Chrysler vanishes from Europe as Marchionne stems losses

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by MoPar Man, Jun 4, 2011.

  1. MoPar Man

    MoPar Man Guest

    Tell me this isin't a crock of shit...

    Fucking bunch of dago wops Marchionne and the rest of his fiat maffia.

    ==============================

    Chrysler vanishes from Europe as Marchionne stems losses

    http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110601/ANE/306019980/1198

    Automotive News Europe -- June 1, 2011 06:01 CET

    MILAN -- Fiat S.p.A., the automaker that controls Chrysler, ended Paolo
    Mazzali's American dream. The car dealer near Milan spent the last 10
    years selling customers "American lifestyle" as embodied in Chrysler
    cars and minivans. Now, he'll need to convince them to buy Italian after
    Fiat's decision to convert Chrysler dealers to Lancia.

    "We used to sell an emotional American brand, as American as a Harley
    Davidson motorcycle," said Mazzali, whose company owns three Chrysler
    showrooms. "It's like giving up a piece of your heart to pitch something
    new."

    Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler, ceased sales of the U.S.
    brand in continental Europe Tuesday after four decades. The combination
    of Chrysler and Lancia is part of his plan to end losses in Europe and
    cut costs by 1.5 billion euros ($2.2 billion) by 2014.

    Under Fiat, Chrysler's sales slumped to about a quarter of their total
    with Daimler AG. "We couldn't maintain the two brands everywhere so we
    had to decide," Olivier Francois, the Fiat executive who heads the
    Lancia and Chrysler brands, said in an interview "Lancia has a higher
    awareness in Europe, while for the U.S. and the rest of the world,
    Chrysler is a more global brand."

    The automaker will consolidate Chrysler Group's results starting this
    month, a sign of the rapid integration of the two carmakers since the
    U.S.-based manufacturer exited bankruptcy in June 2009.

    Fiat, which was initially granted a 20 percent stake by the U.S.
    government, aims to acquire 57 percent of the third-biggest U.S.
    automaker by the end of 2011.

    Sales slump

    Europe is a weak link for Fiat, where it struggles to compete with
    Volkswagen AG and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen SA.

    The company, which doesn't breakdown results by region, lost about 1
    billion euros last year on its home continent, according to Max
    Warburton, a London-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. "Fiat is
    unlikely to ever make Europe profitable," said Warburton.

    "There's little new product. In the next two years, market share will
    likely slide further." Fiat's deliveries in Europe fell 17 percent in
    the first fourth months of 2011, while industry-wide sales slipped 2.4
    percent and VW rose 5.3 percent.

    General Motors Co., which is expanding the Chevrolet brand in Europe,
    increased sales 2.1 percent in the January-April period. Marchionne
    acknowledges that European operations suffered as he focused on the U.S.

    Global Jeep

    Fiat will continue to sell Jeep models in Europe alongside Lancia.
    Marchionne aims to expand Chrysler's Jeep and Fiat's Alfa Romeo into
    global upscale brands as he forges an auto-making group to compete with
    GM and VW. Lancia will be a local European brand bolstered by Chrysler
    vehicles.

    Chrysler failed to win over European customers, unlike GM and Ford Motor
    Co., which both outsell Fiat in the region. The U.S. carmaker bought a
    stake in France's Simca in 1958 and then sold its European operations to
    Peugeot in 1978.

    Under Daimler, the brand renewed its effort in Europe, with sales
    peaking at about 120,000 cars in 2007. Last year, Chrysler's European
    deliveries slumped 27 percent to 36,900 vehicles, including Dodge and
    Jeep models. In the U.S., the group's sales rose 17 percent to 1.09
    million.

    Lancia's takeover of Chrysler's distribution network will boost the
    Italian brand's locations by 40 percent to 650 dealers. Chrysler will
    also provide more than sales outlets. The 300 sedan will be sold as the
    Lancia Thema starting in the fourth quarter, and other Chrysler models
    will be re-badged to give Lancia a broader lineup, including a version
    of the Grand Voyager minivan. The 200 may be renamed as the Flavia.

    'Right direction'

    The goal is to more than double Lancia's sales to about 250,000 cars by
    2014 from 99,400 last year. Overall, Marchionne aims to boost
    Fiat-Chrysler's combined sales to 104 billion euros by 2014 from about
    66 billion euros last year. The combination with Chrysler is critical
    for Lancia, which is too small to survive on its own, Marchionne has
    said.

