The linked article says that Stellantis is looking for a replacement for the current CEO, Carlos Tavares and expects to replace him by the time his contract runs out in a little over a year. They have a large unsold inventory on dealer lots. How would you improve Stellantis if you became CEO? As an aside, now is a good time to get that RAM you want with discounts to move inventory.
When Lee Iacocca took over Chrysler he said, something like “people like our cars but not our dealers. I bought a Dodge Rampage back then, vehicle yes, dealership no. They kept it five days for a fe call to change from a mechanical fuel pump to electric. I took it in multiple time to have tachometer fixed, finally gave up. Six years later I was directed to take our company K car in for repair, it had a very rough idle due to vacuum leak, service writer “we can’t do anything about that”.
When I bought my F150 there was a similar Ram for the same price, I considered it, allegedly the Ram had better ride, but I chose to not risk the dealership service department.
I’d let each brand chief decide what products to produce, make them responsible for quality, profit and the sales numbers. I’d give them time to make demonstrable progress… If they fail, they are gone which means they should require that of their direct reports, too.
Stellantis is too big, too diverse and too far flung to be managed top down.
5 Likes
+1
That’s one of the reasons for Berkshire Hathaway’s success over the years. They acquire companies that are successful (or that can be readily turned-around), and then let the management of those companies make the vital decisions regarding how to run the company.
A partial list of BH’s wholly-owned companies includes Duracell, Benjamin Moore, Fruit of the Loom, Brooks sports equipment, Lubrizol, Dairy Queen, Marmon, Burlington Northern-Santa Fe RR, and Geico–all of which are quite profitable.
3 Likes
And what CEO of BH’s could possibly intelligently manage all those diverse products?? No one could possibly understand all those brands well enough to successfully direct them. BH realizes that.
I’d suggest the Italian, French, German and UK markets are different enough from each other to require country managers. And way different from the North America market.
4 Likes
I dunno. I think the problems with Chrysler were deeper than just dealer problems. I had a 68 dodge with no problems, but my folks after that had multiple issues with plymouths. The dealers could only do so much with the junk they were given. The jeep was once a great product but they have managed to make it unreliable. Not the dealers but the design and manufacturing team. Having no money doesn’t help but at some point you need to stop the bleeding and focus on quality. Name changes only tend to erode confidence.
True, not just the dealers, some were likely very good. One MoPar that fits into the “wish I kept it” catagory a 72 Satellite Sebring Plus, though only a 318, it served me well. Gorgeous car in Basin Street Blue. Then there was my 62 Sports Fury with the 361, highest power engine offered that year.
+1
During the 1973 Gas Crisis/shortage I made the collossal mistake of trading-in my flawless '71 Charger (mechanically identical to your Plymouth Satellite) on a '74 Volvo, in the hope of getting much better gas mileage. The Volvo only got ~6 mpg more than my Charger, and I wound-up with the absolute worst, least-reliable car that I ever owned.
In retrospect, I REALLY regret having gotten rid of that Charger.
2 Likes
Reduce the organizational and product complexity. Fewer choices , simpler product line.
1 Like
Reminds me of that old chicken farmer joke. Sold 1000 chickens and lost money. Next year decided to produce 2000 chickens.
Improve quality in design and manufacturing first. Maybe that means reducing car lines but usually car lines are to compete with other manufacturers.
2 Likes
Lose customers who don’t want a Jeep designed for America, lose French buyers when you drop a Renault model by replacing it with an Opel or a Fiat. Lose Thailand and Aussie Jeep buyers by dropping the diesel.
It is not as easy as consolidation seems.
3 Likes
Yeah, they’ve already been dropping lines, Plymouth, Chrysler is just a shell of its former self.
3 Likes
Voyager is back for 2035 as a Pacifica classic… Same as before plus a few new features in white. Red. Or black. Selling 3 versions of the same van is all they’ve got at the moment.
2025? I post more characters.
2025, typo I’m sure…
Edit, I guess jt and I were thinking the same thing… lol
2 Likes
Yes, 2025. Some already on dealer websites.
2 Likes
Mustangman hit the point on the head, “No one could possibly understand all those brands well enough to successfully direct them”. Frankly, Stellantis reminds me of a version of the the 1960’s Conglomerates which collapsed in the 1970’s.
Stellantis is a conglomerate of wildly disparate world wide brands, Jeep, Chrysler, Lancia, FIAT, Citroen, Vauxhall, Peugeot, Opel so the possibility of managing or predicting future needs for each is essentially zero.
The successful alternative is the Toyota model, make one quality Brand but then adapt it to specific regional needs depending on regional needs.
.
7 Likes
Like British Leyland? 
Or GM, for that matter… Pontiac, Olds, Saturn, Hummer, Saab…
2 Likes
Vauxhalls are mechanically identical to comparable model Opels, and I would be very surprised if there wasn’t also an overlap that includes certain Peugeots & Citroens. In other words, not very different from the General Motors of the '80s & beyond, with models from Pontiac, Olds, Buick, and Saturn that were mechanically identical and sometimes very similar in body design.
Obviously, this type of overlap didn’t work out well for GM in the long-term, and perhaps it’s also unsustainable for Stellantis–but that remains to be seen.