I was talking with a friend at Stellantis a while back, and they straight-up said they were looking forward to the next regime, whatever may come. With the surprise announcement from Stellantis that CEO Carlos Tavares is resigning, it’s time to consider what can be done to save the American brands of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Eagle, and Ram. Well, maybe not Eagle.
And what of Europe? What should the rest of the brands (Fiat, Lancia, Alfa, Maserati, et cetera) do? I’ve got some thoughts about how new interim boss John Elkann can start to piece the company back together if that’s what he wants.
Why did Tavares leave? Yesterday, I didn’t have an answer, today it’s becoming a little clearer how the final moments played out in the Stellantis bunker somewhere in Amsterdam. It’ll give me a chance to review his term as CEO and make an offer to any other brand that might be interested in picking up his term.
Stellantis Should Move Its Headquarters To Detroit Or Drop North America All Together
When Fiat picked up the various Chrysler brands for a song, the newly merged Fiat Chrysler (FCA) made sure people knew and understood that it was still an American company. Reeling from two failed wars and an economy that was made out of soggy gingerbread, America in the late aughts could be a depressing place. The young company embraced the new administration’s message of hope and Detroit’s underdog spirit to create the “Imported from Detroit” campaign.
It worked. We believed Eminem when he said the vehicles would reflect American attitudes and tastes, even if the guy who ran the company was suddenly a chainsmoking, sweater-wearing Italian. In fact, then-CEO Sergio Marchionne was a constant fixture in North America who was largely liked and accepted by American journalists, execs, and employees.
Carlos Tavares never found that acceptance. A successful CEO in Europe, Tavares stayed mostly European. As head of Opel and Peugeot, Tavares was seen as a smart guy who saw the coming changes to the global car market and began to make the hard decisions necessary to keep those brands afloat long enough to eventually merge with FCA to create Stellantis.
In fairness to Tavares, this was Marchionne’s dream as well. Fiat always wanted to be a bigger global player, and Tavares realized Marchonne’s vision. Unfortunately, Tavares was never equipped to make the deal work. In his selection of managers, his reduction of engineering/product development in Michigan, and his constant bickering with suppliers/workers/governments, Tavares understood the potential of a combined global automaker but never quite understood what to do with it.
In the interim, market share in North America has taken a nosedive, and with it the profits needed to sustain the failing European operation (Stellantis lost a third of its share in Europe since Tavares took over, and Fiat is down by half to just 1.8% of Europe’s total market). Earlier this year I wrote that I didn’t think Stellantis, though coming off a profitable year, would be able to stick the landing. It clearly didn’t.
What can be done? I think Stellantis has two choices:
- Become a more American company
- Spin off the American brands
America needs a fourth major automaker, and Jeep is one of the strongest brands in the world, other than maybe Tesla or Ferrari. IF Stellantis wants to keep the American arm it needs to invest in making good products with American engineers, marketers, and designers. Tavares arrogantly assumed he could outsource much of the work to Europe, Brazil, and India.
In the impending Trump era, it’s clear that there’s going to be an industrial policy here that favors American production. Honestly, even if Harris had been elected, I think this was going to be the case. Rather than fight it, Stellantis needs to embrace it with vehicles and concepts that make the various brands fit within an American portfolio and not a ‘House of Brands’ that also includes Alfa, Fiat, and Maserati.
In fact, Fiat, Alfa, and Maserati have to leave North America. It was a fun experiment and it didn’t work. Oh well.
Dodge needs new products, badly, and it needs them to cover the entry-level of the market that the Korean and Japanese automakers are dominating. Ram needs to become a part of Dodge. While the Wagoneer and Wagoneer S can stay, Jeep needs to offer a fuller and better (newer!) range of crossovers on the lower/middle end of the market. Chrysler needs some flagships and, in fact, Chrysler should have been the EV brand all along while Pacifica should become the Dodge Grand Caravan again. That’s three brands, all distinct, that make sense. Make Ralph Gilles CEO. Easy. Done.
