Dodge May Sell Rebadged Alfas in the US while Europe Could get Dodge Models as Alfas

In an interview in New York on Wednesday, Fiat S.p.A. and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed that one of the first priorities of the partnership is to decide how to handle the Dodge and Alfa Romeo brands, which he sees as American and European counterparts. It sounds crazy but one of the scenarios being examined by Marchionne is the possibility to sell Alfa Romeo models under the Dodge brand in the U.S. and Dodge cars as Alfa Romeos in Europe.

According to the CEO, the two brands share a common identity and therefore should work closer in the near future.

"The level of competition between these two brands is tremendous because they are both going after the same customer," said Marchionne. "Dodge is the American muscle car, while Alfa Romeo is the European muscle car. How we dovetail these two brands is very important."

While we're having a hard time trying to find any current Dodge model that could fit in Alfa's European range - especially if you take into consideration the different needs of buyers on the other side of the Atlantic, we could see several Alfa models including the MiTo making it to the States with the Dodge logo.

But wouldn't such a move dilute Alfa's premium image? Unless that is, Fiat is considering to abandon its plans to re-introduce the Italian firm to American buyers.

In any case, Marchionne said that he wants to make a final decision on the future of the two brands by the end of the July, so it won't be long before we learn more details.

Via: Bloomberg

European and Asian Automakers to Build More Cars than Detroit's Big Three in N. America by 2012

According to a new study from financial advisory firm Grant Thornton LLP, European and Asian automakers will churn out more cars in North America than Detroit's 'Big Three' by 2012. The study expects that after the completion of the restructuring of the domestic auto industry, the combined capacity of General Motors, Chrysler Group LLC and Ford in North America will fall by more than 4 million units or a 35 percent reduction compared to 2008, for a total of 7.5 million units in 2012.

At the same time, all other foreign automakers combined are expected to increase their North American production by around 1.5 million a year or 20 percent, to more than 8 million units.

"A new order is emerging where the Detroit companies may no longer be the volume leaders in their home market," said Grant Thornton LLP Principal Kimberly Rodriguez, co-leader of the firm's global automotive practice.

Grant Thornton LLP reports that Volkswagen and BMW will nearly double their combined production, increasing their output capability to around 1 million units a year while Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai are projected to expand their combined production by 20 percent, or nearly 1 million units.

The study finds that the dramatic shift in production will have a large impact on North American parts suppliers that will need to secure more business from European and Asian makers.

"Suppliers largely dependent on Detroit OEMs will have to present a new value equation to potential customers from Europe and Asia if they want to participate in the accelerated shift that is coming," said Kimberly Rodriguez.

Source: Grant Thornton LLP

Chrysler to Reopen Seven More Assembly Plants by end of June

About a week after emerging from bankruptcy protection and finalizing a deal with the Fiat Group, Chrysler Group LLC confirmed today that in addition to the reopening of the Dodge Viper's Conner Avenue factory in Detroit on Monday, the firm plans to resume production of vehicles at seven more assembly plants in North America by the end of June. According to Chrysler, two factories are in Michigan, one is in Missouri and one in Ohio, while the automaker will also restart production at its assembly plants in Windsor and Brampton, Canada and in Toluca, Mexico.

"A restart of production at other Chrysler Group assembly plants will be announced at a later date," the company said in a statement. Chrysler had shut down all of its North American operations for a period of two months when it entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, 2009.

• Plants That Will Reopen by June 29:
  
• Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (Sterling Heights, Mich.) – Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger
  
• Warren Truck Assembly Plant (Warren, Mich) – Dodge Ram and Dodge Dakota
  
• St. Louis North Assembly Plant(Fenton, Mo) – Dodge Ram
  
• Toledo Supplier Park (Toledo, Ohio) – Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
  
• Brampton Assembly Plant (Brampton, Ontario) – Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Challenger
  
• Windsor Assembly Plant (Windsor, Ontario, Canada ) – Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan
  
• Toluca Assembly Plant (Toluca, Mexico) – Dodge Journey and Chrysler PT Cruiser
  

Chrysler Resumes Production with the Dodge Viper at Detroit Plant

Having emerged from bankruptcy protection on June 9, the newly formed Chrysler Group LLC restarted production at one of its Detroit assembly plants on Monday, June 15. The first factory to reopen after the company shut down for a period of almost two months, is the Conner Avenue assembly plant in Detroit that builds the Dodge Viper sports car. Even though Chrysler did not state why it chose the Conner plant to reopen for business, we assume that its small size (it employs 115 people) had something to do with the automaker's decision.

