Fiat/Chrysler [again]

[davidb]

Appears Fiat has laid down the law to Chrysler: your cars are
going bye-bye. Well current models. Gonna be an odd, new
company. Lotsa Dodge trucks, a few Jeeps, newly designed
Chrysler car[s] in the future but in the near term only cars
will be Fiats & Alfas. So in several yrs. you walk into a Fiat/
Chrysler dealership & can't decide whether you want a double
axle V-10 diesel Dodge Ram pick-em-up or that cute little Fiat
500 on the showroom floor. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
< www.motorauthority.com >

[OperaHawk]

Yeah - interesting.

What I read on Allpar is that Dodge will be muscle cars and rebadged Fiat/Lancias (also w/the Caravan disappearing), the new Ram division will be trucks and sport-utes, Jeep will remain, well, Jeep (w/the PandaCross as its low-end economy model), and - strangest of all - Chrysler will be on an equal with Chevrolet. The high-end will be Alfa/Lancia, as a 'halo' brand.

This completely negates the last comment from the Chrysler administration, saying that it would be competing with Cadillac.

Don't know if I'm happy with this, but we'll see... Sergio knows he has a huge fan base in MoPar fans, and he doesn't want to make them angry, so that's why he's keeping the muscle cars. The real question is whether the American public will embrace the Fiat, Inc. vehicles and whether the talking heads in Italy follow up everything they do with world-class service and support.

The earliest we'll see things will be maybe mid-2010. The real changes will come on board in 2012, and they have to keep Chrysler afloat until then.

We'll see...

SBJ

[John Allen]

Yeah - interesting.
and - strangest of all - Chrysler will be on an equal with Chevrolet. The high-end will be Alfa/Lancia, as a 'halo' brand.

This completely negates the last comment from the Chrysler administration, saying that it would be competing with Cadillac.

Like I said in an earlier post.... I don't think the Italians understand the American market (or what the difference is between a Chevy and a Caddy).

[LanciaDave]

John Allen wrote: Like I said in an earlier post.... I don't think the Italians understand the American market (or what the difference is between a Chevy and a Caddy).

You may have a point on the Italians understanding the American market, especially if you look at certain past experiences. Fiat/Lancia, and later Alfa's departures along with numerous other mistakes (ie taking responsibility for its dealer network, training, service, and reliability/liability, etc.).
Although at other times they've done well. The 124 Spyder in the 70's, small successes with Lancia in 50's & 60's, though many weren't pleased for one reason or another - more Beta's sold here than all previous cars combined, Fiat here early in the 20th century, Maserati's resurgance lately, Ferrari from the 60's or at least late 70's to date.

But I really don't think its fair to say they don't know the difference between Chevy and Cadillac. That's like saying they don't know the difference between a Fiat Panda and a Lancia Thesis.
You may not agree with all the decisions they make, but I don't think it's fair to imply they are either stupid or uninformed. A short time ago GM paid 2 billion to avoid buying Fiat right before gas prices went throught the roof. Now Fiat owns a bankrupt Chrysler while a bankrupt GM insists they can just keep doing the same thing and it will turn out better this time.... maybe if they just get a little back from the employees & retirees.... never mind better designs, better quality, better service, etc.

I anxiously await seeing how this will all turn out. Hopefully well for all. And with some nice car designs being well produced. I hope to be able to own a new 500 before too long. Possibly an Abarth. Maybe they'll even make that 2 cyl. turbo. If you could have a 2000 pound car with a 100 horsepower that got 50 or 60mpg to commute in, that would be great. Although I think handling needs to be more like an Abarth than a base 500. Cross your fingers, we'll see how it all goes.

Hey, when I get one, I'll come up and take you for a ride in it, John. You can take me for a ride in one of your interesting cars in return. I'm excited now. Hopefully I'll see you within a couple years or so.

Dave Decker

[LanciaDave]

Here's the plan outline. We should be able to buy a 500 in a year or so.

<http://tinyurl.com/yeu6gpo>

Enjoy,
Dave