If Stellantis can’t do that, it should just let the American brands become a new company as it did with Ferrari. It worked out for Ferrari and it can work out for the newly re-minted Chrysler Corporation (with Ralph Gilles as CEO, just saying). It’s probably a bad time to become a public company, so I’m not sure how that’ll work, but perhaps there’s enough private capital out there to try.
What About The Rest Of The Brand?
John Elkann, pictured above with his brother Lapo and his sister Ginvera, is the Chair of Stellantis, CEO of Ferrari/Stellantis shareholder Exor. He’s also the grandson of famous Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli and has long operated as the family leader following the death of his uncle.
He’s going to be running the company in the interim, and he’s going to have to help pick a leader with a vision for Stellantis. I’ve explained what I, a humble blogger, think needs to be done in North America. What about Europe?
Sell Peugeot and Citroën to Renault. Just get rid of it. It’ll make everyone happier and Renault has a hot hand right now. Sell Maserati to a Chinese automaker. Keep Alfa Romeo and let it be a sister brand to Ferrari so Ferrari dealers can get a car to its clients while its clients wait two years for a Ferrari. Fiat can be an Italian brand again, and one with eyes on cheaper cars in Europe and South America. OR, just sell that as well.
Honestly, the car business is an old business and you’ve already got Ferrari. What do you even want Fiat for? Let that be someone else’s problem.
Carlos Tavares Took The Money And Ran Away
Friends, readers, CJDR dealers, lend me your ears. I come to bury Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, not praise him. The capital expenditures men do live after them; the higher margin quarters often interred with their bones. So let it be with Carlos.
Tavares, not pictured above, is an interesting character. His reputation coming into the Stellantis deal was stellar. As longtime auto exec Dr. Andy Palmer put it, “Carlos is perhaps the most professional car guy I’ve worked with. He’s created some of the most iconic cars, including the Renault Megane series. That Stellantis exists at all is all down to Carlos.” He also added that Carlos is also a “bloody good driver.”
Other than Elon Musk, Carlos Tavares is probably the highest-paid automotive CEO in the world, having made about $40 million in 2023. He did it by driving margins up on cars in America by squeezing out the same old products at a much higher price to consumers who didn’t have much of a choice. It worked until it didn’t and, unlike his former boss Carlos Ghosn, it seems like Tavares is going to get out with the money. His reputation? That’s another story and seems related to why Tavares left.
Here’s what Reuters is reporting, though I haven’t heard the Tavares side of it yet:
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that tensions grew after the board felt Tavares was moving too quickly and focusing on near-term solutions to save his reputation, not working in the best interests of the company.
The sudden announcement on Sunday indicated that the fissures between the board and Tavares had to be severe, given that the parties decided it was better to operate with no CEO on a short-term basis, Bernstein analysts said.
Yikes. Once the company announced it wasn’t going to pick up the Tavares contract it didn’t really make sense to keep him on as his motivations would be either to make as much money as possible or, as indicated above, try to make himself look better.
Here’s the kicker on that article, by the way:
“Tavares is leaving behind a mess of painful layoffs and overpriced vehicles sitting on dealership lots,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement.
Double yikes.
Someone, Please Hire Carlos Tavares
I’ve been doing this bit with Carlos Tavares, pictured above, since at least February. The basic premise of the joke is that the actor Jon Lovitz tends to play characters who are always willing to say or do anything to get an advantage over other people.
I truly enjoy this bit and would like to see it continue. I also think Tavares blundered this, but he does have a great history and loves old cars.
So here’s my deal: If you’re a struggling automaker, an upstart firm, or any other carmaker in need of a CEO, please hire Carlos. If only to keep this joke going I will write more about KTM or Polestar or whatever way more than I would if you hired some normal MBA exec person.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
With a shoutout to SWG, here’s a little Paul Simon from the excellent “Graceland” doing “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes.”
The Big Question
Do you also agree that Ralph Gilles should take over Stellantis? If not Ralph, then who would you pick?
I’m sorry, but there are some terrible takes here. Stop selling all of the Italian brands in North America? Alfa and Maserati are supposed to be low volume, and Fiat’s woes are the same as Chrysler’s: great company, sad lineup. Sell off Peugeot and Citroen to Renault? Renault may be hot at the moment, but I don’t see how taking on two more companies will do anything but hurt them, not to mention the trust issues of effectively having only one French automaker.
