Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne isn’t bothered by his firm’s sliding market share, which have declined to the point where Honda will certainly surpass them to become the number four automaker in America. At least that’s what he keeps saying, and Automotive News [sub] went ahead and made it a headline. If dealers are “expecting us to call them up and give them a $6,000 check for every new vehicle, they won’t get the call,” Marchionne joked recently in the Detroit Free Press.
Too bad then, that Marchionne’s humor relies so heavily on exaggeration. The ugly truth is that ChryCo still isn’t close to weaning itself off of incentives. Sure, Chrysler’s offering less cash on the hood this month than last, with Edmunds reporting average incentives falling from $3,753 to $3,298. Still, the industry average is $2,713, and Honda has passed Chrysler with a mere $1,195 average incentive. Meanwhile, Marchionne keeps telling AN [sub] that “we are not planning miracles at Chrysler.” And yet, the firm is losing sales and maintaining incentives, while projecting an operating profit break-even next year, and net profits the next. If that’s not a miracle of Christmas after-school-special proportions, it’s hard to say what is.
Chrysler will go bankrupt in a couple of years if that. Also it seems the Nation wide boycott of chrysler is picking up and the proof is in the numbers.
November 2007 161,088
November 2008 85,260 (47% drop from 2007)
November 2009 63560 (25 % drop from 2008) 25% drop from a pathetic 2008 speaks volumes.
Fiat is NOT known for quality Proof
2009 Chrysler and Fiat Ranked Worst in UK J.D. Power Study Review
http://www.ipmart-forum.com/showthread.php?p=2710264
As well they did poor in Germany and France. Which you can google. But it’s obvious to anyone with a brain that Chrysler is finished and Fiat is a nothing company not known for quality and hasn’t invested 1 penny. (Fiat)Fix It Again Tony , What more can you say? Chrysler autoworker cheerleaders come talk your team leader brainwash stupidity. Chrysler is going down HARD!
I’m going to disagree here. I don’t think the quality problems are going to be the death of Chrysler.
In the 80’s and 90’s Chrysler didn’t have any better reputation than they do now and yet still managed to repay its loans and if I remember correctly was doing pretty well before the whole DC thing.
Chrysler will live and die by their designs. If they can make another Cherokee, Grand Cherokee, LH car, Ram, PT Cruiser, voyager , or 300 they’ll be fine. (Not sure about the profitability of the PT). What they need now is that design ability which Fiat can help them revitalize. Perhaps it’s only dormant, waiting for a more benevolent dicator.
@dan, the sad part is that the numbers you posted include fleet sales which were 60% of sales! So Chrysler is selling maybe 25k units per month to the public. Sad.
I see no new product for years. I see a lineup of outdated, unreliable vehicles with really bad plastic interiors. I see the poorest resale in the industry for nearly every single Chrysler vehicle.
I don’t see how they can make it.
Chryco is slightly ahead of GM in the race to the gas chamber.
Sadly, I fear Fiat can’t fix it fast enough. If only they can at least put Howie Long in the front seat of the Challenger before they do Vanishing Point…