The automaker we know in America more generically as Dodge, or maybe Chrysler, goes by Stellantis globally. It encompasses a lot of fabled European brands as well as one Chinese operation. Trying to square all of these competing interests is difficult, if not almost impossible. The last guy who tried flamed out dramatically, so now it’s the job of former Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa to make it work.
This website was launched about a year after the creation of Stellantis, so we’re one of the few websites to exist only in the Stellantis Era. It’s been wild. In case you haven’t been reading this website religiously, it’s probably worth mentioning how this ragtag bunch of brands came to exist and why it’s been so hard to untangle.
In North America, the also-ran automaker AMC survived thanks to support from France’s Renault, which took an interest in the company in the late 1970s. Renault’s then-CEO thought the Jeep brand had enormous value. In the long term, he was correct, but in the short term, he was assassinated. Few CEOs connected to this company get out unscathed.
AMC was absorbed by the Chrysler Corporation shortly after the assassination of Renault’s CEO, who took on Jeep and eventually folded everything else. While there were some good years, even with Jeep, the idea of Chrysler was barely sustainable, and so the company merged with Mercedes owner Daimler. That lasted for about half a minute, and Chrysler was sold off to a private equity firm before going bankrupt and being merged with Fiat to create Fiat Chrysler.
Oh, right, Fiat. The company that was once the engine of Italy’s economy had, over the years, acquired various failing Italian brands (and also Ferrari) to create one giant company. By the time of the Global Financial Crisis, Fiat itself wasn’t in exactly a position of strength, so the merger of the Italian with the American created FiatChrysler. Sergio Marchionne, a chain-smoking Italian-Canadian, would lead the combined group. He did a phenomenal job, considering all the challenges, especially as he recognized that North America was to be the real profit center of the company.
Marchionne died, tragically, of complications related to cancer surgery, and the group limped along for a bit. The next phase would come with the addition of PSA Peugeot Citroen, which was the combination of Peugeot and Citroën. That company also took over Opel/Vauxhall from General Motors, which decided it wanted nothing to do with Europe.
Is that enough prologue? In 2021, all of the above were combined into one automaker called Stellantis, which would be made up of a company partially owned by the French government, one repeatedly indebted to the American government, and one at least emotionally beholden to the Italian government and that country’s unions. Just to make it extra exciting, it would be based in the Netherlands.
The company’s first CEO would be Carlos Tavares, pictured above, who was the number two at Nissan/Renault under Carlo Ghosn and, after that, a successful leader at Peugeot. His tenure was fraught, to say the least. While the company made money during the pandemic, it was basically a squeeze that saw Tavares alienate all its partners, dealers, and customers. The quick profits suddenly turned to crisis as it became clear there was no real obvious plan to make the company’s various parts work together.
Tavares was essentially fired at the end of last year, and Chairman John Elkann has been on the hunt for a replacement ever since. The company now has one, in the form of former Jeep CEO and current COO for the Americas, Antonio Filosa.
“Antonio’s deep understanding of our Company, including its people who he views as our core strength, and of our industry equip him perfectly for the role of Chief Executive Officer in this next and crucial phase of Stellantis’ development,” said Stellantis Executive Chairman John Elkann. “I have worked closely with Antonio over the past six months during which time his responsibilities have increased, and his strong and effective leadership spanning both North and South America at a moment of unprecedented challenge have confirmed the excellent qualities he brings to the role. Together with the entire Board, I look forward to working with him.”
Filosa’s history represents a nice blend of the various parts of the company. He’s Italian, but studied in South America and has spent a lot of time in North America post-Fiat Chrysler merger.
“It is my great honor to be named the CEO of this fantastic Company,” said Antonio Filosa. “I have always been inspired by the immense talent, passion and commitment of our people at Stellantis and the power of trusting our teams to achieve excellence. We have the world’s best and most iconic brands in automotive history and an over 100-year heritage of innovation. That legacy, combined with our relentless dedication to giving our customers the products and services they love, will continue to be key to our success.”
I’m glad he’s excited because it’s going to be a tough gig. Right off the bat, Filosa is going to have to decide which of the company’s 15 brands get to survive. Alfa has been doing better in Europe, but does the company still need DS? Lancia? What about Chrysler? He’s also going to have to patch the company’s relationships with its dealers and the union.
At the very least, with the rehiring of beloved exec Tim Kuniskis, Filosa demonstrated the most important thing a Stellantis CEO needs to do: Keep the company focused on North America, where it actually makes money.
I wish him the best, truly, because an opportunity like this comes once in a lifetime, if ever.
