mmarshall

I at least partially blame the public for this, not necessarily CEO's. Many car-buyers simply purchase their vehicles on a quick or knee-jerk reaction to whatever gas prices happen to be at the time, rather than think ahead and plan for the future. As soon as gas prices drop, they rush to buy Suburbans and Expeditions.....then, a year later, when gas may be at $4 or more, you can't give big vehicles away, and everybody is buying hybrids or compacts/subcompacts. It's enough to drive auto companies and product-planners nuts.....how are they supposed to know what to design for several years ahead when one cannot even predict the price of gas for six months? The CAFE standards have dictated some things about future design, such as what kind of drivetrains we'll likely be seeing, but that alone has little bearing on what actual gas prices will be or what vehicles will actually be in production.....or not in production. IMO, if the public made their purchase with more long-term stability in mind, and with more thought for the future, instead of just quick reactions to current gas prices, it would be a whole lot easier for the industry to plan ahead and produce.

TangoRed

Sergio's conference over this quarter's earnings (profit up greatly, debt also increased though) made me feel better about this situation. Some key notes from the call/general intelligence, which includes some review:

Alfa
-Not really as much of a huge gamble as discussed before as far as the US market is concerned, as much of the cost of Giorgio development will be played out via future Dodge's/other G-US products
-We will be able to judge how the G-US program will fare after the first couple of Alfas are out the gate (so 2017 will be an evaluation year)
-Stelvio still on track for production at the end of this year

Dodge
-Critical to recouping Giorgio platform costs
-Major media spending right now to keep brand relevant while we wait forever for new product
-Dodge strength makes FCA a better merger candidate (with all brands intact) given strength in the U.S. coupled with Alfa's global market; strong brand identity will be a driver for both brands

Overall
-FCA's slow but deliberate roll out is positioned to weather the storm even with a U.S. and China slowdown (hence the most recent revision)
-Shift to "tall vehicles" is permanent, with Dodge being the only U.S. brand with a strong car presence
-The Pacifica's highly adapted CUSW platform will give birth to a platform mate and was influenced by learnings that occurred in the Alfa delays
-Hurricane I4 motors are FINALLY coming in 2018. Plant investments have already been made
-If Marchionne properly foresaw the passenger car market declining in the manner that it has, he would've never invested so heavily in the 200
-Discussions with non-auto IT companies are happening and could be announced within a year (just small deals though)

Not sure if you can get a replay of the conference call, but registration was at this link: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/77w4dvw3

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

thanks for sharing.

each time i see a chrysler 200 i think it's very nice, and if i'm on foot i'm always impressed that it goes by in almost silence. too bad it's not been a big hit and apparently has some transmission issues early on.