Setting aside the obvious industrial issues, the big problems are their incredibly thin lineups, and the uncertain nature of the brands. The name Chrysler hasn’t meant anything for years. Fiat is a caricature of its former self. Dodge is in the middle of an identity crisis. Jeep has been on quite a come up, but only at the top end of the market, with the bottom falling out. At least Ram is steady, but I’m almost worried that’s given them a false sense of security. Alfa & Maserati, from what little I’ve seen, seem to be getting better and better, but they need to double down on their premium nature if they want people with exotic car money to take them seriously. Let Fiat be the mass market import to compete with the likes of Kia and Honda, not just that company that sells cute little drivable jelly beans (love them or not, the 500 family is a niche one).
For all the comments about folding Ram back into Dodge – While I agree from a marketing perspective, how much actual cost is there to promote this brand? This is just badge engineering as far as I’m concerned. I worked in powertrain engineering at FCA – the people tuning the Pentastar or 5.7 Hemi were all on the same team and worked together, regardless of which platform it went into.
I am not sure what to do about the American brands. The value of a company isn’t just in brands, factories, and patents. It’s also in the people that actually work there. Like so many other FCA US employees, I have left since Stellantis . Thankfully by my own choice. But who wants an engineering company with no engineers or processes still in place?
It’d be interesting to pick the brain of someone that was there in 2007 for the Cerberus buy, and has made it to today to have their perspective
Peugeot and Citroën are Stellantis heart and soul. Sell them? Impossible. Fiat, also not happening. Maybe Stellantis should concentrate more on markets outside of North America and just let Chrysler and Dodge die off. Jeep, maybe they can sell that; it may have some life left in it. Maybe RAM too. Chrysler and Dodge, I don’t think it’s worth it. They have run their course. Let’s just Plymouth them.
Let’s be real here for a moment. Did anyone think Stellantis would have a positive outcome in the US market?
I think there could have been a chance if they had stuck to a model of euro/global, and US. We have seen is that none of the smaller global market cars that are produced come to the US in a segment that is underserved. Look at the Maverick- Why in the heck did they not bring in a global platform that could compete with it? They put out the Rampage for the South American market. The US market space just got devoured by Ford, and has now got a friend in Hyundai with the Santa Cruz. These are rookie mistakes, that a company that wants to make profits should have been aware of and tossed some models at. Ignoring the US market and the not right place- right time pushing of cars here doomed them.
The Ram truck was pushed as brand by FCA, and it only ever had the truck. It wasn’t GMC with several rebranded upmarket SUVs and a truck line. It was left undeveloped.
The Dodge brand was the performance brand, but still with a mediocre lineup and only two real players in the market (Charger/Challenger). To be fair, they did milk the Journey platform for all it was worth, and people did buy it for the cheap three row crossover it was. The Durango hanging around even after the WK2 jeep died for the same reasons- tooling was paid for and it was just profit for three rows.
Jeep has gotten too overpriced and low quality. I cant say i was impressed with the JL when i was looking for a used Wrangler. I got more value out a 2017 jk with 96k on the odometer thana a 2018 JL similarly equipped.
Chrysler was left to languish with two models that basically turned profit because of the tooling was paid for with the 300, and they developed the Pacifica as a Caravan replacement, and then throw the Voyager name on it in the last few years to add another model to the brand.
Really, what needs to happen is have the brands each with their own specific niche- Chrysler is the upscale brand- target it at the Caddy buyers. If your going to keep RAM, then its trucks and SUVS, but then make it diverse in it ‘s offerings. Dodge- keep it the performance brand, but again make it diverse.
To close out, stop the absurdity that you should shouldn’t build cars and only make SUVs. You need to get people into your brand somehow, and lets be honest, cars are the gateway drug to bigger things. But you have to make something that isn’t garbage quality. It’s possible to make an OK car at an OK price that get people into your brand. It should get them in the Dodge, and then as they age up, they go to Ram or Chrysler. Plymouth was the budget brand, and they killed that off because it was easier to ignore it than to develop it…maybe bring that back as the entry level again?
