler by Cerberus, which is based in New York City just a few blocks from the Chrysler building, returns the business to its rightful home. Welcome back.