PickUp USA

[mbar]

Siccome la cosa ? interessante, sarebbe bello che qualcuno riportasse un link o copiasse il testo, anche in inglese, per capire se le strategie di Marchionne magari vengono interpretate diversamente dai manager USA....

[url="https://www.usacarsforum.it/new/index.php?showtopic=9955&st=60&start=60"]Qui, messaggio #65[/url] trovi, nel link segnalato, i piani della nuova Chrysler: vai allo slideshow.

[mbar]

Siccome la cosa ? interessante, sarebbe bello che qualcuno riportasse un link o copiasse il testo, anche in inglese, per capire se le strategie di Marchionne magari vengono interpretate diversamente dai manager USA....

Eccoti accontentato. Enjoy!



Dal New York Times:



Party’s Over: A New Tone for Chrysler

By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY

Published: November 4, 2009



AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The old Chrysler was famous for its aggressive marketing and auto-show stunts, like running a cattle drive down the streets of Detroit to publicize a new pickup (era successo con l'ultima versione del Ram, ndr).

But for its coming-out party on Wednesday, the new Chrysler stuck to a far more serious and subdued script.

For more than six hours, Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler’s new chief executive, and his top lieutenants marched through details of the company’s five-year plan in front of an audience of about 300 industry analysts and reporters.



Until now, Chrysler has been relatively quiet since it emerged from bankruptcy this summer, with the help of $12.5 billion in aid from the United States government and a new partnership with Fiat, the Italian automaker.



Fiat, which owns 20 percent of the company, is now firmly in control and is being guided by a new board partly selected by President Obama’s auto task force.



A parade of executives laid out in methodical fashion how Chrysler planned to increase its United States market share from its current level of 8 percent, and achieve $3 billion in purchasing savings with Fiat by 2014.



They said it would increase annual revenue to $67 billion by 2014, from $42 billion next year. It also predicted it would start earning a profit in 2011 and would be earning $5 billion a year by 2014.



The outstanding government loans will be repaid as well by then, Chrysler’s new chairman, C. Robert Kidder, said.



Richard Palmer, the chief financial officer, said Chrysler did not expect to issue a public stock offering until 2011 at the earliest.



The earnest message delivered by executive after executive was that Chrysler’s passion for products would be enhanced by Fiat’s expertise in engines, design and technology over all.



The company plans to reinvigorate its core Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge brands with broad makeovers.



Three Fiat-based cars are to be sold under Chrysler’s Dodge brand, and two of them will replace the slow-selling Caliber and Avenger. In 2010, Chrysler also intends to add a large Dodge crossover vehicle.



The Chrysler brand, the company’s smallest, will expand to six models, including the 500 and a Fiat-based crossover, from four models today.



At Jeep, Chrysler plans to discontinue after 2012 the Patriot and the Compass. Jeep will gain three Fiat-based models in 2013, including a new version of the Liberty.



Many in the audience remarked on the decided lack of sizzle from an automaker that once sponsored a “Lingerie Bowl” of women playing football in underwear.



“They were the ones who mixed the drinks, wore turtlenecks and told all the best jokes,” said Sean McAlinden of the Center for Automotive Research, referring to the previous Chrysler managers. “They let the G.M. and Ford guys wear the gray suits, but I guess things have changed.”



Chrysler executives said the understated tone of Wednesday’s gathering was appropriate, given that the company’s survival was financed partly by American taxpayers.



“I think people recognize that the management is trying to make Chrysler a successful American car company again,” said Mr. Palmer, the chief financial officer. “And it hasn’t been successful for quite a few years.”



Mr. Marchionne set the tone early by providing a glimpse of Chrysler’s postbankruptcy finances. He said the company had $5.7 billion in cash reserves, despite its slumping sales. “Some of you have been surmising that we’re losing money and we’re bleeding through the cash we received,” he said. “Not true.”



He also said Chrysler had been “incredibly parsimonious” in spending taxpayer dollars. The company predicted that it could build its American market share to nearly 14 percent by 2014. That would mean increasing sales to two million, from about 950,000 in the United States this year — a huge leap given how Chrysler’s market share has shrunk in recent months.