Absolutely keep Alfa. Fewer dealerships. Every dealership must evoke the art and passion of the brand.
Reverse the elevation of Ram as a brand. It’s rightful place is part of Dodge.
Expand lineup at Chrysler to five models. Minivan, SUV compact, SUV midsize, near luxury wagon and sedan. Badge engineer Peugot models. All of them must offer hybrid or EV.
Let Jeep fix Jeep. The solution must be from North America.
There is no future for FIAT. Bye Tony.
Allow Maserati to fail or succeed on it’s own merit. It funds itself or it’s gone.
First, put Ram back as part of Dodge. Then do platform sharing with distinct branding. Dodge is the fun, affordable brand. Chrysler is the slightly upmarket brand for older people (think Buick who has had a resurgence lately). Jeep is the adventure / outdoors brand.
For vehicles, make a Dakota version of the Gladiator. The van becomes the Chrysler Town and Coutry, All three get a version of the Grand Cherokee in line with the branding and pricing – Durango with the base model (the Durango was essentially the same price as the GC but more dated looking so no one wanted it), the Chrysler Pacifica with a more restrained design (think Cadillac mixed with VW) which only comes with leather seats, etc. It also has a top of the line trim, like GMCs Denali or Buick’s Avenir. Take the new Cherokee and do the same. Create a compact SUV for all three. Create a successor for the 300 that is still RWD and gives a more exciting option to the Accord / Camry / Altima.
For engineering, focus on the known issues – show the public you want to be a benchmark company. Redesign and fire everyone involved in the TIPM. Work on electrical reliability. Hire people who interact with owners forums, repair shops, and social media to see what people are complaining about. Update the Pentastar to fix the small issues like the oil cooler. Create a smaller (say 2.8-3.0L) twin turbo version of the Pentastar as an upgrade option across the line. Partner with someone like Nissan to build a good 2.0L 4-cylinder and create a turbo version of it. Redesign and bring back the Hemi V-8 (fixing the cam/lifter wear issues).
For marketing, focus on engineering – make commercials about nerds with pocket protectors pushing be-suited MBAs out of meetings looking at spreadsheets to talk about design over dollars. Make a commercial starting with a WWII Jeep “we designed what American soldiers needed to win”, then a rocket blasting off “we designed what Americans needed to put a man on the moon”, then an early Chrysler minivan “we designed what American families needed.” Soldiers, NASA engineers, and a typical family stand together in front of an American flag – “Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep – Designed for America”.
This.
Great song selection, Matt! You have excellent taste in music and thanks for the shout-out.
After a quick look at the Dodge and Chrysler websites, my first suggestion would be to offer cars for sale. They are car companies with no cars for sale.
Chrysler offers 3 cars on their website, of which two are hybrid and non-hybrid versions of the same car and the other was discontinued after the 2023 model.
Dodge offers 4 cars on their website, of which 2 were discontinued after the 2023 model.
Excellent advice!
Chapter 7, followed by a competitor buying out two or three suppliers of critical keep-them-on-the-road parts and discontinuing them and destroying existing stocks. This will get their cars off the road faster so you can sell their customers new cars.
Except that cursory searching says the manufacturers are required to supply parts for their cars for 10 years (or so).
At this point I just don’t think there’s any saving most of what’s left of Chrysler/Dodge, almost bankrupt in the 80s saved by the K car and Minivan. Mid-late 80s had Diamond-Star motors as a thing, then the Mercedes “merger” in the late 90s, then the bailout Cerberus got them, then FCA, then Stellantis, now who knows what.
Ram makes money because trucks, but without some other cars to help with fuel economy requirements that’s not gonna work. Maybe Jeep can survive as it’s own thing, or become some niche thing like Scout.
It’s really a sad time, but it’s been a really slow painful to watch death, this from a former Neon/PT Cruiser/Charger owner, I liked how cheap but comfortable their cars were, now they aren’t cheap to buy, but still kind of cheap.
