Sergio Marchionne, CEO of the newly merged Fiat and Chrysler lost the respect of many in the industry when he his impromptu comments left everyone in the industry wondering if he is really a suitable man for the job at all. One of his proposal to rationalise operations of both Fiat and Chrysler is to sell rebadged Dodge models as Alfa Romeos in Europe, where the American brand have very little market presence.
He reasoned that both Dodge and Alfa Romeo shares the same core identity (rolls eyes...). He added further saying these two brands are targetting the same group of customers and a plan needs to be in place to differentiate them (rolls eyes even more...).
Dodge is the American muscle car, while Alfa Romeo is the European muscle car.
How we dovetail these two brands is very important.”
“The level of competition between these two brands is tremendous because they are both going after the same customer.” Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.
Dodge Viper SRT-10 ACR (American Club Racer)
Dodge Calibre
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Alfa Romeo 147. European muscle car. Right...well the boss is always right.
Muscle car : A loosely defined automotive term that originated in the 1960s Americana. Usually referring to a mid-size 2 door car characterised by simple yet brutish exterior design, fitted with a mechanically simple large capacity engine (usually normally aspirated V8) sold with an affordable price tag. Hence the basic equipment levels and cheap looking interiors and a mechanically simple chassis, but still a blast to drive nonetheless.
I don't see which part of the above can remotely describe an Alfa Romeo. If there ever was a European muscle car, it died more than 2 decades ago - the Ford Capri, and maybe the AC Cobra.
It's quite obvious that Sergio Marchionne is one of those managers / CEOs who rely a lot on secondary market data / information that he receives from his consultants or deputies. He probably makes decision by relying purely on hard data and financial figures and reports prepared for him. And that he has very little understanding of the car market and his own customers in general. Car company CEOs start talking like that when they spend too much time looking into powerpoint presentations and Excel charts rather than visiting showrooms and talking to people who actually buy cars.
By the way, did you know that Mr. Marchionne famously crashed his Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano in Switzerland? He rear ended an elderly driver in a Renault slowing down for a traffic jam ahead. Marchionne claims he suddenly braked, but nobody knows why can't he see the trail of cars ahead of the Renault in the first place. If someone skidded and crashed at a B-road corner, OK fine. But to crash on a motorway, onto the back of a slow small hatchback. Double Fail! And...it's from a CEO of an automotive group owning two of the most emotional brands in the industry - Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. Triple fail!
Doesn't this makes you want to sing more praises to Akio Toyoda, the new President of the "boring" Toyota Motor Co.?
Toyoda-san, please work your magic and bring back the Supra and MR-2. We promise to stop making fun of regular Toyota cars anymore alright?
4 comments:
the ones currently in pipeline is supra and toybaru 86. mmm 86.
well not officially i guess :P
Yup those models are in the plan. But there have been rumours that these sporty models are at risk of being cancelled / delayed given the current economic situation.
The Lexus LF-A was almost cancelled and it was rumoured that Akio Toyoda had to justify very hard to keep the project. He was not yet the president at the time (EVP). Some quarters within TMC question the logic behind such a project given the current economic condition. Financially, it is difficult to argue against the rationale. Lexus achieved in a 2 decades what BMW and Mercedes needed almost 100 years to achieve. And the lack of a high performance model is not really impacting the brand's growth. The lack of a 911 challenger is not exactly a bad thing that urgently needs correction. Financial and engineering resources could be freed up for more pressing bread and butter high volume models.
Lexus is a young brand and lacks any motorsports heritage. Thus it is not compelled by historical reasons to go into the sports car market because motor racing is not what the brand stands for. Dollars and cents wise, it is difficult to argue against that. But of course we petrol heads would love to see the LF-A, Toyobaru '86 and Supra replacement be created.
I would have thought that Fiat would insist on at least double digit IQ figures for executives!
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