There are not many new products coming next year, although Fiat will begin selling its tiny 500 minicar at selected Chrysler dealerships. “It looks to be a couple of tough years ahead,” said Mr. McAlinden.



Though the focus of the presentations was the future, many of the speakers also acknowledged Chrysler’s near-death experience in the spring.



“I am humbled to be a part of this today,” said Ralph Gilles, the head of the Dodge brand. “It is huge. It is a responsibility I take very seriously.”



Mr. Marchionne wrapped up the event by recounting the “painful and difficult” efforts made to assess Chrysler’s people, product and brands. “No stone has been left unturned,” he said.



He also referred to Chrysler’s 30 percent plunge in October sales, reported on Tuesday, by far the worst performance by any major automaker.



“Yesterday, we were provided with another solemn reminder of our starting point,” he said. “Today is the first day of the new Chrysler.”





Dal Financial Times



Five-year plan to retune Chrysler



By Bernard Simon in Detroit



Published: November 5 2009 02:00 | Last updated: November 5 2009 02:00



Fiat yesterday unveiled a sweeping five-year overhaul of Chrysler centred on collaboration between the Turin and Detroit carmakers on everything from car and engine designs to procurement and international distribution.



Under the strategy, more than half of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles will be built on Fiat platforms by 2014. The share of small and midsize vehicles in Chrysler's portfolio will grow from 45 per cent to 58 per cent.



Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of both companies, said at the end of a six-hour briefing to analysts, dealers and the media that "no stone has been left unturned. We have started the painful and difficult job of rebuilding the equity in each of [Chrysler's brands]".



Fiat has cut a swathe through Chrysler since gaining day-to-day control and a 20 per cent equity stake under a courtsupervised restructuring in June. Fiat has the option of increasing its stake to a majority once Chrysler repays loans from the US and Canadian governments.



Mr Marchionne said that Chrysler's cash reserves had grown by $1.7bn in the past four months thanks to strict cost controls. He said the costcutting had restored Chrysler to operating profit in September and its cash reserves totalled $5.7bn, in spite of a sharp drop in sales.



"The new Chrysler is being parsimonious - cheap," Mr Marchionne said.



In the latest cost-cutting move, the company has offered buy-outs to another 23,000 workers.



Even so, Richard Palmer, chief financial officer, said a public offering was "un-likely" before 2011. Chrysler expects to repay its government loans by 2014.



Fiat said that it would spend $23bn over the next five years on research and development, and capital investment. The Chrysler brand will move upscale, taking on growing similarities to Fiat's Lancia brand.



Using Fiat's global dealer network, Chrysler aims to boost sales outside North America to 500,000 vehicles by 2014, from 144,000 last year. The rugged Jeep brand will form the backbone of the global thrust, with the addition of a small model in 2013.



While analysts praised Fiat's drive to integrate the two companies, they remain concerned about whether Chrysler's cash cushion will see it through the period before most of the new Fiat-developed models come on stream. While some models will be refreshed next year, a new version of the Jeep Cherokee SUV will be the only new product launch.



Jeep will introduce three models in 2013, including a vehicle based on a Fiat small-car platform.





Fear stalks corridors of Chrysler as Marchionne stamps mark on group

By John Reed in London and Bernard Simon in New York



Published: June 13 2009 03:00 | Last updated: June 13 2009 03:00



When Chrysler's crisis-weary staff gathered in their Michigan headquarters this week to hear an address from their new leader, Fiat's chain-smoking Sergio Marchionne, the atmosphere was far from ebullient.



"Numb" was the word one Chrysler manager used to describe the mood in the room.



It was no surprise. Mr Marchionne may have been speaking the day after the US Supreme Court cleared the way for an alliance between Fiat



and the bankrupt US carmaker, closing one of the darkest chapters in Chrysler's history, but it was clear that he was also bringing in yet another major cultural shift at a company that has seen three changes of ownership, countless management upheavals and tens of thousands of job losses over the past 11 years.