Knowing nothing more than the content of the sentence:
> In the long term, he was correct, but in the short term, he was assassinated.
Damn if that didn’t make me laugh
Sounds like something Nathan Fielder would say.
I looked it up on the site linked in that sentence and it wasn’t a euphemism. He was literally shot to death in front of his home in 1986. Perhaps it had something to do with closing factories and reducing the work force by more than 20,000.
The gig at United Healthcare wouldn’t have worked out any better, TBH
Made me laugh, and share the sentence with my wife. @Matt that is some truly great writing you did right there.
One Brand. Many Models. Two Platforms: 1 big. 1 small. The models are the current brands.
“so the merger of the Italian with the American created FiatChryself”
as a wise man once said, “Know Chryself”
I honestly wasn’t sure if it was a typo or some wordplay too clever for me to understand.
same!
I’m biased, with family ties back to Kenosha…Stellantis can die.
Putting feelings aside, I don’t think Jeep should join GM. I look at GM cars and generally go “meh”. GM would focus Jeep too much, we would lose manual transmissions, get Blazer badge copies, etc.
I’m thinking that Stellantis should spin off all North American products into its own stock that is 55% owned by Stellantis (lets call it AMC, there is some goodwill there, again I’m biased). This would allow the American cars to be designed independently of their parent company. The Euro cars are spun off to become RenaultFiat with their own stock.
This would give a cash infusion to the parent company that controls manufacturing and financing while the EU/US divide can exist. It skirts tariffs, dollar conversions, and all the recent crap.
Stellantis then focuses on manufacturing capacity with a production processes and a quality control focus, and brands are left to exist in their holding company. You can buy one stock over the other, or all three.
The new Americas Motor Company forces a new dealer agreement that outlines all dealer mark-ups will be sent back to the corporation, dissuading pricing upward.
The Chrysler Pacifica dies and is rolled into Dodge as the Caravan and into Jeep as the Concord. Obviously, one is sporty the other is rugged.
Dodge/Jeep (RAM is a Dodge, worst rebrand ever) work on getting the Jeep plug-in hybrid tech rolled out to nearly all cars and trucks.
Jeep creates a line of 2 door Wranglers that stripped and call it the CJ-11. I’m thinking AC optional, backseat optional, white rims some retro graphics, remove skid plates, plastic bumper covers, as much computer stuff as possible to force the price down. Make it everyone’s first car at $26k. Get the J6 created (it seems like they are doing that) and positioned at the CJ-12, with similar options for skid plates, etc.
Jeep pushes the Compass over to the Dodge with a grill facelift side of the house and calls it the Spirit. The RAM brand dies with new Dodge RAM badges.
This would help drive eyeballs to two web properties with a more full lineup of cars and prices, performance to luxury, which is what Ford, Toyota, and Chevrolet are doing (sure there is Cadillac, Buick, Lincoln; Stellantis can’t do that due to poor build reputation that Marchionne was working on until his untimely death).
In the US, with a better cash flow and some IPO bucks, they get focused on the long term for plug-in hybrids, AWD, and turbo charging, which appear to be what everyone wants to have. I believe, with no evidence, that sporty sedans, wagons, and cheap trucks will reemerge, but I’m also middle-aged and I’m sick of everything being an SUV and expensive. A compact-ish AWD manual transmission rally inspired turbo fun machine called the Dodge Javelin would get eyeballs, especially if it has a 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, which should be where every one of their cars is. They can make the wagon version as the Dodge Eagle.
The stock market is totally irrational at the moment. The financial gains coupled with dealing with Trump Tariffs, would get them positioned for some longer term growth no matter what happens. Adjusting some chairs, can allow them to message that they are going to not show profits for 24-36 months, but not lose money. This would put them in an advantage.
Long term, I would dig into the product language of the 60s for some of the more boring/cheap cars, determine my cash flow for a redesign strategy, and keep going forward with everything has some knobs in the interior. I would also work on a new K-car strategy that allows for hybrid, electric, awd for every car, crossover, through the minivan. Wranglers have their platform, and the trucks and large SUVs use the same with a full frame. With the exception of the mini-van, there would be no rebadging.
They can be efficient and sporty, yet lean into their locality requirements, manufacturing expertise exists and gets focused. These cars could break the current political divide.
Hey Filoso, hire me! I’ll only require $450k annually, which is a deal relative to everyone else when it comes to strategy 🙂
What dealer in their right mind would agree to such a horrible, possibly illegal scheme?