Chrysler, which is now controlled by Italy's Fiat S.p.A, had previously attempted to sell off its Dodge Viper business unit but the firm did not receive any bids that met its initial requirements.

As for the rest of Chrysler's North American plants, for the time being, they will remain closed. "At this time, we cannot give exact timing in regards to the start of production at our other manufacturing facilities," Chrysler Group said in a statement.

Via: CNN

Analyst Forecasts New Chrysler and Fiat Models Until 2012 Including Jeep based Alfa GTX SUV

Research firm IHS Global Insight (GI) has released a new analysis forecasting a variety of Chrysler and Fiat Group models to be built in North America between 2011 and 2012. Before we say anything else, we'd advise to pay attention to the words 'analysis' and 'forecast'. That said, don't take everything you read as a fact. The report begins with the Alfa Romeo 169, a BMW 5-Series rival that is said to be built at Chrysler's Ontario factory in Canada with the first models rolling off the assembly line as early as November 2011.

The analyst predicts that the 169 will be based on Chrysler's LX platform which underpins the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger models. While it makes sense for the Italians to use the LX platform, unless Fiat is planning to simply re-skin / re-mask the next-generation Chrysler 300 into an Alfa, in which case, we're talking about a mistake from Fiat's behalf, saying that that the Alfa Romeo 169 will be ready to enter production in about two years time, is quite optimistic. Plus, as you can see in one of Fiat's previous product plans, Alfa was supposedly scheduling to introduce a self-developed 169 in 2009 - what happened to that?

Talking about the LX platform, the forecaster said that due to the bankruptcy of Chrysler LLC and the plant closures, the start of production of the new 2011 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 have been delayed to November 2010 and January 2011 respectively.

Continuing with the North American-built Fiat models, Global Insight said that the highly successful in Europe, 500 mini, will be made in Toluca, Mexico with U.S. sales starting in July 2011.

The MINI-rivaling 500 will be the only Fiat-badged model to be sold in the States. Since the 500 is based on Fiat's 169 platform, the Toluca plant will also produce the Jeep Panda 4x4, again from July 2011. We're guessing that the Jeep variant will most likely be a remasked version of the European market Panda 4x4.

Next up we have an array of models based on the Fiat Group's C-EVO platform that underpins C-segment cars like the Lancia Delta and Fiat Bravo. The report says that the C-EVO will be used on the next-generation Dodge Journey crossover, Dodge Caliber crossover and Chrysler Sebring sedan. Production is slated to begin for the Journey and Caliber in July 2012 at the Belvidere Assembly Plant, and for the Sebring, in June 2011 at the Toluca assembly plant.

In addition to the above models, the C-EVO platform is also reported to form the base for an Alfa Romeo compact SUV (no date) and weirdly enough, for the successor of the Jeep Liberty (July 2012) with both SUVs said to be produced at the Toledo plant in Ohio.

But the report gets even better as it is predicted that Fiat will produce a larger Alfa Romeo SUV model called the GTX at Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly Plant beginning in July 2011. The GTX is said to be based on Jeep's WL platform that underpins the 2011 Grand Cherokee. However, bear in mind that the Grand Cherokee's WL platform is derived from Mercedes-Benz (it was developed during Daimler's reign over the company) so we're not entirely sure if Fiat has the rights to use the platform for one of its own models.