My WL Trailhawk has been into the dealer so many times at this point. Things just keep breaking. I will not be buying a Jeep ever again and with the way these things are still being priced, I don’t see why anyone else should. Our local Jeep dealer has been sitting on the same overpriced wranglers for months now. Even with discounts nobody will touch them.
“When Fiat picked up the various Chrysler brands for a song, the newly merged Fiat Chrysler (FCA) made sure people knew and understood that it was still an American company.”
Yeah but under FCA, the worldwide headquarters was in the EU, not in the US. So for all intents and purposes, it was as ‘American’ as Honda or Toyota.
“Do you also agree that Ralph Gilles should take over Stellantis?”
Yes. But have him focus on North America and reviving Dodge and Chrysler… and putting Ram back under Dodge.
And make Dodge a mass market brand again designed to go against Chevy, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, etc.
And have Chrysler go back to being more luxurious versions of select Dodge vehicles.
And that means the Dodge Caravan and Journey would be back. The Chrysler Pacifica continues as a premium vehicle. And the Chrysler Voyager gets chopped… at least in North America.
And he should put someone under him in charge of EU operations.
And then maybe have other regional leads who understand what works and doesn’t work in given regions.
And have someone dedicated to growing Stellantis’ business in China… because right now, Stellantis is nowwhere in China. They had some success there in the past… but they didn’t move with the times (no competitive BEVs). And recently they’re trying to buy their way back into relevancy by buying Leapmotor. But Leapmotor is still a relative bit player in the Chinese market… let alone anywhere else. They only sold 144,000 vehicles in 2023.
And part of the plan should be to rationalize what brands should be in what markets… which is where input from the regional leads come in.
And part of that plan would be giving the Fiat brand the boot in Canada and the USA… or use the Fiat brand to bring over affordable Chinese-made or Chinese-Designed BEV (and assembled in a low-cost place that isn’t getting hit with the Trump Tariffs)
Maybe a bit too much CP vs NP, but hear me out:
Tesla buys the American brands.
They are flush with cash. They need to diversify heading into a Republican/Trump “drill baby drill” presidency, whose supporters are typically against electric vehicles though are ironically fine with Elon. They can then start to leverage the automotive industry infrastructure, start to push out some dealers, and also work to share tech. The Ram and Jeep brand stans would fit in with the Tesla stans.
Would that create too big of a company? Doesn’t matter if you’re friends with the Administration. And what happens in a few years when Tesla or Elon needs more cash? Just sell them off when you’re done with them, just like all the CDJR predecessors. As long as the Stans are embraced rather than pushed away à la Twitter/X, it seems like a win-win.
The only people I ever see complaining about the politics of Teslas, or any EVs for that matter, are those on the Left, constructing strawmen of the Right.
Meanwhile, pretty much all of my acquaintances who own Teslas do so because the Model 3 was (still is?) about the best deal going for cheap reliable transportation. With the rebate it was cheaper than almost anything else on the market, and with cheap power it costs virtually nothing to run. Like, it’s the economy, stupid. Most ordinary people really do not overthink the politics of companies they are buying from.
But Tesla isn’t a car company anymore, right? According to their boss at least.
This isn’t something he said a decade ago, it was just earlier this year. So I don’t see why Tesla would buy a traditional automaker. I also don’t think the cultures would mesh well. Tesla is just too different from your legacy companies.
All the US brands pair with an EV company to immediately solve that gap in product. Go Big. Go Tesla.
Ralph should not be given the reigns.
He’s a phenomenal car designer, but do you remember the time he ran Dodge and then SRT? Yeah, most don’t. He was CEO of Dodge for a year, SRT for 4. Dodge already had its own plans when got in, and he didn’t decide anything after. Under SRT, all the development money he would’ve gotten went to Alfa and Maserati, leaving the SRT idea DOA. Ralph didn’t even do bad; he just didn’t do anything much. He’s a car designer at heart, and he’s great at it, so he should stay right where he’s the most comfortable and valuable.
It doesn’t matter who runs CDJR if it’s ran by some company like just another Buick, Acura, GMC, Lincoln…. brands who just do what they’re told, no questions asked.