To be clear, I really dig the flavor of kool-aid you’re serving up here, in that you’re trying to find a way to make dealers suck less, but the very problem most brands have is their terrible dealer networks and that can sour the image of the manufacturer in the eye of the consumer. Tesla (and a few other brands) have tried to side-step the dealer problem and offer direct purchases to consumers, but until the legal landscape is altered enough such that direct sales can be a common thing, the idea remains very much of the pie-in-the-sky variety.
I agree with you about the dealer agreement comment. I can’t address the legality don’t see how any dealer or dealership corporation would find that enticing.
If called “Americas Motor Company,” would they also sell units made in Canada and/or LATAM? They could call it “America’s Motor Company,” and attract a certain group of buyers on name alone. If the Dallas Cowboys can call themselves “America’s Team,” I guess why not? But they had better build every vehicle in the States or they would be regarded as hypocrites or liars.
The ultimate strategy might depend on how the tariff roller coaster ends up. And who know when or where that will be. It will almost certainly be off the rails.
There is some precedence in renegotiating dealer agreements that benefit the manufacturer.
The originally AMC dealers were renegotiated to take on the Jeep products circa the late 70s early 80s. Collier Motors mentioned this in their documented history.
Fiat/Chrysler forced all dealers to take on multiple lines in the early 00s. My local Jeep only dealer was closed at this time while their inventory was moved down the street to the Plymouth/Dodge/Chrysler dealer.
Ford recently forced their dealers to install charging stations, carry EVs, and service them, that came in a new dealership agreement that left some of them with inventory and others without inventory.
I’d love to know your opinion on the leaders of AMC if you think Stellantis should die.
Because AMC was generally ran by buffoons lol
Sure.
George Romney – made the #1 selling compact car to be the Rambler. For a moment, if IIRC, AMC surpassed Chrysler for a quarter or two.
Roy Abernethy – This is where the problems begin. He was the VP of sales and once in charge took a flat earth approach to car designs while not dealing with manufacturing. He started building cars that were less interchangeable on their platforms while also ignoring cash-flow. A posiitive is that he promoted Dick Teague into the VP of styling who understood platform designs.
Roy Chaplin Jr. – Pretty much fixed the ship that Abernethy left, worked with Teague to be economical in car design and got their cash flow corrected. He made the Jeep acquisition happen due to profitability in killing many of the one-off car designs such as the Marlin the older Rambler design. During this period the Hornet was introduced that would underpin pretty much every car design forward (Gremlin, Concord, and Eagle), except the Pacer which oddly sold well its first two years, this will become part of the cabin forward design that Chrysler uses with the Dodge Intrepid. They ran out of people who wanted them coupled with not investing into an AMC designed four cylinder.
Gerald Meyers – Refocused the company on 4x4s while continuing to improve parts interchangeability. He got hit with the second gas crisis and the 82 recession. Due to the redesigns at Jeep coupled with the second gas crunch, this left the company without any cash, and negotiates with Renault. He green lights the design of the Jeep Cherokee. AMC petitions for the SUV mpg loophole.
This is the point when AMC’s deep problems begin with not having enough cash on hand circa 1978 through 1986.
Paul Tippet Jr. – More spending. Good engineering. He did upgrade the Brampton Plant while integrating more designs with Renault. AM General is sold off at this time. Deals with the CJ rollover crisis.
Jose Dedeurwaerder – He negotiated with Ontario to build the new Bramelea plant. which will open as a premier plant with fully robotic welding. From him we get the first good Renaults from AMC, and the green light for the Eagle Premier. Development for the Wrangler also happens on his watch. The 4.0 and 2.5 is developed at this time and put into the Cherokee. Cash flow is about the worst it can get.
Joe Cappy – He releases the Eagle Premier, while being undermined by Jose Dedeurwarder (his boss at Renault). This is where we get the engineering wrapped up with the Grand Cherokee, the release of the Wrangler, with a more filled out AMC/Jeep. George Besse is shot, which undermines France’s trust in AMC/Jeep. Joe returns the company to profitability. Interestingly, Joe runs the Jeep/Eagle brand for a few more years under Chrysler, then leaves to turn around Thrifty Car Rental and it gets spun off from Chrysler.
Lee Iaccoca – NEEDS engineering and R&D because he cut them to the bone at Chrysler. He acquires AMC for their assets after paying back the government loans. He understands he gets the Eagle Premier, Bramalea assembly, everything Jeep, including their unreleased cars, and the engineering team.
