Stocks to Watch
MSN Money Insight
| Currency | US Dollar |
|---|---|
| British Pound to US Dollar | 1.570352 |
| Euro to US Dollar | 1.378930 |
| Japanese Yen to US Dollar | 0.011125 |
| Canadian Dollar to US Dollar | 0.937471 |
Fiat to make Chrysler into . . . Fiat
The Italian carmaker expects to reintroduce Alfa Romeo to the US market and add many models that work in Europe. Many old US models will be phased out.
Four months after exiting a U.S.-funded bankruptcy reorganization, Chrysler Group is about to unveil a product roadmap that relies heavily on vehicles from Italian partner Fiat (FIATY) while abandoning many of the U.S. carmaker's own models.
The plan, due to be unveiled Nov. 4, involves the reintroduction of Fiat's premium, sporty Alfa Romeo brand to the U.S. starting in 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported this afternoon.
Chrysler also will introduce the 500, Fiat's tiny car that is popular in Europe, to Americans. It won't, however, attach the Fiat name to it.
Chrysler meantime is preparing to phase out many of its current models, particularly Dodge cars, the Journal said.
Fiat and Chrysler are working to create several new vehicles with Fiat technology for the U.S. market, including a midsize Chrysler-brand sedan to be released in 2012.
The sweeping changes, due to play out over the next two to three years, represent a big gamble for Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who has staked his reputation on the turnaround.
Marchionne, who successfully revamped Fiat, appears to be creating a vehicle lineup that stays true to Chrysler's blue-collar muscle-car and pickup roots while adding European-style vehicles to attract a new, more white-collar customer.
But in the short term, Marchionne's task is to keep the company afloat until 2012 when the bulk of the new offerings will come to the U.S.
Chrysler is faced now with shrinking market share and few new models coming to market. While it doesn't disclose its finances, Fiat has said repeatedly it won't inject any money into Chrysler despite receiving a 20% ownership stake in the company's reorganization.
Instead, it is contributing technology and management expertise.
"The biggest issue this company has is getting through the next few years," Rebecca Lindland, an automotive analyst at IHS Global Insight, told the Journal.
"They are going to have a hard time maintaining market share, let alone increasing it."
Reading some of these comments, the reality is that if your born in the U.S. blame everything that goes wrong in your country to somebody outside yours. Lets put a reality spin on this, Fiat bought Chrysler and that might save some American jobs, but know it has a foreign name its not American so bash it, that is the reason why America is going down the toilet. America is being doing this for years e.g. G.M.Europe, Ford Europe and the far east, lets get it straight its business , if you continue to screw your customers the way dealers have for a long time,its going to back fire on your economy, and also as far as Fiat is concern, make sure you check with your facts before you blow steam. I buy the best product whether American or not,I go by the old American philosophy if you built it right I be there. Good luck to Fiat and hope it develops a lot of American jobs.We will be stuck with crappy little Fiats and Alfa Romeo's instead of Dodge cars in the USA ( I've owned both and wouldn't want one of those as anything but a "toy" to play with. The credit card fix really worked out great (now my rate went from 7.5% to 15% and never have missed a payment date ever). Let's NOT see what may happen if they own the Heath Ins. and manage heath care. The Gov. just doesn't need to try to fix everything in this Country. Chrysler should have Never been allowed to sell to Daimler Mercedes. The new owners that brought it back to the USA had no chance to recover after the beating Daimler gave Chrysler with it's European management. Yes, many things weren't run right with GM, Ford and Chrysler with the execs, but we will have to decide if we are going to have American companies or all these foreign owned companies and I hope it's American. Get the Unions and Gov. off the back of business and see what can be done w/ free market.
Skincolorado-
From the Detroit Diesel web page...
Copyright © 2009, Detroit Diesel Corporation. All rights reserved. Detroit Diesel Corporation is a Daimler company
I wish Roger had it, but it ain't so.
