Drew Dowdell

You're already twice the CEO that Sergio is. There should have never been a base model 200. It should have started around $28k, came standard with a 2.0T and an optional 3.6. Leather standard. It could have been right there with the TLX / Regal. Drop all of the 200 models below that. Keep the Dart, make an Avenger that is a rebadge of the 200, but with the base Tigershark and maybe an optional 2.0T. No AWD offered. Start it a little bit cheaper than a base Fusion or Malibu. The 300 with an upgraded interior to the level of the Lacrosse would have done wonders for that car. It has all the hardware needed to more than compete, but the interior is behind the others. Raise the base price a bit to compensate for the better interior and give the newly upgraded 200 described above some breathing room.

Yes, he gets a giant golden parachute if he sells off FCA US. That, I think, is his underlying motivation for knee-capping the entire organization.

Corners guys.... corners. Let bygones be bygones.

Because aside from a few Jeeps, they do well mostly on niche products. The LX cars are decent vehicles, but they should have been replaced first before attempting a new Alfa. The 200 needed to be replaced, marketed, and Dodge needed a copy. The entire FCA plan is severely flawed and favors the italian brands over the US brands..... but in the US, the US brands are what keep the lights on.

Yes, there were some basics about engine output that he wasn't getting and got angry when it was explained to him.

All the Chinese companies like "It wasn't me!"

He left a while ago because he couldn't handle being an adult in the political forum.

Hmm.. I hadn't realized that either.

Well, I'm trying to talk Albert into a plug-in for his next vehicle, but so few of them come in AWD. Those that do have pathetic EV only ranges and are extremely expensive. I think we're at a tipping point for Plug-In and we're going to see a whole bunch of them hit the market or be announced in the next 18 months. It was the Pacifica Plug-In that convinced me of the virtues of the technology. The amount of pull the Pacifica has under hard acceleration is joyfully inappropriate for a mini-van. The fact that it can get 84 MPGe is the cherry on top..... it actually has me considering one, but Albert won't allow it. *sigh* No wagons, no minivan, no manual transmission, no coupes as daily drivers, no RWD..... it might be time for a new boyfriend.

No, they'll shift to where the new markets are. Which reminds me, I need to brush up on my Chinese....

VelociRaptor. I'm here all night...tip your waitress.

True, but one has to remember to think globally. Dodge never had much of a market outside of North America. Chrysler has been in Europe, they sell an oddly high number of Town and Country minivans there. It's just about the most common North American built, US branded vehicle I see there. Jeep is in China, neither Chrysler nor Dodge are. They could, and already have plans to send Chrysler to China starting next year. Chrysler will be priced and positioned like Buick. Under Geely, they'd keep the Pacifica. 300 and 200 go on SPA as Lacrosse and Regal competitors. Add a crossover or 3 and the lineup is pretty full for both China and US. SPA was designed from the start to be a plug-in hybrid, so it would go over well with China's electric car goals. No need to bring Dodge as a brand over to China, Geely is already an established brand, so just swap badges on which ever cars get shipped whichever direction. Dodge US could use some lower cost platform shared with Geely for the smaller stuff and the Volvo SPA for the Durango. Charger and Challenger would get axed under this scenario. Replacements for Dart, Avenger, Journey, and Nitro (FWD) could come from Geely. This also gets Geely into the South America market via a reputable brand. RAM and Jeep just keep on keepin on. JGC would probably need to move to SPA, just let the Americans make it trail rated. They'd eventually have to replace the Fiat based Jeeps, but they'd have 5 or 6 years to get that done. It's not impossible to imagine Volvo's new factory spitting out S90s, 300c, Durango and JGCs. *Sorry if I'm rambling, hardly slept this week*

That still doesn't give it a sustainable business model. Even Rolls Royce moves 4,000 cars a year.

From my understanding Frankfurt is among the most expensive of all of the shows. I haven't been yet, but there is huge competition to out-do each other with their displays. Mercedes usually has an entire hall to themselves.

They have to build the hybrid system for the lesser cars anyway. Building a hyper-super-duper car doesn't add any significant economies of scale.

Only if you take a match to it.

But the pushrods! They'll sell like 12 of those hypercars.... it's not a business model.

And a pre-built dealership network.

So what if there is overlap among brands? For years, my preference in GM truck styling has alternated between GMC and Chevrolet as each generation comes out. If I don't like the looks of the Ford... say if I was in the Super Duty market around 2008....what other Ford product could I buy? The current generation of GM trucks is the only one in the last few generations where I actually like both the Chevy (Only in Z71 trim, I don't like the non-Z71 grille) and GMC. Same goes for Equinox / Terrain / Envision. These three can overlap substantially on price, yet only 1 of them really has any chance with me. Can't do that at Ford, Toyota, or Honda.

I'm going to have to disagree with you here primarily because the entire industry is heading to a completely hybrid/EV lineup. If your only choices are a Benz hybrid, BMW Hybrid, Volvo Hybrid, and Cadillac Hybrid, you're not going to stop your years of Benz buying just because they now only sell hybrids. Edit: Also Balth, to be fair, the S550E went out of production late last year and is being reintroduced after being refreshed late this year. It's not even currently listed on Benz's website. So first half 2017 sales figures aren't indicative of take rate.

The strangest possible part of the whole deal is that Jeep alone is supposed to be valued more than all 4 brands combined.... which means that investors see Chrysler, Dodge, and possibly Ram as negative value. Whatever company buys them is not going to be able to ax the other brands and rebuild the new network, but they will have to fill those brands with new product. Sadly, at this point, any leadership would be better than the leadership FCA currently has. China may be Dodge and Chrysler's only hope. If one needs an example of it actually working out well, all one needs to do is look at Volvo. This is why I was surprised by Geely saying they weren't interested in FCA at this time. A brand lineup of Volvo at the top, Chrysler as mid-premium like Buick, Dodge as the family car, Ram, and Jeep could actually work. Volvo has a fantastic, flexible new platform (One of the best on the market at the moment IMHO) in SPA that could conceivably be used for Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. Chrysler could go to China as a Buick competitor, Jeep is already there, ProMasters and City could be rebadged into Geely or Jeep for China. When you start looking across the lineups, picturing the replacements using SPA and filling in some of the current gaps, a Geely - Chrysler Group merger actually makes sense.

Well that's already the case. FCA is reportedly working on a twin-turbo version of the pentastar V6 and even a hybrid 4-cylinder for the Ram and possibly Wrangler.

Until FCA US gets sold...then all that is thrown out.

Electrified does not mean EV. Electrified does not mean EV. Electrified does not mean EV. Electrified does not mean EV.

Irrelevant. People don't accelerate at full throttle. The V6 will feel less labored than the 2.0t