I’m not an MBA, type. I’m actually a software engineer (also with an Econ degree). It seems to me that managing cash flow while maximizing engineering for car features, yet minimizing things like seatbelt design, starter motors, ignition systems for other OEMs to build is the key to success. People tend to buy cars on feelings.
Clearly Iaccoca won out. The guy was a genius at Ford with the Mustang and was able to turn Chrysler around. He was a great marketer who understood cash flow. Prior to Iaccoca, Chrysler was DEEP in the red and they needed to be bailed out, while AMC kept going.
Moving models around the various brands sounds like a lot of churning. It might all work, but I’m guessing that Stellantis does not have the cash reserves to survive the two years or so that would take. It feels more like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
As I wrote that, I realized I was rearranging the deck chairs. I moved two models over, while killing another.
My thought was to try to get them more cash with spinning off the EU and US. Worst case there is a takeover using the stock itself.
I think bringing back AMC is actually brilliant at this moment. The details matter less than the showmanship — not “Americas,” though — call it “American Motors,” wrap it in the flag, present a plan to get to 100% American content in the cars by X number of years in the future, reopen some old dead plant to give the Oompa Loompa POTUS a photo-op. Wave around billionaire dollar figures, doesn’t matter if they’re real. Get with influencers and launch a memecoin.
Yes!!!
Memecoin financing!!!!!
We are at peak dumb with stocks, financing, and influencers :|, until we reach the next level of dumb…
French press are saying he has spent too much time in the US and has lost contact with European markets, and seems to think they are the same as US markets.
Apparently has not bothered to make himself known to the grey men in Paris government buildings, where much of the state’s industrial strategy is formed, or to the top level factory managers in Europe.
Could possibly move DS back into Citroën, but if he touches, Peugeot or Citroën in France, or Fiat in Italy, the world will fall on his head.
At the same time has to cope with fact Tavares produced shit engines in Europe, which are failing before 100,000 km.
Stellantis has to replace them for free. Cut corners on simple stuff, timing belts and pulleys, then ran away to his millionaires beach, the slimy sod.
Again fixing that is number one priority, even if it costs a shit load of cash — it will be cheaper than seeing owners queue up outside court and a consumer boycott is very close.
And going back to 4 litre V8s, is not going down well in Europe — expect green protests at annual meetings…
French press are saying he has spent too much time in the US and has lost contact with European markets, and seems to think they are the same as US markets
So, basically the exact opposite of his predecessor, who was entirely focused on Europe and completely ignorant/oblivious to North America? Well, maybe that’s what they need, Stellantis Europe is in decent shape right now, or at least isn’t a dumpster fire, so maybe it can get by with some salutary neglect for a few years while Stellantis North America gets its turnaround
I mean, ideally you’d get someone who was fully competent to run both sides of the company equally well, but it seems like Stellantis is going with either/or
I’d just like to see Ram brought back under Dodge and let Kuniskis run it.
Nobody calls them “Ram”. It’s always ‘a Dodge Ram’. I get why they did that – but Dodge sells like 2 cars now. So dumb.
Fez! You’re back from the dead! Yes, I agree about Ram always been Dodge Ram.
Congrats to the new CEO. He has his work cut out. First thing is sell off the existing backlog at fire sale prices. Extend the basic warranty to 10 year 100k miles on everything. Improve quality. Want to get people buying the cars?Again, now you have the money to develop a new affordable Wrangler YK. The YK would be the size of the Suzuki Jimmy. It would be AWD hybrid. All Jeeps would be AWD or 4WD going forward. Fold Ram back to Dodge. Then reinvent Chrysler to bring some of the European cars . The Grand Wagoneer should have been the Town and Country.
I like the small Wrangler style. When people say they drive “a Jeep” – we think of a Wrangler. Just make more versions of that. I’d like to see the old Africa concept too be real. A long wheelbase (Gladiator frame) Wrangler with a fixed top. Like a Defender 130. Would be a soccer mom/ overlander dream ride.
Extending the warranty like that on the existing lineup would bankrupt them. They need to undo most of Tavares’ cost-cutting so they can build something that will actually last 10/100k and then they can use that as a sales pitch.
Better yet, license build the Jimmy as a small Jeep in the US market. All the development is done, they just have to work towards US certification.
Suzuki makes the Jimny. The Jimmy was/maybe will be again, a GMC.