In one sign, staff were this week issued with telephone short codes for their new colleagues in Fiat's Italian head office in Turin.



More fundamentally, Fiat's boss announced a sweeping shake-up of Chrysler's management, naming 23 executives who will now report directly to him - "literally a Xerox copy", as one Fiat executive puts it, of a new organisational structure he introduced at Fiat in January.



Some of the 23 came from Fiat but others were promoted from within Chrysler, including Peter Fong, who was plucked from Chrysler's Mid-Atlantic business centre and appointed chief executive of the Chrysler brand. Some other Chrysler executives, though, were asked to step aside.



More subtle changes have occurred at Chrysler's headquarters in Auburn Hills, north of Detroit, the second-largest office building in the US after the Pentagon, with corridors so long that staff sometimes use bicycles and electric carts to get around.



The tough-talking Mr Marchionne has made it clear he has no plans to move into Chrysler's cavernous 15th-floor executive suite, which he described in a recent interview with the Financial Times as a "mausoleum".



Instead, he and his team are working out of Chrysler's second-floor executive dining room.



Chrysler's employees have some reason to be wary. At Fiat, where Mr Marchionne is both respected and feared, he has relentlessly shunted aside underperforming managers and expects underlings to join him working nights and weekends.



Company veterans have bad memories of Chrysler's last transatlantic tie-up, with Germany's Daimler, which lasted nine years but ended in 2007 amid mounting financial losses and irreconcilable Teutonic-American clashes over strategy and technology.



Mr Marchionne, who speaks accentless English after moving from Italy to Canada as a teenager and studying business in Windsor - just across the Detroit river - insists this will be different. "I grew up in this place," he said last month. "I don't have to translate anything in my head."

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Da Business Week:



Fiat's 'Crazy' Chrysler Plan Just Might Succeed

Even if CEO Sergio Marchionne misses his bold sales targets, Fiat will have paid little for Chrysler's North American factories and dealer network

November 11, 2009

By David Welch



Sergio Marchionne, who serves these days as boss of both Chrysler and Fiat (FIA.MI), closed an eight-hour presentation of his fix-it plan for the crisis-stricken U.S. carmaker with a bit of candor. After his chief financial officer said Chrysler would more than double the company's global sales to 2.8 million vehicles, CEO Marchionne acknowledged the obvious: "Some of you will be skeptical. Some of you will leave incredulous."



Many people left the Nov.4 presentation feeling that way. One analyst wondered aloud if Marchionne was crazy. The answer is yes, his sales projections are audacious, perhaps even aspirational. But Marchionne's not mad.



The key to assessing Marchionne's plan is to focus on what he's risking. Fiat didn't pay cash to acquire its equity stake in Chrysler—20% now and potentially 35%. The Italian carmaker isn't plowing much, if any, money into developing new models, as Renault (RENA.PA) did when it invested $6 billion to revive Nissan (NSANY) a decade ago.

"We'd Rationalize Capital Spending"



Marchionne's revival plan for Chrysler feeds on itself and adjusts for the results. Fiat donates some basic hardware to Chrysler, which will spawn a family of new models over the next couple of years. The plan is for those cars to be big hits, generating billions of dollars in profits to be plowed back into Chrysler for the development of further new models for 2013 and beyond as the plan gathers momentum. All told, Chrysler will spend $23 billion over five years engineering new cars, Marchionne says. That's an average of $4.5 billion a year, 50% higher than what the company spent under its onetime owner Daimler (DAI) and double the budget given by its last owner, nickel-shaving Cerberus Capital Management.



But what if the first new cars—some revamped Chrysler models and Fiat-derived passenger cars—don't hit the Italian boss's targets? Then he will do what past Chrysler owners have done: ratchet down the spending plans. "We'd rationalize capital spending," Marchionne said. "The whole thing about us being able to generate the $23 billion is based on us being able to generate the cash flow." In other words, if the sales don't happen in the plan's early days, Chrysler won't have the funds for all of the new models. Fiat doesn't have the cash to make up the shortfall.



