The long interview : Jean-Pierre Ploué talks about Lancia, Alfa-Romeo, Fiat. [French]

[Deckard Cain]

La longue interview : Jean-Pierre Ploué parle de Lancia, Alfa-Romeo, Fiat. Première partie – LIGNES/auto

La longue interview : Jean-Pierre Ploué parle de Lancia, Alfa-Romeo, Fiat. Seconde partie – LIGNES/auto

 

[pumadog]

Thanks, very good to read:
• dedicated brand teams
• whole team works in brand homeland
• European design boss moves to Turin
• Fiat gets a full model range

 

[Bili]

• European design boss moves to Turin

And is not boss to Maserati which are at American command. And they have separated Alfa and Maserati in every possible way.

At the same time Italian top talent both at design and engineering level had left the company or were degraded. AFAIK Marco Tencone who was Head of Design for Maserati and earlier also for Head of Design Alfa Romeo has left the company. Roberto Fedeli ex CEO of CRF, before CTO of Alfa&Maserati, even before that CTO of Ferrari, has left the company in May.

Spare parts division is not Mopar anymore. Just showing disrespect to Mopar.
Their CEO is Pietro Gorlier as was under Mopar name but he is not at the top management, something which he held under FCA.

And I can go on and on.

It's not rosy as some may thunk.

But it seems that French are masters of marketing but I was pointing to that even before the merger. People are buying their sweet worrds.

 

[Appassito]

We need fresh staff and it is clear from the articles that there are some very dedicated people at work.
This detail of the interview made me smile:

"Alejandro Mesonero, ex-Seat/Cupra and ex-Dacia, joins you. Was it important to have a Latin design director for Alfa?
Absolutely, it was even my priority. Alejandro drives an Alfa, it’s his life’s passion. When I offered him the job, he was immediately enthusiastic, but I asked him to wait for a weekend of reflection so that his answer would not just be taken on emotion!"

Can not ask for better!

The interview with Jean-Pierre Ploué is also available in English, two parts, here are the links:

Jean-Pierre Ploué, responsible for all the style directors of Stellantis’ European brands - Part 1

Jean-Pierre Ploué, responsible for all the style directors of Stellantis’ European brands - Part 2

 

[Bili]

Pepe, where are Italian designers? Where is Italian design? All I see is French.

 

[TripleT]

Quirky styling exercises on the same boring and unexpired driving vehicles ....... blahhhhhh

 

[Appassito]

Quirky styling exercises on the same boring and unexpired driving vehicles ....... blahhhhhh

Could you maybe put up some pictures or names of car designs you like?

 

[TripleT]

I don't care.... (well I do about some but less) Cars just based on Styling.... If that is all a car offers, then I find it a appliance. A car should have character beyond it styling.

I don't even mind French Quirky, if it on a French design..... What I don't like is the Asian Crease language, it is heinous, mixed with French Quirk it is horrible.

Soft flowing lines from Italy, Some from Germany.... The Muscle look from NA. I like more than I don't.

 

[pumadog]

… It's not rosy as some may thunk. …

Your comment was to be expected: you wear grey tinted glasses.

In reality, Alfa didn't have a dedicated design boss anymore, I guess because there was not enough work to do. And when Alfa still had a design chief, it got changed yearly for some reason. Some fluctuation of talent like your mentioned names is pretty normal of course. Alfa's own engineering, design studio, dedicated plants got absorbed into the unified FCA Italy pot long before Stellantis. And it was long before Stellantis that Alfa got separated from Maserati, because management felt the bundling would hurt the Maserati image. All the job advertisements for Modena since years were for Maserati and not FCA Italy.

 

[Deckard Cain]

The french shouldn't be blamed for something that FCA did after Marchionne kicked the bucket (and even before he died).
And the holy Marchionne was the main culprit for allowing Alfa to reach the point that it reached pre-Giulia/Stelvio launches.
Not only Alfa, but the fault of the situation of Fiat and Lancia as well lies solely on FCA management. The only one that tried to fight against this was marginalized (Altavilla).
Bili might not like that the italian brands might use "inferior" mechanical and technological solutions from FCA but that was a very conscious decision from FCA to starve the EU brands from product to obtain synergies in case of a merger faster.

 

[TripleT]

Tonale was going to be quite exotic when SM was alive and the implementation was authorized...... so I don't think anything is laid at his feet other then who he lined up to take over but that was not the intention of getting his shoulder operation.

 

[KrisW]

That’s a bot post. Don’t click any links in it.

 

[pumadog]

Already reported the "user".