No one will buy a wrangler the size of a Jimny. I wish it weren’t true, but small cars like that are just not what America wants. The best selling Jeep product for years has been the four door Wrangler. I don’t know the numbers but I see a lot more four door broncos than I do two doors. And the two door is still significantly larger than the Jimny. People want family haulers first. If it can cosplay as a rugged offroader too, that’s a bonus, but it has to be able to comfortably fit, at minimum, two adults, two kids, and a bunch of stuff. The actual off-road community that wants something like the Jimny, or the actual Jimny, is but a drop in the bucket of American consumers.
Step one is to kill the RAM brand and go back to calling them Dodge pickups.
There’s probably some similar low hanging fruit in Europe that I have no knowledge about, but that may be about it for the easy fixes.
There’s so much sunk cost in unprofitable products and wide misses in what the market wants/needs and is able to pay for.
It will take a master class in leadership to save the company at this point. Tavares really screwed the pooch here.
This is one of the big problems with golden parachutes and short term stock options as compensation. You don’t look past the next quarter, and when it all blows up, you walk away a millionaire (and get to say BS things like “You know we didn’t have these problems when I was in charge, and if I was still there…”).
Might also be smart to take a Gladiator chassis, shorten the rear overhang a bit, strengthen the frame a bit and make a solid Dakota with better towing capacity than the Gladiator. Then take the little Hornet, lop off the top, perhaps send the panels and drive train to North America for assembly, make it a D50 Maverick fighter.
it’s already being sold elsewhere as the Rampage. But in Stellantis any new products take glacial pace to get released
The multi-brand, multi-website strategy stopped working sometime ago.
I don’t want to be redirected from Dodge to RAM. Ford and Chevy don’t do that.
I hear this a lot but don’t understand how it would help sales.
It probably wouldn’t help sales – it would simply cut the corporate overhead. Marketing, brand executives, office space, etc.
There’s still definitely work for the lower level employees to do, but by moving them under one management group instead of one per brand, you can eliminate some upper level head count that’s really not providing much value to the organization.
Kind of like how Ford killed off Mercury so many years ago, and GM dropped Olds and Geo, then Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer.
Fairly certain after the AMC merger, Chrysler quickly became one of the most profitable companies, especially by the mid 90’s, so how did it become “barely sustainable”?
true. That was just a made up assumption based on “the need to strengthen their positions in the face of increasing competition and economic difficulties that might’ve come with it“.
None of this materialized except the economic difficulties for one of these partners as a result of self-inflicted damage.
No problem.
Fly your private jet to Washington, be helicoptered to the Capitol building to stand in front of an army of sign carrying, paid actor “auto workers” (preferably a white actors) and announce through a bullhorn that either you get several MASSIVE bailouts or these poor, innocent autoworkers get fired. Then fly back to the golf course while your personal portfolio swells.
Rinse, repeat.
Would definitely be a case of “game know game.”
Ehh not great. Weren’t these guys running things when Jeep decided it was a good idea to not have a single capable vehicle positioned against the RAV4 which is the best selling vehicle in the world.
Knock 10-12k of the price of the 2 row laredo Grand Cherokee. Drop it half that much for the 3 row. Force people to decide if they really need that extra row and grab profit from those that do. Push volume and market share from those that don’t.
Make a 20Kish more fun wrangler shaped thing (sort of a cabriolet/Manx style product) to get more youth involved and bought into the brand. The renegade was close but it needs removable t-tops at least.
Introduce an honest to goodness CRV/RAV4 fighter that undercuts the Toyota Tax by roughly 4-5k.
Try and get your quality back under control.
Are you thinking the Renegade? THey are nice looking little fellers, But I think the Engine longevity was always somewhat in question. Something about the Multi-air drinking oil and what not?
Yeah it would likely have to be some sort of hybrid power train these days. Something like the Maverick. Looks think an aggressive/modern geo tracker.
Problem is that many, many consumers would sooner pay that extra $4-5k to get a vehicle that will last 2x-3x as long as what Stellantis craps out.
Even if Stellantis were to wave a magical quality assurance wand and suddenly produce reliable vehicles, it would take years, maybe even a decade or more for consumer sentiment to catch up with the brand.
Yes that’s why they have to hook them into the brand with the cheap wrangler like vehicle.
I’m on my third jeep, a 2005 grand cherokee. I started with an XJ.
They used to be cheapish capable 4 wheel drive vehicles that could tow.
Somewhere along the line they took a serious hit on perceptions of reliability but the brand equity kept people buying anyways. Then they got greedy and raised the prices without raising the quality and now they reap what they sowed.
I do think 5K is enough to get people to look past toyota and honda if they have brand affinity. You’re correct that you probably have to be 7-10k if your going in dry.