CDJR needs to be more Ferrari or Audi. Let the company dictate what they build and make more their market and fund them for it. If they commit to it, then the CEO they chose is important. And if that’s the case, see if you give those reigns to Tim K. I’m sure being given autonomy to build up CDJR with a massive budget would be very inciting to a guy like him. If not, then the search gets more interesting.
The Italian makers can stay, but they need to reinvent the dealership experience. My local Alfa/Maserati dealership looks like it’s shut, even with cars inside and out. It’s attached to a BMW/Mini dealership and you’d think that it was owned by 2 different companies. It’s the same thing with my local CDJR dealer having a Fiat wing. It’s been dead for some time, but even when there was 3 500’s and the 124, you wouldn’t have even known they sold them.
Everyone has an idea on how to save Stellantis, but I think the easiest way to save them in the US is to consolidate and create a Ford or GM style Hierarchy.
Make Dodge the low man brand, for everyone. Offer competitive SUV’s and sporty cars that people can drive reliably and get a good deal on to undercut Ford and GM.
Make Chrysler the “Buick” of Stellantis. Offer the Dodge models with more standard options, features, and “luxury” to the person who wants to move up from a Dodge after getting a management position at the bank.
Make either Maserati or Alfa Romeo the “Cadillac” of Stellantis. Offer the highest trim features and sporty SUV’s and cars. Can’t have them both, so look at which brand sells best and holds the most value with buyers. Take the lower brand cars, slap a Trident on it and make it different enough that the average shmuck thinks he’s buying a piece of “Italia” when he gets into his SUV.
Make Jeep the “GMC” of Stellantis. Offer the off-road lifestyle in both raw and rugged along with luxury and comfort. Make the Wagoneer the preferred choice over the Suburban/Yukon buy selling the off-road life in packages (think the AT4 trim on the Yukon) and badge engineer those other SUV’s with Jeep logos. Trail Rated badges still mean something to people that love the Jeep brand.
Last but not least, we have Ram. At this point, just keep Ram as Ram. Maybe sell a version of the Wagoneer as a Ram and focus on building fun, reliable, and usable pickup trucks. Make a Colorado/Ranger competitor and give Ford a run for it’s money with a Maverick competitor that offers better looks and “utility” even if it doesn’t.
They’ll need to get the dealers on board, and those poor bastards have been put over the barrel the last 20 years. I don’t know how much longer they can show enthusiasm and get behind the brand when the management has cut them off from any real profitiablity at this point. Any plan will take billions, and that investment isn’t guaranteed as the future of the automotive landscape keeps changing.
I’d agree that Stellantis might be better to spin off the brands, but what legs would a buyer have to stand on? What value do you get from cutting off the development arms from Stellantis’s resources? CJDR will still sell, they’ll still make some profit, but eventually they’ll get left behind unless someone starts making decisions that prioritize their most profitable market and making what the market wants.
the dealers are pieces of shit, too, but otherwise, this is a magical post
I agree with most of what you say except this:
“Last but not least, we have Ram. At this point, just keep Ram as Ram. “
No… Ram should be put back under Dodge and thus, goes back to being a Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda, etc. competitor
Everyone says this, but Ram is put in a position where they can keep their CAFE standards separate from Dodge. It forces Ram to innovate to meet any current legal requirements while ultimately keeping the Dodge name away from vans, work trucks, and everything else. Dodge trucks always played 3rd fiddle in the market, when they switched to Ram they had the opportunity to make a new name and did so quite successfully. The Rebel, the TRX, hell even the Warlock name are ones that the layman knows when it comes to pickups.
Moving Ram back under Dodge only confuses the layman. “Why are Ram’s now Dodge?” “So do I buy a Dodge Ram, or Ram Dodge? How does this work?” Keep it simple, stupid is a saying that holds value in engineering AND marketing. You sell Ram as the “working mans” vehicle while keeping Dodge as the street brand. You could sell the Maverick competitor from Ram as a Dodge, give it a turbo and call it the “Rampage” as a little nod to Ram and honor Dodge’s past.