Let's be clear: Marchionne will have to embody the second coming of Lee Iacocca to meet his sales goals. First, Chrysler says it will double U.S. sales to 2 million cars in five years, making up to $5 billion in operating profit in the process. New models can help, but Toyota made lots of new models over the past decade, when the economy was generally healthy. It took Toyota from 2000 to 2007 to boost sales by 1 million cars a year. I daresay the Toyota and Lexus brands are stronger than Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Alfa Romeo—once it arrives on U.S. shores. Research firm IHS Global Insight (IHS) thinks Chrysler will grow by only half its target.



A Realistic View of the U.S. Market



It's worth noting that former Chrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche said Chrysler would boost sales by 500,000 cars from 2003 to 2010. Instead they fell by 400,000 during Daimler's reign over the house that Iacocca built.



At least Marchionne's staff is being somewhat realistic about the growth of the overall U.S. car market. His people say Chrysler can hit its targets in a market that sells 14.5 million vehicles a year in five years. Analyst consensus, on the other hand, expects the market to reach as much as 16.8 million units by 2014.



But that's where Marchionne's humility stops. Chrysler thinks it can build the prestige of its brands overseas—especially with Jeep—and triple international sales to 500,000 cars a year. In the U.S., market share is supposed to grow from 9% to almost 14%. Nissan didn't gain that much market share in the resurgence that commenced in 2000.



So why don't I think Marchionne is crazy? That's simple. The company has enough cash to survive until the economy turns around. If Chrysler misses targets, Marchionne can still save it. He will have introduced a few Fiat and Alfa Romeo models to Americans and saved money on parts by jointly buying for both companies. And even if sales keep sinking as fast as they have this year and Chrysler fails, Marchionne will keep some of the factories and dealers to bring more Fiat and Alfa Romeo cars to the U.S. He will have paid very little for Fiat's North American foothold.



November 4, 2009, 8:27PM EST text size: TT

A Bold Plan for Chrysler

CEO Marchionne believes he can make $5 billion in operating profit in 2012—and double Chrysler's sales by 2014



By David Welch



After five months of near silence, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne finally delivered his plan to fix the struggling automaker. It's a bold one.



Marchionne, who is also the CEO of Chrysler's controlling shareholder Fiat Group (FIA.MI), projected that Chrysler will break even in 2010 and will make $5 billion in operating profit in 2012. He expects Chrysler to more than double its sales, from 1.3 million vehicles this year to 2.8 million in 2014.



If he pulls it off, Marchionne will not just have orchestrated the miracle of saving Chrysler, he will have created a global power that combines Fiat and Chrysler into a moneymaking player. He might also be paraded down Detroit's Woodward Avenue. "This is a new day for Chrysler," Marchionne said in his customary guttural monotone. "This plan is comprehensive and it's ambitious."



That's an understatement. To come back, Chrysler needs its American brands—which have had waning success in the past and few victories lately, selling mostly SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks—to win over passenger-car buyers. Marchionne also needs a healthy comeback in the U.S. economy. And Chrysler must become successful overseas, where it has never been a major player.



Recovering U.S. Market Share



First, Marchionne's plan requires the U.S. market to grow from today's levels of about 10 million cars sold this year to 14.5 million in 2014. That doesn't seem unreasonable given that the U.S. market sold more than 17 million cars and trucks in 2000. But the economy is still weak and the job market keeps getting worse.



That could easily undercut Marchionne's plan. "Their targets are higher than their sales will be," says James N. Hall, principal of Detroit-area consulting firm 2953 Analytics. "There is no such thing as a jobless recovery for car sales."



Marchionne is counting on stealing major market share from his rivals. He thinks Chrysler can grow from less than 9% of the U.S. market to more than 13%. That means he will double U.S. sales volume to 2 million. "We are going to recover some of the market share we lost in the past. It reflects an increase in market share and an increase in volume in the U.S. market," Marchionne said. "The U.S. is too big of a place to maintain volumes of this [low] level."