It boils down to this. American automakers (Ford, GM, Chrysler) stopped improving their product. They kicked and screamed everytime they were asked to improve emissions or install better safety equipment. They hired people whose main expertise was selling "widgets" not building cars. WAKE UP PEOPLE, look at the great American businesses through the years. All of them had great Inovators at the helm. Henry Ford wanted to make the best affordable car he could, Walt Disney wanted to entertain people, William Boeing wanted to make a better airplane. These people had passion for what the did. They had pride and cared about the quality of their product more than the initial success. American automakers once made the best cars in the world. They once pushed the envelope with newer technologies and materials. I feel like they may be making a comeback but who will trust them? Seriously, they laughed in the consumers face for years and now they just expect us to believe them when they say their quality is better?
My family still owns a 1985 Ford F250 that runs great and can haul anything. My father never owned anything but an American car until he bought a subaru in 1990 (still runs perfectly by the way and never gets stuck in the snow). But the last car my parents bought was a Honda Odyssey. They wanted to buy an american car but the quality difference was laughable. As for myself I drive a '94 Dodge Ram (I love that truck, probably the best body I've ever seen on a truck). The Only American made vehicle Anyone in my extended family or I would buy is a Ford F series pickup, other than that Honda and Toyota have made believers out of us. ...a sign of the times... Family reunions used to look like an American truck convention, now it looks like a Toyota/Honda festival.
By the way, Bob Nardelli can go to #$%^, love- anyone who ever worked for Home Depot
Dealerships--On the hook, Dont let them off.
I work as a vendor to many dealerships, I talked to sale staff
they would boast about adding as much as 12 thousand dollars to a minivan or other cars. I have baught from delaers
and put up with underhanded dealings.
Dealerships repair shops are horriable
A friend baught a Ford in July and the A/C was not working
The next day she returned it to the shop they told her to leave for three weeks. She was none too happy
She asked if she could make an appointment they said NO!
She had the car for less then one whole day
You would think a company would want to make things right
and do right. They got their 12 thousand dollars and then the hell with you!
Engines are so complicated, so many things can go wrong and do, How about a simple engine that runs on clean natural gas?
DANG
I work on and sale cars everyday. Our small family dealership sales over 100 cars a month and we will buy and sell anything. Working on something makes a person really appreciate how it is made. All of my guys will fight not to have to work on any european cars, this is because they are horrible to repair. I don't know that we have ever had anyone come in and rave about the styling of a fiat. We thought that combining Mercedes thinking with Chrysler was going to suck but it actually made some very impressive cars if you haven't got a chance to drive a Hemi 300 or Magnum you should try it there is sure no Fiat influence there!!! Maybe it will be fine but I just don't see the European influence being good on our good 'ol american cars. The reliability just doesn't seem to be there like it is in american cars. I cant wait to see what this new era brings us but I don't see it being near as classy as the last one that we are leaving.
Everyone wants the 'good deal'. Buy that Chinese junk, free lead included. Now that you've cost an American his job, he can't pay taxes. You get to pick up his share. He also ends up on welfare, no longer a tax payer but a tax consumer. Your share goes up some more. Now you can't afford the quality item and buy more junk. Lather, rinse, repeat. I'd rather pay a little more on the front end than see my country fall.
As far as corporate cannibalism, Daimler is still selling Sterling Trucks which are re-badged Dodges. They also own Freightliner, Detroit Diesel, Thomas-Built Bus (school busses) and a few other brands.
Everyone jokes about Harley in the AMF years. AMF just wanted the golf cart division so they bought the company, took the carts and let the bikes languish.
America Online bought Time-Warner. TW ended up with the better parts and is preparing to spin AOL off to sink or swim on it's own.
Tell me you've never bought a box lot at an auction because one item you wanted was in it and then left the rest behind.
In all of this, something is missing. As a shareholder in Chrysler, GM, et.al., where is the taxpayer rep on the board of directors for any of these companies? I'll take a seat at Chrysler. I'll even tie my compensation to the number of full time US based employees. Employment goes up, I get a raise. It falls, I get a cut. Pay tied to productivity, what a concept.
Somebody step up and take GM, BofA and the rest of Wall Street. We can turn this thing around. At the risk of using a four letter word - - WORK!
StockScouter data provided by Gradient Analytics, Inc.
Quotes supplied by Interactive Data.
MSN Money's editorial goal is to provide a forum for personal finance and investment ideas. Our articles, columns, message board posts and other features should not be construed as investment advice, nor does their appearance imply an endorsement by Microsoft of any specific security or trading strategy. An investor's best course of action must be based on individual circumstances.
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