It's obvious we'll know more next week, but the new leadership team definitely has their work cut out for them. The financial performance of the legacy FCA brands are killing the bottom line. Europe is a mess because paying workers slave wages in Eastern European manufacturing facilities doesn't translate into sales. Henry Ford realized that over a century ago. Fiat sales moved from Europe to the Middle East-Africa market while at the same time jobs moved out of Italy into Morocco.
North America is starved of new and fresh products. The new products we have have nobody wants. I have a hard time accepting the excuse of delays due to the merger, because South America received new production lines and products immediately. The sales performance of Latin America shows what financial investment will do. I've stated in other posts that Latin America seems to be treated with a lot more respect and given more autonomy for product decisions than the legacy North American brands.
Whining about the tariff situation is really about the old Stellantis executive teem was moving more production to Mexico and not seriously thinking the Orange Man could win. I guess election interference is a lot harder to pull off in the US of A than back in the EU. Returning to the topic at hand, we should think of Mexico as the Eastern Europe of North America. The exception being the Mexican workers are more reluctant towards slave wages. Reversing coarse on the manufacturing moves will be expensive.
Can this mess be saved? The FCA side of the house has to go back to doing what for them has been an absolute failure in the past, sharing platforms. I believe the reason FCA failed in the past and still does so today with the Tonale/ Hornet twins is because simple badge engineering doesn't work. The differences have to be deep enough so the average consumer doesn't see it. Contrary to popular belief, when it comes to the typical auto buyer, consumers can not see right through something. Those plastic covers on engines really do work.
The way to do platform sharing would be to have localized manufacturing for both sides of the Atlantic. I'm not saying build Chryslers and Dodges in Europe. Build CDJ products here on given platform while that same platform yields products manufactured in and for Europe. In the case of Alfe Romeo and Lancia, this would preferably happen in Italy. The STLA-medium products built here should have unique styling and characteristics for each brand. There will continue to be a Dodge Hornet and AR Tonale, but they would not be interchangeable. The American products should have drive train components reflecting American tastes and driving conditions. In addition engines, motors, transmissions and other drive line components should be domestically sourced. The one exception would be building a possible Alfa product on a line in the US along side a Dodge platform mate to avoid a tariff penalty. The Alfa had better keep its Italian character while the Dodge still had better be a Dodge.
The Moroccan manufacturing facility contains significant utilization for producing knock down kits. When the former CEO announced the Renegade replacement, the circumstances related to this facility hints that possibly this Jeep would be coming from Morocco. The tariff situation now casts a shadow over that, perhaps by using domestically sourced drive components this still remains a possibility. After all Fiat products have never sold here in great numbers while the Jeep Renegade wouldn't generate massive sales demand. (I could be wrong on the last point.)
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