But right now they have nothing. No cheap fun entry into the brand and no step up midrange CUV for when that new customer has kids and wants something more in the middle.
Jeep’s been making the Cherokee or Compass (which grew to approximately the size of a Cherokee) since 2013 as a direct competitor to the RAV4 and CRV. Whether it was a good competitor or not is debatable, but it’s not like they had nothing in the segment.
They don’t make the Cherokee any longer. I suppose the compass is a competitor. Maybe if it didn’t look so much like a baby grand cherokee I’d see it as viable stand alone competitor to the RAV4.
In my mind the Cherokee was a little too big and heavy, and the compass was a smidge to small. The RAV4 & CRV and perhaps the X3 if your ballin always fit in that “just right” size category for American consumers.
The lengths that Hardigree will go to, just to sneak a Carlos Tavares joke in. Love it.
Yeah, I’ve come around to this.
The dedication to the bit is solid.
Well done, and at this point, why stop?
Long running understated gags are much appreciated.
I’ll admit I’d been jonesing for a ‘pictured above’ lately
Yeah that was the good stuff, straight from the source. Didn’t know how bad I was itching for one until I got that hit.
I almost feel sorry for Jon Lovitz being mistaken for that guy.
When a loyal Jeep customer blindly buys a new Cherokee out of faith because his last Cherokee is still going strong after decades of abuse, the last thing he wants is to get it home and discover he’s been suckered into a rebadged Fiat. That seems like a really good way to run off your customer base.
Wow, Hardigree, if you wanted to put another Jon Lovitz gag on the site, you could have just done it. You didn’t need to do all that writing to justify it.
I kid. Excellent post- and bonus points to the Eminem knockoffs in the comments.
He looks like a coked up mob boss in the header image
Let it all die. Maybe Renault would want Citroen and/or Peugeot. The Italian government can decide if it wants to own Fiat. GM can pick up the Opel name again if it has any interest in Europe. GM could pick up Jeep if it wanted, since the only Jeep product of interest, the Wrangler, is in a category that GM lacks. But there just isn’t much actual value to save product-wise.
The core issue is that Stellantis has never developed a good product. Ghosn killed the company years ago; the body just hasn’t dropped yet.
Said no one ever. 🙂
I hope Mr. Filosa can herd all of these cats together, but as long as he doesn’t actually pull a Cheddar Bob he will be ahead of the last guy, pictured above.
As soggy countries with good beer go, NL’s a decent tax haven.
Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To save an automotive portfolio in one moment,
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?
His palms are sweaty, Alfa’s weak, Jeep’s too heavy,
Chrysler’s one van already, Dodge EVs aren’t ready.
He’s nervous, but on the surface Ram seems steady
Does Alfa bomb, is DS worth forgetting?
Vauxhall’s down, is Peugeot still sound
His Opels sell, is Maserati out?
Lancia’s choking now, Abarth’s joking now
Sales are down, is Fiat over now?
Is Citroen back in reality, ope there go profits see,
Ope, there goes Alfa, he choked, he’s mad, but he won’t
Give up that easy, no he won’t have it he knows
Leapmotors on the ropes, it don’t matter,
Ram’s dope, he knows that, but he’s broke, brands’re stagnant,
He knows that when he goes back to the boardroom, that’s when it’s
Back to Stellantis again, yo this old crap you see,
Better go capture this moment and hope they don’t can him
And there’s the rap on Stellantis.
Pack it in folks. COTD has dropped.
I think Ash had the better idea, since forcing the brands in made this one awkward (and made me take longer than I would have liked–I will never remember all the Stellantis brands), but thank you.
Newton and Leibnitz invented calculus at basically the same time and without really even talking to each other 🙂
I am only disappointed that you didn’t somehow slip in a spaghetti reference. Well, that’s COTD wrapped up for today!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW-BU6keEUw
That’s GOLD Jerry, GOLD!”
Also I dedicate the original mom’s spaghetti lyric to DT
(shower spaghetti!)
The fact that Stellantis exists as the endgame of a pyramid of merger attempts to save various flailing automakers that dates as far back as Hudson and Nash, amuses me to no end.
I disagree with it going back to Hudson/Nash.
It goes back to Walter P. Chrysler successfully running Buick and taking over the Maxwell Motor company with a rebrand to Chrysler.
Chrysler then acquires Dodge and things are set in motion to grow, get bailed out, and eventually acquire AMC.
Based on my reading of “The Last American CEO” by Joe Cappy, You can make the case that Chrysler/Dodge/RAM/Jeep’s current engineering came from AMC because the J10/J20 redesign team morphed into the Ram series, Dodge Intrepids came from the Renaults, and AMCs focus on unitized construction.
