By Brendan Moore
11.05.2009
Chrysler officials started the presentation of the ambitious five-year plan for turning the beleaguered company around yesterday and finished up today, which means the Fiat and Chrysler executives on hand made their case for a cumulative 8+ hours.
Large PowerPoint presentations were given to the press, and frankly, Chrysler made available just a ton of material.
Let’s see if we can get the high points:
Chrysler admitted they’ve been making some pretty lousy vehicles with crappy quality for a long time. They are also aware that recent product lineup has failed from an attractiveness perspective, particularly in cars. They hope the American public will give the new Chrysler a chance to show how much things have changed.
Sergio Marchionne, Fiat and Chrysler CEO, says he wants a compelling brand and compelling products in the future for Chrysler.
Courtesy of Fiat’s distribution system elsewhere in the world, Chrysler now will be much more of an international brand. Chrysler sales outside of North America will increase by over 400% by 2014.
In Europe, however, there will be no more Chrysler brand, only Jeep. There will be Dodge and Chrysler vehicles sold in Europe, but almost all of those will be sold as Lancias, with an occasional Fiat thrown in. Lancia has needed a product infusion and brand refresher of its own for many years, so this move has benefits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Chrysler will have an operating profit of $5 billion USD by 2014. Chrysler’s US sales will double by then. Chrysler will break even from a profit perspective by 2010.
All US dealers will have three brands by 2011.
By 2014, 56% of Chrysler’s vehicles will be on Fiat platforms. The plan is for the vehicles to be American on the outside, and Fiats on the inside.
Marchionne stated the Chrysler brand will be the main brand under Fiat.
Chrysler engineering will align with Fiat engineering. Fiat and Chrysler will share almost 70% of suppliers and Fiat’s manufacturing system will be used by Chrysler plants as soon as practical. All Chrysler vehicles in the future will have better quality when they launch, and better tracking of quality issues. The Fiat dual-clutch transmission, which debuted to rave reviews in Europe, is coming to North America and will be in Chrysler vehicles, says Fiat.
There is a new Chrysler logo that has been approved, but it isn’t known at this time what the plans are for use.
There is a schedule of redesigns and “freshenings” that will occur in the current Chrysler LLC cars and trucks over the next few years, before the Fiat platforms hit en masse – we will cover those in a separate piece later today.
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OK, I’ll play this game.
Let’s suppose the boys from Fiat are correct, and Chrysler sales go through the roof when Chryslers are actually Fiats.
What about between now and then? Will the simple massaging of the current platforms be enough to keep Chrysler afloat?
Am I the ony one who thinks that the Chrysler name is so tainted that Fiat should just kill the Chrysler marque and just sell Dodges, Jeeps, and Fiats in the US.
The name Jeep conjures up images of the Wrangler and of road performance. Dodge conjures up images of solid trucks and blue collar cars.
The word Chrysler conjures up images of the Seabring and government bailouts.
God, I hope this doesn’t kill Lancia.
Lancia needs some TLC, but I don’t want the medicine to kill the patient.
Mark in AZ -
No, you’re not alone in that viewpoint. Chrysler is damaged goods. Jeep, not at all. Dodge, strong with trucks. Chrysler, hang it up.
I also think of the Sebring now when I think of Chrysler. What a loathsome car it is!
I drove a rental Sebring for two weeks (two weeks!) while on a work assignment at one of my company’s subsidiaries, and it was just hell. I get a mild case of the shakes now every time I see one go by in traffic.
That car did a lot of brand damage to Chrysler. The people responsible for the Sebring should have lost their jobs by now. I hope Fiat has given them the broom.
Other people must have the same reaction I do when they hear “five year plan” and they immediately think of the former U.S.S.R. Those guys were always cranking out a new five year plan.