Tomorrow Chrysler will announce their 5 year plan. As the smallest of the Detroit Three, with the smallest profit, Chrysler has a very optimist 5 year plan with South America and China in the view as the place to expand their sales. From the previews they have given to the press, Jeep is going to be their main card to achieve their high goal of doubling sales by 2018.
It is interesting that while Chrysler is thinking on a fixed plan 5 years ahead, Ford has a more flexible plan that they change weekly depending on the incoming data. After the 2005 crisis Ford decided to decide its future based upon smaller steps taken every day based on trends that update daily, focusing in only brand.
Furthermore, some markets in South America and Asia have some protectionism barriers that they should take into account before setting up the bar that high for their sales. Then, for announcements like the one for tomorrow we would have to expect the opening of new plants in these continents.
With the Ram being their largest car in terms of sales (and also in size), Chrysler should be focusing on how to comply with the avery mpg that the CAFE standard that, as we learnt today is going to be really high (about 50mpg) by the year their 5 year plan finishes.
If there is something we can be certain about in this industry is that no firm is alike, and that their different strategies seem to fit their different structures. As for now, we will have to wait until tomorrow to hear about the specifics of their plan, and wait couple years to see how it results.
We will have dinner tomorrow with a journalist who will attend the press meetings at Chrysler on their new plan. (Chrysler does of course have weekly and monthly and quarterly plans, suppliers need to know because the supply chain takes a while to adjust.)
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Ask Dave Versical about it when we meet him!!
I think Chrysler is totally trying to keep up the technology to meet the CAFE standard. From a piece of news I read yesterday about Fiat Chrysler, the company is putting in plug-in hybrid technology on an all-new Town & Country within 5 years. The fuel economy of the all-new minivan will be 75 MPG. The company is also cutting off old and unpopular models among its sub-brands such as Dodge. Dodge Avenger, Grand Caravan are dead, making it officially a performance brand. I think it is a good idea to get rid of not particularly fuel-friendly nor powerful vehicles in order to balance out the CAFE standard, while maintaining a good reputation for its performance vehicles.