How on earth will he get there? Give Marchionne credit for one thing—he is investing in this business. He plans to double what the company spends, per car, on marketing. He has also jacked up Chrysler's capital budget to add new models. Under the control of its previous owner, Cerberus Capital Management, Chrysler spent less than $3 billion a year to engineer new cars. Marchionne will increase that level to $4.1 billion next year and $5.7 billion in 2012. Between now and 2014, Marchionne says he will spend $23 billion on new models. "There's a huge amount of cash being consumed by this business," Marchionne said. "It's being done with the objective of gaining market share."



Jeep's Export Potential



Chrysler's plan calls for about 16 new or heavily freshened models for Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep by 2014. There are also some new commercial trucks and new pickups coming for the Ram brand. Says Hall: "Their market share targets are probably pretty reasonable."



But make no mistake, Chrysler faces a monumental task. The company wants to grow exports from 144,000 vehicles this year to 500,000 in five years. That's largely on the strength of Jeep, says Michael Manley, CEO of the Jeep brand and the executive in charge of the company's overseas expansion.



Jeep does have potential overseas. In many markets, it is a distinctly American name that stands for rugged SUVs and has a fun image. "It's an iconic brand on a global level that has been hugely squandered," says IHS Global Insight analyst John Wolkonowicz. "They need to develop products that are worthy of the brand."



That's the trick. Chrysler plans to build three new Jeep-brand vehicles using passenger-car platforms from Fiat. That means compact and subcompact Jeeps. Chrysler recently has failed with small, car-based Jeeps like the Compass and Patriot. "The Fiat-based Jeeps could water down the brand," Wolkonowicz says. "The sales targets look optimistic."



Upscale Chrysler Models



Chrysler needs to improve its other brands, too. The namesake Chrysler brand will get the most aggressive overhaul. Olivier Francois, the president and CEO of the Chrysler brand, a suave Frenchman who helped fix Fiat's upscale Lancia brand, is trying to add a heavy dose of sex appeal to Chrysler.



First, Chrysler will get six new models over the next five years that will be pushed upscale. They will be styled to give their owners "comfort and glamour (SPEREM! ndr)." With the advertising, Francois has a brand commercial featuring tattooed, leggy models. The cars appear to be coming off a runway. The commercial has lines such as "Looking like $1 million was a birthright" and "Let's design cars people want to make out in."



The campaign is quite powerful, says Hall of 2953 Analytics. The imagery is striking. It's also a turn of the head for a brand that currently sells the Sebring, a basement bargain among midsize cars, and the low-priced retro PT Cruiser, which will go away in late 2010.



Marchionne may have trouble convincing the world Chrysler will hit its lofty sales targets. But his CFO, Richard Palmer, made a firm case that the company has enough money to get through the current tough times. He said Chrysler will break even in 2010 as the car market recovers. Sales will rise from 1.3 million vehicles this year to 1.65 million next year. Revenue is projected to grow from $42.5 billion this year to $67.5 billion next year.



Fast Start Needed from Fiat-Engineered Cars



Even if vehicle sales fall 20% below 2011 targets, Palmer said, Chrysler will still have a cash balance of $3 billion. That's the bare minimum Chrysler would need to survive, but the company could be able to pay its bills. The company borrowed $5.7 billion from the U.S. government, $1.5 billion from Canada, and has another credit line for $2.3 billion. Says Palmer: "We are confident we could weather another storm."



One big risk to Marchionne's plan is it depends on a fast start and success selling those Fiat-engineered models. Fiat's engineering works will help bring Chrysler its first new car models, but they have to hit sales targets and generate enough cash flow to boost new-product spending from $3 billion a year on average to about $4.5 billion a year.



If the new vehicles don't hit targets, "we'd rationalize capital spending," Marchionne says. "The whole thing about us being able to spend $23 billion depends on us being able to generate the cash flow."



That's the trick. Meeting his bold targets for both sales and profits will generate the cash to add to the model lineup and grow sales as quickly as Marchionne demands. If he does all of that, he will pay off the U.S. government's $5.7 billion loan by 2014 and make upwards of $5.2 billion in operating profits. If not, Chrysler won't escape its crisis. Says Marchionne: "This thing needs to earn its right to survive as a competitive American carmaker."

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