    "It's going to be very difficult for Lancia to double sales as
    competition is very heavy," said Massimiliano Romano, head of research
    at brokerage Concentric Italy in Milan. "Marchionne is moving in the
    right direction. Margins are tiny, so you need to optimize resources."

    Lancia was founded in Turin in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia, a Fiat race car
    driver. It has moved between luxury and mass market over the years. In
    the 1950s and 1960s, Lancia went head-to-head against Jaguar and
    Maserati with luxurious coupes such as the Flamina and Flavia. After
    being acquired by Fiat in 1969, its models veered between race-bred
    sedans such as the Delta and big-box sedans such as the Thema. In the
    1990s, the brand dipped down market, with the compact Y.

    Ypsilon model

    Part of Lancia's makeover is the revamped Ypsilon compact, which will
    become a five-door hatchback in a bid to widen its appeal compared with
    the previous three-door-only version. The model, the brand's best
    seller, is one of only three current Lancia products and marks a rare
    new offering.

    Fiat postponed the introduction of new models until the second half of
    2011 in hopes of a recovery in European car demand. That tactic led to a
    loss of market share to 7.2 percent from 8.4 percent. Fiat plans to
    introduce five new cars this year, compared with nine in 2012 and 11 in
    2013. The Poland-built Ypsilon began sales Tuesday at a starting price
    of 12,400 euros. The target is to sell 120,000 Ypsilons a year, Francois
    said in a May 25 interview.

    Italian leather

    For Chrysler, the cooperation with Lancia isn't just a one-way street.
    The brand will still exist in the U.K. and Ireland and will sell a
    version of Lancia's sporty Delta hatchback as well as the Ypsilon.
    Chrysler may also sell Ypsilons in Japan, South Korea, South Africa and
    Australia, the company said. Even as it re-badges Chrysler and Lancia
    products, Fiat tries to account for regional sensibilities, such as
    Italian leather made by Poltrona Frau S.p.A. in the Lancia version of
    the Chrysler 300.

    It's also bridging cultures with ads featuring Elisabetta Canalis, the
    Italian girlfriend of George Clooney, with the tagline, "Italian
    character meets American glamor." For auto dealer Mazzali, he's spent
    more than 2 million euros to prepare his shops for Lancia. "We're ready
    for the change," he said.
     
    MoPar Man, Jun 4, 2011
    #1
  2. MoPar Man

    DAS Guest

    "Under Daimler, the brand renewed its effort in Europe, with sales
    peaking at about 120,000 cars in 2007"

    Re your rant in another thread.

    Yoou fail tu understand that cars made in NA just don't sell much in Europe.
    Note the Milanese dealer's lime of sedlling "American lifestyle". This is
    just niche marketing.

    GM and Ford sell vast quantities of cars in Europe (Ford has had a
    top-selling car in the UK for decades) because they make cars in various
    locations and don't try to impose US barges on European consumers. Ford's
    European R&D centres are good.

    GM has been enagaged in Europe since 1929, when it bought Adam Opel,
    Germany. Chrysler's efforts here have met with much less success.

    BTW, what is your problem that you have to use foul language to make your
    point?

    DAS
     
    DAS, Jun 4, 2011
    #2
  3. MoPar Man

    clamz Guest


    Obviously, a minimal IQ and/or poor education.
     
    clamz, Jun 10, 2011
    #3
  4. MoPar Man

    MoPar Man Guest

    I dare you to come here and say that.

    Nothing but the strongest and foulest language is appropriate for the
    german and italian goons who destroyed a great car company.
     
    MoPar Man, Jun 11, 2011
    #4
  5. MoPar Man

    DAS Guest

    Definitely poor education, as you don't seem to be aware that the English
    language has all the facilities for irony, sarcasm and simple, though
    substantial, criticism without needing to resort to foul language.

    Bad language is normally a sign of an inability to express oneself, or even
    of a lack of argument.

    BTW, Chrysler might have been a 'great' company once, but was it so even
    before Daimler bought it?

    This was a subject of debate in this Chrysler usenet group of old (now a
    pale shadow of its former self) and not everyone was agreed that Chrysler
    was so great.

    I think that real problem is that you suffer from a touch of xenophobia.

    DAS
     
    DAS, Jun 11, 2011
    #5
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