Fiat News: FCA's 5-Year Briefing To Not Feature Chrysler, Dodge, or Fiat

[William Maley]

Tomorrow will be Fiat Chrysler Automobile's final five year plan being presented under current CEO Sergio Marchionne. We reported on what is expected to be talked about yesterday in the rumor pile. Today, we have gotten a clear picture of what will be presented in the plan.

Automotive News found the schedule for the five-year presentation on a company website before being taken down. The schedule features sections for Jeep, Ram, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Autonomous Driving and Connectivity, and CO2 reduction. Not listed on the schedule were Chrysler, Dodge, and Fiat. This unsurprisingly sent a number of people into a tizzy as they see this as a possible hint that these brands are going bye-bye. An FCA spokeswoman said Chrysler and Dodge will be talked about in other presentations "as appropriate." We're not sure this inspires confidence.

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[riviera74]

FIAT deserves to die (at least in the USA).  As for Chrysler and Dodge, merge the two brands at this point.

[G. David Felt]

Add Alfa to the list that can die and should have never been brought back.

[daves87rs]

Well, I think we already knew this was coming......all but toast now.

Betting they sell the old stuff from both brands to the chinese to bring a few more bucks ....

[G. David Felt]

39 minutes ago, daves87rs said:

Well, I think we already knew this was coming......all but toast now.

Betting they sell the old stuff from both brands to the chinese to bring a few more bucks ....

I agree, at this point, I could see Sergio selling off Dodge, Chrysler and Fiat for pennies on the dollar to unload those brands and all associated to a chinese auto company wanting to get feet in the door for selling in America.

The only problem is Potus 45's trade war makes this unlikely to happen. Partial close down for various lame reasons coming from FCA.

FCA soon to be JRAM corporation

[daves87rs]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

I agree, at this point, I could see Sergio selling off Dodge, Chrysler and Fiat for pennies on the dollar to unload those brands and all associated to a chinese auto company wanting to get feet in the door for selling in America.

The only problem is Potus 45's trade war makes this unlikely to happen. Partial close down for various lame reasons coming from FCA.

FCA soon to be JRAM corporation

That is...if a company doesn't come in to buy the company for the Jeep and Ram brands first....pretty sure they would not keep anything else....maybe the dealership network....

[G. David Felt]

6 hours ago, daves87rs said:

That is...if a company doesn't come in to buy the company for the Jeep and Ram brands first....pretty sure they would not keep anything else....maybe the dealership network....

Sergio has been very clear about not selling off Jeep / Ram without the others. Jeep / Ram is what is keeping FCA afloat. Chinese wanting an established dealership network would be the only reason if cheap enough to buy Dodge / Chrysler / Fiat.

If Chinese did get approval to buy DCF, they would probably be pretty quick to swap out models with Chinese made versions rebadged as those brands.

I honestly see more value in Dodge / Chrysler than I do in Fiat.

[ccap41]

10 hours ago, dfelt said:

FCA soon to be JRAM corporation

They'll even screw that up. It'll be RJAM or some crap, lol. 

[smk4565]

What makes sense is to pull Fiat from the USA, build only the 500 and Panda for emerging markets like eastern Europe or South America.  Dodge and Chrysler I wouldn't put a dime into, and let the vehicles run out their current life cycle.  They could move the Pacifica to Ram and do cargo and passenger versions if they want to keep that van around.  I can see them getting rid of Dodge and Chrysler in 2022, they aren't global brands.  And if you chop FCA down to Jeep, Ram and Alfa/Maserati you are left with high margin product.

[G. David Felt]

7 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

What makes sense is to pull Fiat from the USA, build only the 500 and Panda for emerging markets like eastern Europe or South America.  Dodge and Chrysler I wouldn't put a dime into, and let the vehicles run out their current life cycle.  They could move the Pacifica to Ram and do cargo and passenger versions if they want to keep that van around.  I can see them getting rid of Dodge and Chrysler in 2022, they aren't global brands.  And if you chop FCA down to Jeep, Ram and Alfa/Maserati you are left with high margin product.

