Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ five-year plan unveiled last month for each of its nine core brands doesn’t sound realistic to financial analysts. While FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne wants to more than double vehicle sales and operating profit by 2018, analysts doubt there will be enough cash available to fund double-digit and even triple-digit volume growth at eight of the marques.
According to market specialists, FCA will need fewer brands for this plan to work.However, Marchionne believes that FCA’s advantage is that “we now have brands in the marketplace that are not butting heads,” adding that the new plan already eliminated two brands: Lancia and SRT.
Responding to analysts’ suggestions of merging Chrysler and Dodge, Marchionne said the company’s leadership “debated heavily” whether to do that.
“Co-mingling Dodge and Chrysler would have cost us a lot of share. That combination doesn’t work in our view,” Marchionne said, according to Autonews Europe. The CEO said it wouldn’t have been possible to satisfy all customer needs with a combined Dodge and Chrysler.
However, Marchionne wants to double Chrysler’s lineup to six models by the end of 2018 while eliminating two Dodge nameplates that overlap with Chrysler vehicles – the Avenger and Grand Caravan.
Some analysts believe this is a risky move for Dodge, as the Grand Caravan accounts for a significant share of its total sales. Others think that even the Fiat brand should be axed if it weren’t for its No. 1 status in Brazil.
The nine core brands included in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ five-year plan are Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Maserati, Jeep, and Ram (Lancia was excluded).
By Dan Mihalascu
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