Changing my stance as I type, financing all Chrysler, engineering all AMC.
I’m very curious to see what his product portfolio approach will be, as of now, the American brands have a truly horrendous list of models that are either uncompetitive, undesirable, unreliable, deeply aged, or some combination, with seldom few standouts drawing in customers. Stellantis, like Nissan, doesn’t appear to have a ton of free capital to develop new products, and attempts like the Hornet and Tonale blatant rebadge isn’t good enough. The product focus and creative platform sharing will be key, but is tricky to execute well, and impossible without a deep understanding of the markets they will be sold in, which is exactly what doomed Tavares. It’ll be an interesting time and Stellantis.
I still so so many nearly brand new jeeps on the road. hell, I saw a commercial the other day touting Jeep as “America’s #1 most patriotic brand”. They know exactly who their audience is and what matters to them, and it sure as hell is not making a good product.
What if you had one chance, one opportunity, to…turn around a convoluted global automaker on its path to profitability after years of floundering under mediocre leadership?
Investors sweaty, EVs are so heavy
Ford sells a horde, and don’t get started with Chevy
He’s nervous, but his service is ready to levy
“Filosa Fees” on each sale
Suppliers ready to bail,
These philosophies are so stale
He’s joking, how? Everybody’s joking now
About how Jon Lovitz went out
Or Carlos, hidden in a music box,
You pop the top, but the song won’t rock!
SNAP
Back to reality, Dodge is a tragedy,
Fiat’s so sad, but he won’t give up that easy
New ads with Menghia, but don’t make them too sleazy
He knows that they have families
Buying those Grand Cherokees
Can’t offend anyone’s delicate sensibilities
But got to stay edge while bets get crossed-hedged
The death wobble goes on, da-dun-dun-da-dun
Lol, amazing.
You teed it up!
Also, I had just read a “25th Anniversary of the Marshall Mathers LP” this morning and was feeling VERY old 🙂
Oops! Didn’t scroll far enough before declaring a COTD winner.
Two COTD winners in one post! Perfection. 🙂
Hopefully he doesn’t lose himself in this moment
If you had one shot or one opportunity
To save several historic automotive brands
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?
As an Italian, if there is anything on his sweater, it is definitely mom’s spaghetti
FiatChryself
Now I really wish Fiat and Chrysler had also merged with Elf Aquitaine. We might have had a six-wheeled minivan.
They need something to sell, if you want to talk about saving them. Chrysler has one elderly minivan and Dodge has lineup of three models consisting of an even more elderly large SUV, a rebadged Alfa Romeo that flopped hard, and a new full-size car that’s going through a botched and glacially slow rollout and probably doesn’t have the right pricing or features mix to be as successful as it’s predecessors once the rollout is complete.
What else ya got? Because the two things that have been done don’t seem to be working
Speaking from a North American perspective, he really needs to make Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler the number one priority. Chrysler just needs to go at this point, Dodge’s lineup needs basically everything, and Jeep needs to get their shit together when it comes to pricing and build quality.
I am sure it’s misguided nostalgia for a company that I have never really liked, but I would hesitate to axe Chrysler. The name has power and I would love to see them stick around. Use that as the arm of the company that can bring some French cars here, or reestablish it as a luxury component of Dodge, every new Dodge, and like you said, they need a lot, gets a fancy version that’s a Chrysler but make them substantially different enough so people realize they are different. It’s working well for Cadillac and Lincoln (maybe).
The problem is the money. They need a lot of it to get anywhere. Maybe just pause Chrysler for a year or two to rebuild the others, then bring it back strong? I really don’t know, but I want the company to live on in some form.
This is what they need to do:
Start with making Jeep competitive again. Then use the Jeeps to bolster the other brands (gotta love badge engineering, but it kind of works in desperate times).
Then move to Dodge. Fold the Ram brand back into Dodge. Bring back the Dakota and a compact truck. Bring back the dang Caravan. Do a more rugged version of the Wagoneer and call it the RamCharger (ah, crap, they blew that opportunity with the Ram plugin thing). The new Charger needs some love already. It needs the Hurricane asap.
Finally, Chrysler. The Charger needs a baller, boxy version for the 300. Only the Luxury Version of the Van. Bring the Wagoneer over from Jeep for the nicest versions (with some restyling). Wagoneer S should have been a Chrysler. Maybe bring over some french stuff. Make the brand more bespoke. Throw everything at it. Worked for Lincoln and Cadillac.