Alfa / Maserati are bleeding cash, Jeep / Ram is what is keeping FCA afloat.

[Robert Hall]

I've been looking at the slides..some vague mentions of future products (no surprise), no mention of Dodge, Chrysler, or Fiat (other than international market trucks in the Ram slide deck)...

 

https://www.fcagroup.com/en-US/investors/Pages/capital_markets_day_2018.aspx

[G. David Felt]

3 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

I've been looking at the slides..some vague mentions of future products (no surprise), no mention of Dodge, Chrysler, or Fiat (other than international market trucks in the Ram slide deck)...

 

https://www.fcagroup.com/en-US/investors/Pages/capital_markets_day_2018.aspx

Leaves more questions than answers and especially leaves it wide open for the new CEO to throw it out and do their own thing.

[daves87rs]

6 hours ago, dfelt said:

Sergio has been very clear about not selling off Jeep / Ram without the others. Jeep / Ram is what is keeping FCA afloat. Chinese wanting an established dealership network would be the only reason if cheap enough to buy Dodge / Chrysler / Fiat.

If Chinese did get approval to buy DCF, they would probably be pretty quick to swap out models with Chinese made versions rebadged as those brands.

I honestly see more value in Dodge / Chrysler than I do in Fiat.

Only value I see in FCA my friend is in Jeep and RAM, and keeping them close to the way they are now. The rest is pretty much throwaway which they could replace with their own lineup (would be cheaper as well) and use the current dealer network.......

[ccap41]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

Alfa / Maserati are bleeding cash, Jeep / Ram is what is keeping FCA afloat.

Personally, I'd keep Alfa around and if they can't also keep Maserati around then move Alfa onto those platforms as higher end cars as well. Then Alfa could be a full luxury line from the Giulia to whatever high end Maserati is out. 

I think having a luxury line will help them once they really sort things out. As much as some don't really like Alfa Romeo they're a good brand to keep as a whole for a luxury line with the Giula getting great compliments from professional reviewers. 

[smk4565]

3 hours ago, dfelt said:

Alfa / Maserati are bleeding cash, Jeep / Ram is what is keeping FCA afloat.

I find it hard to believe that they are bleeding money on Maseratis that cost $80-125,000 and haven’t been redesigned in forever, no matter how poorly they sell.  I looked at the product roadmap they put out for both, there is nothing in there to scare the German brands but I understand why FCA is trying, they see margin potential on high end cars. 

[Robert Hall]

Saw this on Allpar today..not sure how accurate it is (Allpar seems to have a lot of wild speculative fiction). FCA is supposedly working on an update the Charger and Challenger..

http://www.allpar.com/news/2018/06/dodge-working-on-significant-upgrade-to-current-challenger-and-charger-platform-40887

 

Edited June 2, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

18 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Saw this on Allpar today..not sure how accurate it is (Allpar seems to have a lot of wild speculative fiction). FCA is supposedly working on an update the Charger and Challenger..

http://www.allpar.com/news/2018/06/dodge-working-on-significant-upgrade-to-current-challenger-and-charger-platform-40887

 

Yeah, it’s supposed to be another revision of LX platform.  Really, if they just refreshed it and put the effort into the interior that they did with the Ram, they’d be fine. Put the new turbo 2.0 in there as a base engine, maybe eAssist the V6 and V8. The cars today are super solid and have all the latest tech available.

The possibility of their cancellation has renewed my interest in acquiring a 300.

[G. David Felt]

I really have to question just how realistic the FCA 5yr Road map is as looking at the last one, they only accomplished maybe 1/3 of that plan.

This plan is even more vague, so I have to figure half of the 1/3 accomplished from the last plan which means maybe 20% or less will really happen. ?