The paper ends with two subcompact hatches, the Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo MiTo that will share the same hardware- aka Fiat's 199 B-segment platform. Both cars are reported to be built for the American market at Chrysler's Belvidere assembly plant in Illinois with production slated to begin in March 2011 for the Hornet and July 2011 for the MiTo.

Call us skeptics, but if you want our opinion, we find the forecast extremely optimistic in the sense that Fiat will not only have to develop, design, engineer and test a whole bunch of new cars but also revamp Chrysler's North American factories to build the vehicles and all this in just two years from now.

Will Fiat S.p.A. Save the Chrysler Group? Me Thinks Not...

In an announcement Wednesday morning, Fiat S.p.A finalized its purchase / alliance with the Chrysler Group after the U.S. Supreme Court got out of the way of the deal thus opening a new page in Chrysler's history. While there's no way of accurately predicting what the future holds for the alliance, I must say that for numerous reasons that you can read about after the jump, I am not at all convinced that Fiat will save the 'new' Chrysler Group LLC. Maybe Fiat will rape benefit from Chrysler's assets and presence in North America, but that's another story entirely.

First of all let's take a closer look at Fiat S.p.A. The Italian group's automobile portfolio includes three-and-a-half mainstream brands: Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Fiat and its recently revived Abarth marque which is something like BMW's 'M' division. The group also controls the Ferrari and Maserati sports car brands as well as Iveco and Fiat Professional that builds light commercial vehicles.

In the past two decades, Fiat's automobile division has proven successful in building two types of vehicles: city cars like the Panda mini and (Grande) Punto supermini and exotic sports cars such as the Ferrari F430 and Maserati GTs.

Sure the Italians have come up with some really great designs and ideas, but with a few exceptions and for a great number of reasons, Fiat and its Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands have yet to create a model that will dominate or even compete head on with the top-sellers in any other category - at least in Europe.

Speaking about Lancia and Alfa Romeo, while Fiat Group's CEO Sergio Marchionne is 'playing big' with Chrysler LLC, the two historic Italian firms desperately need to update/refresh their model portfolio. We've heard talk about a variety of new models including SUVs, compact MPVs, coupes, sport sedans with RWD - you name it. But sketches and grapevine stories aside, it's just talk until now.

Lancia, which has lost its identity ever since Fiat decided to turn the firm into a faux luxury carmaker for chicks and chick-like hairdressers with a low budget, has been left with an aging Ypsilon that is aimed squarely at women, a remasked version of Fiat's Idea small MPV called Musa and the weirdly positioned Delta that is a C-segment hatch trying to allure D-segment buyers. There's also the PSA Peugeot-Citroen co-developed Phedra minivan but we doubt anyone cares. No sports car, no five-door supermini, no three-door Delta, no sedan...

Alfa Romeo is in a somewhat better position in terms of its car lineup. Aside from the new MiTo hatch, there's also the relatively fresh 159 Sedan and Sport Wagon, the Brera Coupe and Spider, and the 8C Competizione 'halo' supercar. What about Alfa's Golf-sized hatch? Well, it's called 147 and it has been in production since 2000 so it's no match for the modern C-segment hatches. Up until 2007, Alfa also offered the BMW 5-Series rivaling 166 but it went down the same way that the Lancia Thesis did.

Surprisingly, Lancia sold more cars in Europe than Alfa Romeo did in the first four months of 2009 (Lancia: 38,617 units, Alfa: 36,761 units). But either way, those numbers are very low. Just to get an idea, during the same sale period in Europe, MINI sold 38,879 units, Volvo 65,345 units and Skoda 155,864 (the Fiat brand delivered 352,234 cars).

But the lack of models or ones that aren't successful/competitive, isn't the only problem that Fiat faces in Europe. In a recent study performed by J.D. Power, Fiat scored in the bottom quarter of more than 20 brands in vehicle quality and reliability in key European markets. "Fiat is below average in each of three markets that we measure -- Germany, France and the U.K. -- particularly in terms of vehicle quality and reliability," said Dave Sargent, vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power.

