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Chrysler's Comeback
I feel old. There was a time when the automaker CEOs I interviewed had maybe 10 or 15 years on me. But I've just spent a day talking to the execs running Chrysler Group's key brands, and every damned one of them is younger than me. By traditional Detroit management standards, they're still in nursery school. But they're emblematic of an amazing transformation happening at Chrysler under hard-charging Canadian-Italian Sergio Marchionne.
Ralph Gilles is articulate, energetic, and a passionate car guy. He's also only just turned 40, heads Chrysler Design, and is now CEO of Dodge as well. His vision for Dodge will warm the heart of any enthusiast: "There's a reason Viper came back into the fold," Gilles says. "I needed a flagship performance vehicle. And then I looked at my entire portfolio and said: 'Well, if I'm going to have that car at the top, then every car should have something that they can claim as real performance'."
So even the new Dodge Grand Caravan minivan gets retuned suspension, revamped steering, and wider tires. "Tuning a car doesn't really cost anything," Gilles explains. "It's more about the choices you make." Hallelujah.
Like Ralph Gilles, 49-year-old Frenchman Olivier Francois holds down more than one job at the new Chrysler. He's CEO of Lancia, Fiat's near-luxury European brand, as well as chief marketing officer of both Fiat and Chrysler. And he's CEO of Chrysler. Don't ask me what he does in his spare time. Francois is implementing Marchionne's ambitious plan to supply Lancia and Chrysler with common hardware. "Both brands share a lot of commonality in their DNA, their history, their target markets," he says. "If you take a Chrysler and make it fun to drive, with European handling and absolutely over-the-top quality, you easily get a Lancia. Which is good news for the American consumer, by the way." Chryslers with European handling? Sounds good to me.
Jeep is being run by 46-year-old Brit Mike Manley, who cut his teeth in the business as a car dealer in the U.K. before moving to America with DaimlerChrysler eight years ago. Manley's vision for Jeep includes a new Grand Wagoneer, built on a lengthened wheelbase version of the new Grand Cherokee's platform. "Grand Wagoneer would be the pinnacle of Jeep," he says. "We still have work to do to be able to confirm we can do it, but it is very much in my plans." Also on the agenda are diesel engines for the U.S. market, and a new baby Jeep, smaller than Compass, for the European market. "What we want to do is be the complete SUV brand. So as we think about the portfolio, we're thinking about expansions in those areas."
At 38, Italian-American Laura Soave is the youngest of Chrysler's new brand CEOs, and the one with, arguably, the most challenging job-relaunching Fiat after a 26-year absence from the U.S. market. But she's confident the cute 500-four versions of which will be available here by 2012-is the car that can do it. "We showed focus groups the car," she says, "and the minute we told them it was Italian, the reaction was all positive." Soave says Fiat will play heavily on its Italian heritage, but not in a cliched way: "We're going for modern Italian, not Olive Garden, Tony Soprano, 'Jersey Shore'..."
There's an energy and enthusiasm about these young Chrysler execs that's very exciting, and clearly driven by the opportunity given to them by Fiat. "The Fiat guys are proud to be involved with creating American cars," says Ralph Gilles. "They bring war stories, they bring passion, they bring a can-do spirit. I almost forgot what that felt like. It's intoxicating."
There's a refreshing candor, too, whether it's Laura Soave on Detroit's inward-looking nature: "Detroit is not a trend-setting city, let's be honest." Or Ralph Gilles on how America's automakers lost their way: "In some ways we've abused our existing American customers. We thought we could get away with things; we thought they would tolerate less-performing cars and lower content. We're getting out of that business now." Or Olivier Francois on the challenges facing the Chrysler 200, aka the redesigned Sebring: "We don't own this market. I have no customers, I have no carpark. I have nothing. So I need to conquest. And that will be tough."
These are people who know they have everything to play for, and everything to lose if they screw up. Chrysler's comeback is in their hands. And from where I sit, they're going to make it stick this time. |
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