How about option #3?
Complete separation of the “National” brand grouping network. Let Auburn Hills continue to to run the CDJR network, they’ve done well turning Jeep into a world brand (something that Lido and Daimler failed to do but Marchionne pulled off). They’ve brought Ram up to be a viable alternative to Ford and Chevy. Dodge does have potential, Chrysler well ……. Either try to turn it into a rival of Cadillac and Lincoln (if Lincoln survives) or let it join Plymouth.
Group the Italian brands together (spin off into a separate company with Stellantis majority shareholder?) completely separate from anyone or anything related to the CDJR network. Let the Italians setup their own network of dealers and management, while having an instant network of using the CDJR network looks good on paper, reality is a different matter (it didn’t work in the 80/90s and didn’t work this time either.) again Daimler never merged the mercedes and Chrysler networks.
While it takes time building a network, they’ll get better quality dealers that understand the brands and their customers. Ones that know how to sell the product not based on price alone.
Maybe the partner could be Ferrari, let them run the Italian brands. They are currently the most valuable (by market cap) automotive company in Europe only trailing Tesla, Toyota and BYD. Maseratis were once sold through Ferrari dealerships, those dealers started dumping the Maserati brand once Maserati got moved to Auburn Hills and they began appointing CDJR dealers with Maserati franchises.
Let the French handle their brands plus Opel.
A side note on Tavares, he was considered the Best CEO in the industry before the Stellantis merger. While I wasn’t crazy about some of the things he did, they need to taken into consideration those decisions were based on government mandates from the Beltway and Brussels forcing manufacturers to pour resources into EVs a product customers, didn’t want, didn’t ask for, and aren’t buying. Stellantis isn’t the only manufacturer in trouble because of the EV mandates, it’s easier to pick the ones that aren’t in trouble. Remember the whole merger of FIAT/Chrysler was orchestrated by the Obama administration as part of their grand mandate to change the industry.
Maybe make Stellantis somewhat of a holding company that the 3 “National” groups can draw from in terms of purchasing power for parts, internal services etc.
Option 3 is restating my option 1 - Consistent management where the investors bank accounts aren't the number one priority.
That said, it's not bad, but I don't think Chrysler has only those two options "rival Cadillac/Lincoln or die." At least that's how it reads in the way you wrote it. It doesn't
have to rival them. Sure, a lot of people want to see Chrysler back at the top of American Luxury marques and all that would take is transferring the Wagoneers into the Chrysler lineup and refocusing Jeep in the North American market to being off-road first, creature-comforts second again. Unsure if that will work in the long-run but future Jeeps need to be far more capable than your average Honda Passport.
I agree with separating the Italian brands from the CDJR brands in the dealer network, but I'm pretty sure they already do - I haven't seen Fiat mixed in with the Dodge's since the 124; and I haven't seen the Alfa's in a CDJR at all. Mercedes wasn't attempting to re-enter the US after a hiatus of decades, either though. They were already established here. Different situations. Ferrari is no longer under Stellantis, iirc, and they would
never let the 'normie brands' join their network if they had the choice unless there were incentives involved for it. Maserati was a different story, another high-end brand. Alfa Romeo and Fiat are not that.
Sure, but that's in Europe where Jeep is the global brand and has a very different view on what makes Jeep a Jeep. You can't deny that currently it looks like everything is about how much money a vehicle brings in. The problem is they're killing Jeeps reputation one car at a time because they are busy forcing Americans to take European-style offerings that have little to no capability, while the old vehicles before they were killed off for 'not selling' just suffered with slowly rising prices with little to no investment in them since 2017 or earlier in some cases, this side of Hellcat Durango. More $70-100k cars; killing off any car that wasn't making money because of that lack of investment. Renegade, 300, Durango would be there if it wasn't for being the only vehicle in the lineup that can hold a v8 right now, Dart, 200, they just needed a little investment that management wasn't willing to put into it.
Like i've said before, CDJR is largely a victim of sh*tty timing and high prices for little value. lol
- Kills off the less expensive cars right when prices start skyrocketing
- Introduce EVs too late and too expensive to be popular and then call it a flop.
- 4xe Renegade & Compass should have been available here, too. But they aren't.
- Charger should've either been Charger and ICE first, or Stealth as an EV, or a Chrysler 300e. If it was a Chrysler, people would have accepted it. As a Charger, they should've seen this coming a mile away.
- The New Compass Trailhawk in EV-only isn't gonna work here, we're not in the stage of wide acceptance that Europe is. We don't
need EV's yet the way Europe does. If they'd started with the 4xe Compass & Renegade options, this new vehicle would've been fine, people would've accepted it, but as it sits, they won't. Especially if it costs $45-55k for something that should be an entry-level vehicle.
- The perennially upcoming new product that's
always 3 years out. The only company actually getting new product is Jeep. Compass, Cherokee, Wagoneers, and updates to everything else while Dodge & Chrysler sit stagnant this side of Charger. Ram is finally getting them out of necessity because "oh sh*t maybe they
are too expensive" *pikachu shock face*
So yeah. Option 1 is the one you're choosing.
BETTER, MORE CONSISTENT MANAGEMENT. 
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