As The NEW Head Of FCA, Mike Manley Has BIG Shoes To Fill — What's YOUR First Move If It Were YOUR Decision?

Immediately secure a platform or merger or buyout partner.

One idea should be to rebadge Skodas and build them in Chattanooga as a stopgap.

Put Ram back at Dodge.

Dodge Pacifica not Chrysler Pacifica.

Kill Chrysler.

Chrysler Jeep dealers become Jeep dealers.

Bring the Jeep Yuntu from China.

Stop all development on Alfa-Romeo and Maserati and focus on product for Dodge.

Get a Dodge Expedition in production at any cost.

Clearly FCA would probably best be served with a merger with a company that does not have a major position in Europe or the US - where it is largely based. I supposed it could get a "car" manufacturer with presence in the USA - like Mazda or Honda - simply because its base is now Trucks and Like Vehicles. However - Gm is unlikely - GM has already spent the money to modernize it platforms and is doing so with its engines as well - and does not need anything FCA might offer.

Since Ram and Dodge are retailed at the same dealers for the parts - the combination of them is really no real benefit.

However - the "Chrysler" name has far too much value just to junk it - frankly I would combine it with Alfa and Maserati - making Chrysler the "AMerican" luxury car (In the US) - a reskin of the 300 - giving it Rolls or Bentley tye Styling would probably do well. THe old Mercedes platform it is on still works well - and they already have good engines in the Pentastar and Hemi.

Get ready for the Korean offer. They are waiting for the stock to drop and this event could cause that. The market was expecting Sergio to continue with a gradual transfer of power next year. Now this surprise. Better hire a banker/advisor to steer through this. Be ready to approach others (Chinese?) to get a bidding war going if necessary. US government and Trump will have something to say about Jeep (a USA icon like Harley) falling into Chinese or even Korean hands. Everything is negotiable!!

FCA stock should be down Monday morning with the turmoil. I wonder how fast the Hyundai-Kia buyout will happen. Hyundai-Kia is the best "citizen" to sell it to.

@Aspy11 actually the only thing wrong with Hyundai is that they did not adequate read correctly the trends in crossovers and pickups and focused instead on unobtrusive sedans. Their crystal ball with Genesis wasn't just cloudy, it was black.

Designwise, Hyundais are perfectly fine. If the Kona represents the verve in Hyundai, they will get up from their stumble. Acquiring Jeep and Ram would be two massive scores for Hyundai which is not represented at all in either lucrative market.

The on-again-off-again Hyundai Santa Cruz could quickly be fashioned into a Ram crossoverpickup, which is bound to be a thing sooner or later.

Chrysler shares are down 2%. I wonder when Hyundai will pounce.

All bets are off on a sale of FCA, the person internally that was pushing the sale resigned today after being passed over in favor of Manley. Alfredo Altavilla had been with FIAT since the 90s, and was involved in the FIAT GM deal and the Chrysler deal.

It’s seems that Manley will be working closely with Palmer, I won’t be surprised if they want to continue to expand the Chrysler end and make a go of it on their own. After being subservient to Stuttgart, then Torino the people in Auburn Hills may not be in a hurry to subservient to Seoul. They may just want to go another direction and try to re-establish themselves as a viable entity on the own to challenge GM and Ford again.

The question then becomes what happens with Maserati/Alfa? The cross marketing of Alfa and Maserati with Ferrari works when both companies have the same CEO, that ended on Saturday.

#BULL

FCA desperately needs a platform partner and a technology partner for all of its lines.

The Fiat platform sourcing has produced mediocre results system wide for sales. They have not rabbit to pull out of the hat.

Without EVs in the pipeline on modern platforms both Alfa-Romeo and Maserati will be pummeled even more by the Germans than they are now.

Auburn Hills doesn't have cards to play.

This is a hat-in-hand moment for FCA. Sergio pissed on several legitimate buyout offers that would have worked wonders for the company while leg humping GM that paid big time to get away from his idiocy.

Manley has a shot at being the next Mulally if he acts quickly, decisively, and abandons the stasis of Sergio's most recent five-year plan.

He needs to be on the phone looking for a merger tomorrow if he has not already done so today.

Manley doesn’t have the power to force through a sale to anyone. The Agnelli family through Exor, still calls the shots. Marcchione in addition to being the top dog at FCA, Ferrari and CNH he was also a major shareholder that he was able to leverage. He even attempted to buyout Piero Ferrari’s shares in Ferrari.

Manley is not in that position.

Supposedly the Georgio platform was going to be used for Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler along with Alfa.FCA is in the best financial help it has been in in 10 years. they have paid off their loans. This has got to make them more attractive as a takeover.

Good point!

Yes the vaunted Giorgio platform that's been around 3 years....so where is the new Challenger and the new Charger? That's right, Giorgio is too expensive so they are slated for LX V3.0. I believe Giorgio hasn't turned out to be the boon it was supposed to be hence reusing LX.