The Chrysler 5-year plan thread (Viper, Dakota DEAD)

[benroethig]

BTW, anybody else feel that despite being around 8 hours, not that many questions were actually answered.

[AdmiralViscen]

This is kind of exciting.

[Quixote88]

Hmmmm.... I love Mopar, and I want them to thrive, but I'm not as optimistic as some in this thread. Some of the plan seems great. But there is one thing that hasn't been answered: How exactly do they expect the Chrysler brands to SURVIVE until 2011?

They have never been looked at in such a poor light... Not even in the dark days of the late 70's/early 80's. Quality is sub-par at best, their current mainstream midsize and compact offerings are less than competitive, there is still a "bailout backlash" with which to contend, and most importantly, as their crosstown rivals Ford and GM are posting modest sales gains over the past month(year over year), Chrysler sales plummeted once again, even when comparing sales to a horrendous October 2008... Not to mention that both Ford and GM are currently(2009,2010) adding exceptional models that further bury the already uncompetitive Chrysler models...

Chrysler intentionally cut roughly 800 +/- dealers from the fold in 2009. How many are going to be cut unintentionally from lack of sales over the next year? I'm going to say "more than a few."

The plans that Fiat/Chrysler have laid out are interesting, to say the least. Though they've had success in European markets, I think Fiat is in for a rude awakening at how difficult it is to succeed in the mainstream American auto market. I wish them well... I truly do. As Robert Burns once opined: (translated) "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

Are you kidding??????

That presentation was a heck of a lot better than the GM ones I've seen, where they write about 4 paragraphs of text onto one slide!!!

Rule #1 -- The slide deck is only supposed to present minimal information, while you do the actual talking to support the slide.
Rule #2 -- Never read off the slide.

Those 2 rules are ALWAYS broken.

Thus why I hate PowerPoint with an undying passion.

I use the white board and markers whenever I can. Keeps people's AND YOUR OWN attention better.

[A Clue]

Originally Posted by Quixote88

But there is one thing that hasn't been answered: How exactly do they expect the Chrysler brands to SURVIVE until 2011?

They went over this quite thoroughly. Again, they have all but stopped the bleeding and even made a billion bucks since emerging from BK. They have slowed production to meet demand all while slashing costs.
Sales were flat because of 0 marketing efforts since June, Marketing & Advertising began again last night and you watch, sales will be up for November.

Even if they are not (they will be) there are still others things than can be done.

[benroethig]

Originally Posted by AdmiralViscen

This is kind of exciting.

I'd much more convinced if there was some kind of concept art shown. We know things are coming. We still don't know if Fiat has a clue what we're looking for.