Cover Story -- The Best Managers: Top Managers of 1996

ROBERT J. EATON, AND ROBERT A. LUTZ

With Chairman and CEO ROBERT J. EATON, 56, and Vice-Chairman ROBERT A. LUTZ, 64, at the helm, Chrysler is leaving rivals in the dust. Red-hot truck designs have kept sales sizzling and made the No.3 carmaker No.1 in profits. And by cleaning up the balance sheet and pouring money into engineering and manufacturing, the pair may be the first in decades able to keep Chrysler from stalling out in a slowdown.