If Dodge’s lineup needs everything then what is there to save?
Dodge has the brand recognition. To most car people it’s kind of a joke, but I think the normies see Dodge as a cool guy muscle car brand.
You say that, but the Pacifica somehow sold 109,000 last year; vs the Durango at 59,000, Hornet at 21,000, and the electric Charger sold 1,900 in the first quarter of this year. Chrysler may not technically be the weakest knife in the drawer here
The Pacifica sold well because it’s a decent vehicle, not because it’s a Chrysler. People would still buy it if it was the exact same thing but with a Dodge badge. It makes no sense to keep a company alive because they sell one (1)vehicle. The Durango needs a complete new generation, the Hornet needs to go, and the Charger/Challenger would sell better if Dodge had given them V6’s and V8’s from the get-go.
I just think Dodge should be the Pacifica, a new-gen Durango, Charger/Challenger, and an all-new Journey. No need to go crazy. Let Jeep be the crossover brand.
A new Durango SEEMS easy enough on paper. They’ve already got the Grand Cherokee platform in house and it’s a mostly solid, well regarded, rear wheel drive crossover architecture. If they reskin it, make it look aggro, and put the Hurricane in it (which for god knows what reason Jeep won’t do with the GC, they’re actually moving to a 4 popper to try to elevate that vehicle) and offer some Hemis in small to medium sized batches people will buy them.
The fact that it’s nearly June of 2025 and the Charger Six Pack is basically still vaporware is a hilarious unforced error. That car has a real chance to be a winner. On paper it’s excellent and they’ve somehow made classic muscle car styling work on a sedan/liftback. If it’s priced reasonably and isn’t a complete mechanical disaster they’re going to sell tons of them.
…but they inexplicably released the shitty EV version that no one wants in coupe form first and they keep delaying the Six Packs, which suggests that their prototypes are running into lots of issues. Stellantis cannot afford another disastrous launch of an important car, but they also can’t keep people waiting.
There’s a nonzero chance we see the Mustang sedan by the time you can buy an inline 6 Charger…and if it’s good/has a V8 option no one other than car blog nerds like us who see it as a yee haw BMW is going to want the Charger anymore.
Part of me wonders if they’re not waiting to release the V6 simultaneously with the V8. I have seen with my own eyes Charger prototypes that very clearly sounded like V8s, so they’re doing something. It just should’ve been done long before now.
A new Durango is likely going to be built on the Charger/Wagoneer S’s STLA Large platform. The WL Grand Cherokee wasn’t built to accept the Hurricane, and at this point is half-way through its life anyways.
Granted, I could be wrong.
That’s such a bummer. The powertrains are the one thing really holding the GC back and downsizing to a rattly 4 popper is not going to help.
That’s definitely an understatement. But maybe they’ll learn their lesson…. even though they haven’t learned anything yet at that trainwreck.
I think they’re cooked, chat.
What evidence is there that the Dodge brand is of any help to the models it’s selling? 2/3 of them are certified flops. Would the Hornet and electric Charger really sell any worse if they were called Chryslers? Hard to imagine them doing worse
Right now it isn’t helping because their lineup is so terrible. But people do know Chargers/Challengers, and I think Dodge’s role as the muscle car brand could help them if they had a compelling lineup, which they don’t. My point is that all they have right now is their wannabe cool guy image.
Throw in a smallish city EV, call it the neon.
I disagree about axing Chrysler. If we are going to axe some brands, it should be Fiat in North America and Lancia.
And fold DS back into Citroen and fold Ram back into Dodge.
Chrysler can be useful as an affordable luxury versions of more sporty Dodges.
Outside of Chrysler, Stellantis doesn’t have an affordable luxury brand in North America.
Do they need one? The affordable luxury market is extremely crowded as it is, and it seems like they’ve decided a long time ago to make Jeep a pseudo-luxury brand.
I get that a lot of car people have a soft spot for Chrysler, but it would need a huge financial investment at this point to make it competitive, and even then, Chryslers have been a joke for such a long time who would buy one? Stellantis isn’t exactly doing great right now, and that money would be better spent on a company like Dodge, which already has the brand image
“, but it would need a huge financial investment at this point to make it competitive, “
Nah… they can just do what Chrysler did for years… you start with the standard Dodge/Plymouth, do some minor styling changes, add features. maybe add extra sound deadening and change the suspension tuning for a softer ride.
If the car it’s based on is already competitive, then the cost should be minimal and essentially open the same basic vehicle to a wider sales demographic.