What I'm trying to say here is that the Fiat Group is not as successful and problem-free as many have portrayed the company to be. I've been hearing many voices around the net (mainly from sites in the U.S.) saying that Fiat will develop an array of sub- and compact models for Chrysler and Dodge based on its cars.

Maybe I'm missing something here, maybe I'm completely wrong, but if it's so easy and Fiat does have the funds, then could someone please explain to me why has it taken so long for Fiat to introduce core models like the Alfa 147 and Lancia Ypsilon replacements, or why is the company absent from important segments like compact MPVs and SUVs?

Furthermore, as much as many would like to see American consumers abandoning larger vehicles (cars and trucks), this won't happen anytime soon. Maybe they'll downsize, but don't expect to see cars like the Panda or the Ford Fiesta coming anywhere close to the top spots in the sales chart. So while Fiat is really good in creating city cars, in order to succeed in the U.S., the company will need to focus on compact and mid-size sedans such as the Honda Civic and Accord as well as (like it or not) trucks and SUVs of various sizes.

And let's say for the sake of conversation, that Fiat will find the funds and the way to create or share front-wheel drive platforms for compact and mid-size models with Chrysler and its brands. What will happen with the American carmaker's larger models including trucks, SUVs and rear-wheel drive cars like the Chrysler 300?

Unlike Chrysler's previous owner, Daimler, Fiat does not have a (mainstream) rear-wheel drive platform nor any SUV models (or experience for that matter). As you may already know, the Chrysler Group's 300 sedan, Dodge Challenger and even the new Jeep Grand Cherokee use a fair amount of Mercedes hardware beneath the sheetmetal. Maybe Chrysler's acquisition could justify the costs of developing a rear-wheel drive platform that could be used on Alfa Romeo models also. Maybe Fiat could inject some cash into Jeep and use the platforms and AWD systems to develop its own range of SUVs.

Too many maybes, too many questions, very few answers. If you've had the patience to reach the end of this lengthy post, I'd really like to hear your opinion on the matter. - John

Chrysler - Fiat Deal Finalized after U.S. Supreme Court Clears the Path, Marchionne Appointed New Chrysler Group CEO

The U.S. Supreme Court has finally cleared the way for the government-backed sale of Chrysler LLC to the Fiat Group. The Supreme Court rejected arguments from three Indiana pension funds and other opponents of the transaction to delay the deal while the American automaker also won a court permission to eliminate a total of 789 dealers across the country that lost their franchise agreements overnight as part of the company's downsizing plan. The new alliance will see the Fiat Group owning a 20 percent stake in Chrysler LLC which will be renamed to 'Chrysler Group LLC', while the U.S. Treasury and the Canadian Government have been issued an equity interest equal to 8 percent and 2 percent "on a fully diluted basis", respectively.

Under the agreement, Fiat's stake in the Chrysler Group LLC will increase in increments by up to a total of 35 percent but the Italian automaker cannot obtain a majority stake in the company until all taxpayer funds have been repaid.

"This is a very significant day, not only for Chrysler and its dedicated employees, who have persevered through a great deal of uncertainty during the past year, but for the global automotive industry as a whole," said Sergio Marchionne, who today was named Chief Executive Officer of Chrysler Group LLC.

Aside from Marchionne, who is also Chief Executive Officer of Fiat S.p.A., the new Chrysler will be managed by a nine-member Board of Directors, consisting of three directors to be appointed by Fiat, four directors to be appointed by the U.S. Government, one director to be appointed by the Canadian Government and one director to be appointed by the United Auto Workers' Retiree Medical Benefits Trust.

In a joint statement, the two companies said that the Board is expected to name C. Robert Kidder as Chairman.

"We intend to build on Chrysler's culture of innovation and Fiat's complementary technology and expertise to expand Chrysler's product portfolio both in North America and overseas," said Marchione. "Those Chrysler operations assumed by the new company that were idled during this process will soon be back up and running, and work is already underway on developing new environmentally friendly, fuel-efficient, high-quality vehicles that we intend to become Chrysler's hallmark going forward."

