Stellantis CEO Says He Is Ready To Start Cutting Brands

Stellantis CEO Says He Is Ready To Start Cutting Brands​

"If They Don't Make Money, We'll Shut Them Down," Tavares Says...​

Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest automaker, says it is taking decisive action to tackle weak margins and high inventory levels in its U.S. operations. CEO Carlos Tavares announced that the company is prepared to eliminate underperforming brands from its extensive portfolio if they fail to generate profits. This marks a significant shift in strategy for Tavares, who previously maintained that all 14 brands under Stellantis, including Chrysler, Maserati, DS Automobiles, and Lancia, had a future.

Stellantis CEO Says He Is Ready To Start Cutting Brands

Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest automaker, says it is taking decisive action to tackle weak margins and high inventory levels in its U.S. operations. CEO Carlos Tavares announced that the company is prepared to eliminate underperforming brands from its extensive portfolio if they fail to...

moparinsiders.com

 

[Jason S]

Chrysler needs to be marketed as the commuter brand and the luxury brand. Chrysler needs to be the all encompassing brand that Dodge, Jeep, and RAM feed off of. Chrysler can make anything from small commuter cars to large opulent SUVs. Stellantis needs to position every brand for their specific use case. Chrysler is for both luxury and cheap cars, Jeep is for off road capability, RAM is for utility vehicles, and Dodge is for performance.

 

[TripleT]

Chrysler can make anything from small commuter cars to large opulent SUVs.

Small commuters only can work if they are imported from low cost, or low currency locations whether imported assembled or assembled locally and even with that and the emission regulation there is nearly NO margins. Large Opulent SUVs belong to Jeep.

Only performance Sedans make make margin... Dodge.

Trucks RAM.

The Leave a very Narrow window here for Chrysler when all we read here is negativity about tech forward vehicles.

 

[BWS1]

Small commuters only can work if they are imported from low cost, or low currency locations whether imported assembled or assembled locally and even with that and the emission regulation there is nearly NO margins. Large Opulent SUVs belong to Jeep.

Only performance Sedans make make margin... Dodge.

Trucks RAM.

The Leave a very Narrow window here for Chrysler when all we read here is negativity about tech forward vehicles.

So the window between small commenters and opulent suvs is “narrow”? And since when did we have to relegate a performance sedan to one “brand”? Seems like I recall a few Chryslers Plymouths Dodges and even Desotos , Oldsmobile, Pontiac , Buick, Mercury Chevy that were marketed as performance sedans and they all did quite well in their time. Your argument that there is no room for a Chrysler brand doesn’t hold much water. But not to worry, it will be gone soon enough and you won’t have to diss it any longer.

 

[Bili]

Is this start of the end for STLA or Carlos?

 

[patfromigh]

Chrysler needs to be marketed as the commuter brand and the luxury brand. Chrysler needs to be the all encompassing brand that Dodge, Jeep, and RAM feed off of. Chrysler can make anything from small commuter cars to large opulent SUVs. Stellantis needs to position every brand for their specific use case. Chrysler is for both luxury and cheap cars, Jeep is for off road capability, RAM is for utility vehicles, and Dodge is for performance.

This was Daimler's strategy. After Plymouth was eliminated the Chrysler brand was compelled to cover a broader market. The Chrysler brand up to the death of Plymouth had some prestige value. A car like the Cirrus could be offed upmarket because Plymouth made it a Breeze to ignore the mass market. The Town & Country van was an upscale offering while the Plymouth Voyager covered fleets and affordability. After Plymouth was gone the Chrysler vans that followed were simply seen as fleet queens.

The Daimler developed Chrysler Sebring was a terrible mess with cheap materials, sloppy handling, and poor build quality. The classy cloud car based Sebring convertible was replaced with the Karmann built one of horrendous quality and reliability. The PT Cruiser was supposed to be a Plymouth. It became a Chrysler and was cheapened out by Daimler who intended to replace it with a Volkswagen.

The commuter car market is dead. The Korean brands might have a few tiny crossovers left, but even the rental fleets aren't buying them. City cars will be electric because the CARB zero emissions mandates are based on the proportion of ICE to EV. It doesn't make sense to make a bunch of cheap econoboxes under those conditions.

 

[patfromigh]

Is this start of the end for STLA or Carlos?

Italian prime minister (and occasional caretaker for Joe Biden) Giorgia Meloni was in China over the weekend. Meanwhile the French have become a symbol of Western civilization's downfall. Stellantis is going down first.

 

[TripleT]

This was Daimler's strategy. After Plymouth was eliminated the Chrysler brand was compelled to cover a broader market. The Chrysler brand up to the death of Plymouth had some prestige value. A car like the Cirrus could be offed upmarket because Plymouth made it a Breeze to ignore the mass market. The Town & Country van was an upscale offering while the Plymouth Voyager covered fleets and affordability. After Plymouth was gone the Chrysler vans that followed were simply seen as fleet queens.

The Daimler developed Chrysler Sebring was a terrible mess with cheap materials, sloppy handling, and poor build quality. The classy cloud car based Sebring convertible was replaced with the Karmann built one of horrendous quality and reliability. The PT Cruiser was supposed to be a Plymouth. It became a Chrysler and was cheapened out by Daimler who intended to replace it with a Volkswagen.

The commuter car market is dead. The Korean brands might have a few tiny crossovers left, but even the rental fleets aren't buying them. City cars will be electric because the CARB zero emissions mandates are based on the proportion of ICE to EV. It doesn't make sense to make a bunch of cheap econoboxes under those conditions.

YES....

Less we forget 300 was supposed to be an Eagle.

For most of it History. Chrysler was NEVER a volume brand. It was a luxury brand. Lee cheapened that a bit with slapping wire wheels, Landua roof, overstuffed seats, and a lot of Chrome WHALA Chrysler (not alone Cadillac did similar things. Bob and Tom brought it back only to have it dismantled again by Daimler.

The Landau wire wheels big chrome generation is gone, Luxury now is Maserati or Alfa not Lincoln Continental. OR hear me out TESLA..... or Lucid..... Luxury is now defined by Tech the vehicle has along with appointments. There is a narrow window for Chrysler if it is embraced and not too late.

 

[scatpack_69]

You mean rebadged Franklin... I never forgive him for kill that brand and slapping his name on it.

Dude you weren’t even alive then. So much stupidity comes out of your head and runs into your keyboard….jesus. It’s pitiful.

 

[Kexy]

How about we start at the top first, with the guy threatening the various operations without questioning himself or his inflated salary. I see the handwriting on the wall for Chrysler and folding Ram into Dodge makes huge sense, but for now I’m sticking with Chrysler since life without them would be sad. The solution is more and better product and better build quality. Panic results in stupid thinking and this sounds like panic.

Build quality wouldn't suffer if they would STOP starving the plants of money to keep improvements going, stock parts inventory, layoff the workers who have been trained to do the job right, instead of constantly rotating new people in and out every time there is a layoff. I'm in the plant, I see what goes on. Moral is VERY low and people don't know if they'll have a job Tomorrow. So they don't care about doing the job right anymore. It's so sad to see how Tavares has ruined FCA- Not Daimler.