“Everyone says this, but Ram is put in a position where they can keep their CAFE standards separate from Dodge. It forces Ram to innovate to meet any current legal requirements while ultimately keeping the Dodge name away from vans”
That alone should be a good reason for Ram to be put back under Dodge so that the Dodge cars/car-based “trucks” can balance out the actual trucks.
But I actually think that’s irrelevant. Because the fuel economy standards go by the ‘corporation’, not the brand.
“Moving Ram back under Dodge only confuses the layman”
I disagree. Many ‘laymen’ still refer to Ram trucks as Dodges.
Dodge has made it pretty clear they are going in on the EV market, whether or not that pans out for them is a different story. The only way that Ram would be positive to that branding is with the Ramcharger and eventual Ram EV. It’s not a net positive for them to get trucks back when they are still selling the idea of “Electric Muscle”.
A car based type truck under Dodge would only work if Dodge had an appropriate reason to bring one to their brand (which I don’t see) and you could easily sell a Maverick or Ranger competitor as a “Ram” instead. Imagine ads with a little, Maverick sized truck and they advertise it like their 1500 and 2500. Hell, even have fun with it, have some guy in an office about to be headbutted by a baby Ram. He makes baby noises and laughs, only to get punted through the wall like being hit by a full size Ram. End it on a tagline “Little Ram, works like a Big Ram” or something to that affect.
I think if you move everything under Dodge, you admit that the marketing principles of Ram are flawed and that a separate “truck” brand doesn’t work.
The problem is, GM has made it work and we’ve seen Ford practically turn the F150 and Super Duty line into sub brands at this point. Sure they have the Ford Badge on them, but it’s clear that brand loyalty for a truck buyer is still something worth chasing in this day and age.
I can’t say I’ve heard many folks refer to the newer Ram’s as “Dodges” in quite some time. Maybe I’m biased as I work with lots of tradefolk, so the whole identity war comes back into play there. I will say I’ve heard people say they got their truck from the “Dodge Dealer” as that reference still holds. Kind of like people buying their GMC from the “Buick Dealer”.
“I can’t say I’ve heard many folks refer to the newer Ram’s as “Dodges” in quite some time.”
Well I’m telling you I call the ‘Rams’ Dodges. So now you’ve heard of it recently. And thus, you must now join me in my campaign to get Ram trucks put back under Dodge!!!
LOL
Welp, pack it up Stellantis. Manwich wants Ram as Dodge!
That is because the dealers need to buy in to feature a brand like Fiat. I’m sure if there are 1,000 CDJR dealers, about 5 of them were excited to bring in Fiat. The rest want to keep selling profitable Ram trucks, Wranglers (with the body lift and 35″ tires already on it!), and Grand Cherokees.
One of my buddies growing up was the son of a Chevy dealer who was out in a more rural area. He fought tooth and nail to keep allocations of anything that wasn’t a truck off his lot. No interest in having a Cobalt sit there and rot when he could have another Suburban that some farmer would actually buy. I’m sure it is the same for the CDJR dealers.
Having worked at a CJDR dealership that didn’t have Fiat, I can tell you that no one wanted to buy into the brand of Fiat. Why would they? In 2015, when I was a salesperson, they only had 3 models, all with the same name, that competed against mainline products. There was nothing to get excited about in a suburban area about Fiat.
Going all in is akin to throwing away your Chevy dealership for a Mini dealership. Sure they look cool, the dealers are fun, and the customers are nice, but what do you gain? Less profit margin, less “off the street” traffic showing interest, and little earned brand loyalty from over the years.
The best thing FCA could have done was offer Maserati dealers a chance to sell Fiat’s. You could juxtapose the Italian style and heritage and keep people from associating “Fix it again, Tony” with mainline CJDR products.
Sure you run the risk of diluting your luxury dealership, but if you opened a “Fiat Wing” that was wholly separate from your Maserati inventory, it could work. Plenty of BMW dealers pulled this off when Mini first came around. Associating the layman’s Fiat with luxury seems odd at first, but just like how American’s never got Mercedes with crank windows and A/C optional, you can sell the highest spec cars as “standard” and make profit on each model instead.