"This has, I know, been a difficult process for everyone involved, but we are ready to prove to the American consumer that Chrysler can once again be a strong, competitive company that produces a full portfolio of reliable vehicles that capture the imagination and inspire loyalty," Marchionne added.

The new alliance between Fiat and Chrysler creates the sixth largest carmaker in the world with combines sales of around 4.5 million vehicles globally based on 2008 results.

eBay Find: Chrysler Prowler Stretch Limo with Lambo Doors

We always wondered what a Prowler would like if someone had the audacity to convert the retro hotrod that began its life in 1997 as a Plymouth and ended its career in 2002 with a Chrysler badge, into a six-passenger limousine. And at last, our prayers have been answered! Nah, we're just pulling your leg but if you find stretch Hummer limos sooo 2000, then you may want to take a look at this "one-of-a-kind" Prowler limousine that can fit two passengers up front and four at the back. The car comes complete with a hard top incorporating a sliding ragtop, Lambo-style front doors and suicide rear doors.

Link: ebay

Chrysler LLC Names Ex-Duracell Chairman C. Robert Kidder as Robert Nardelli's Succesor

Bankrupt U.S. automaker Chrysler LLC today announced that former chief of Borden Chemical and of Duracell International, will be appointed chairman of the new Chrysler once the company exits bankruptcy and completes the alliance with the Fiat Group. Kidder will take the place of Robert Nardelli who will retire from his position after Chrysler emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

"We are most fortunate that Bob Kidder will lead the new company through its transformation," said Nardelli. "My number one priority has been to preserve Chrysler and the livelihoods of thousands of people who depend on its success. With his broad expertise serving on numerous world-class boards and his accomplished business background, Bob will provide the leadership and strategic counsel that will help to create a strong global competitor moving forward."

C. Robert Kidder said: "I am pleased to join Chrysler at a time when Chrysler is poised to launch an exciting new era. I am confident that Chrysler will emerge from Chapter 11 a lean and powerful competitor, combining its own rich history of innovation with Fiat's technology and expertise to invigorate the American car market and to challenge other car companies around the globe."

Chrysler LLC Shutting Down 789 Dealerships Across the U.S. by June 9

The latest development in Chrysler's ongoing saga is the elimination of approximately a quarter of its 3,181 U.S. dealerships by early next month. In a motion filed with the U.S. bankruptcy court, the American automaker said that it would shut down 789 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealerships that represent around 14 percent of the firm's sales volume in the U.S. by June 9. Chrysler supports that the company's goal with this move is to create a stronger and more profitable dealer network.

"It is with a deep sense of sadness that we must take steps to end some of our Sales and Service Dealer Agreements," said Steven Landry, Executive Vice President, North American Sales and Marketing, Global Service and Parts. "The decision, though difficult, was based on a data-driven matrix that assessed a number of key metrics."

"The review was an objective and rigorous process that was both thoughtful and thorough. We plan to work to have an orderly transition. These are extraordinary times, and they call for an extraordinary response. It is important to our dealers and to our customers that these steps be completed quickly and seamlessly as we transition to a new Chrysler," Landry added.

Report Says Chrysler Bankruptcy Could Take up to Two Years and not 60 Days

In another twist to the Chrysler LLC imbroglio, a report from Bloomberg citing an unnamed administration official said that the automaker's bankruptcy procedure may take as long as two years and not the two months period initially projected by President Barack Obama. The administration official told the news agency that the 60 days announced by Obama at a press conference at the end of April only applies to the sale of Chrysler's best assets to a new entity held by Italy's Fiat S.p.A., an auto workers health trust and the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Lawyers seem to be backing the official's claims as they told the news agency that the firm's creditors would later on kick in fighting their cases in court over unwanted factories and other assets to get their money back.

"The unsold assets and liabilities may take years to sort out due to the complexities of resolving thousands of commercial, tort, future asbestos, dealership and employee claims," told Bloomberg Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP partner, Martin Bienenstock.

Via: Bloomberg