In my area, one of the dealer groups did lump Maserati/Alfa/Fiat together at one location. Whenever you drove by there, there were about 6 Italian cars there, and then a lot full of random used cars. I’m guessing they sell more used cars than the new Italian models.
Ours are just Maserati/Alfa, but they have a bunch of Levante’s and Alfa SUV’s out front. I think they hide the used cars behind the dealership out of embarassment.
I think this is the best approach I’ve seen on here for the CJDR brands.
Keeping the Stellantis intact allows it to maximize return on investments in platforms and tech. Having a more EV-focused portfolio for the European brands and a more ICE-focused portfolio for the U.S. brands allows them to hedge against risk of regulatory changes. Would powertrain differences make those portfolios incompatible? Not completely, particularly with powertrain-agnostic platforms like STLA. Also, you can still realize substantial savings by sharing non-powertrain software and components.
It’s realistic about Chrysler being premium and not luxury. Even when Chryslers were nice, they still felt they needed Imperial to compete with Cadillac. Why would the situation be any better today?
It pushes Jeep to lean into rugged while also offering some badge-engineered crossovers for people who want the look without deep capability.
Most importantly, it embraces leaving RAM as a separate brand. After years of excellent brand-driven advertising under FCA, I think people have internalized that Dodge is fast and RAM is tough. They should roll with that. It’s not sunk cost fallacy; it’s benefitting from good investments in creating two clearly defined brands that actually mean something to their customers. In my mind, that’s the way you build loyalty, particularly when you struggle with reliability.
Also, with Dodge locked in as the performance brand and not the everyman brand, the decision to make Chrysler premium and not luxury increases your odds of generating the volume you’ll need to fund all this.
That’s my take. Tip-of-the-hat, Ron.
I hear Tim Kuniskis isn’t doing anything…also that would be an epic FU to Mr. (pictured above) on his way out the door.
I love Ralph Gilles as much as the next Autopian, but honestly I’d like him to keep building unreasonably cool cars and not have to deal with the mundane crap that the CEO would have to. Not saying I’m opposed to the idea, but I’m kind of split on whether that would be a good fit.
as a CFO, maybe, but his tenure as CEO has been a remarkable failure. From what I understand, the highlights of his career are when he was CFO at Renault and massive cost-cutting at PSA, which is a very CFO-like thing to do. However, it increasingly looks like his tenure as CEO has been a comedy of ruinous short-term thinking. Almost everything he got praised for early on has backfired spectacularly.
Oh good, this again..
Fiat, Alfa, and Maserati don’t have to leave. I’m not sure why that’s always the answer; like their presence is keeping the Chrysler brand on life support and them going away will allow Chrysler to make a full recovery. They can co-exist. Fiat, Alfa, and Maserati need more competitive products that appeal to Americans at reasonable prices. I mean Hyundai-Kia built an empire from nearly nothing, gobbling up significant market share while introducing yet another luxury brand into a crowded market with decent success. Mazda successfully changed their branding and image from fun zoom-zoom to upscale. There’s no reason why Fiat, Alfa, and Maserati can’t do something similar, but they need a team that is more competent in that arena than what they have had.
That said, I don’t hate the ideas under the ‘What About the Rest of the Brands?’ heading.
P.S.: Keep the Wagoneer? Can they at least make it look like a Wagoneer and not have it be a Plan C for Escalade and Navigator buyers?
Being “Plan C” is kind of CDJR’s whole thing.
When my dad got his first and last ram I recall it being his Plan F
Username is on point for this discussion, though it does make me doubt your objectivity. 😉
The issue with much of Stellantis’s U.S. market is that their cars’ MSRPs are just too damn high. A Maserati Grecale should be priced like a BMW X3, and the Levante like an X5; Jeep SUVs have way too high MSRPs, but seem to go out the door at much lower prices – but who wants to fight with the dealer’s salesperson to get it to a decent price? If the regular Grecale GT was priced even like a Macan it would probably sell multiples of its current volume. If the Grecale Trofeo was priced where it should be, the same as a X3M, then I might be driving one today – although probably not because of the crappy doorhandles and limited seating options.