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On Wednesday, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne announced that he has designed a five-year plan for the automaker (Wall Street Journal, subscription required). Marchionne believes the restructuring will be slow initially, but should improve "significantly" next year.
We should receive the plan by the end of November, and Chrysler will start reporting its quarterly results by the end of the year. Marchionne stated, "We are going to become a normal reporter in the U.S. hopefully by the end of 2009. ... You will see numbers like you see for everyone else." One can only assume that this is one of the "whole pile of surprises" Marchionne promised back in June when Fiat took over Chrysler.
This being a blog and all, I thought I would play armchair CEO and come up with some additions to Marchionne's plan (Mr. Marchionne, use these if you like; I'm not looking for a big cut of the profits -- enough to pay off my student loans and buy the Bengals, that's all).
First, the move to report earnings on a regular basis is excellent; it keeps things out in the open for your investors and the American public. I also think you need to allow the public to have a say in what they want/need in a car. Survey potential car buyers, see if they are looking for gas efficiency or cargo room -- then shift your auto line accordingly. If more people say they will buy Town & Country minivans than Sebring convertibles, make more minivans.
I also think that Chrysler needs to do away with some of its models. I mean, Jeep should produce just that, Jeeps. Not Compasses or Liberties. Just Wranglers and Cherokees -- that will help cut costs and keep some of the biggest sellers in the product rotation.
Perhaps the biggest change would be to cut costs to the consumer. Cars cost a pretty penny nowadays, and unfortunately many people can't afford a new car. If you can lower the cost of car ownership, then you could attract more new customers and you could keep the customers you have.
Help implement these changes and you could not only help your company, but the car industry as a whole.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-17-2009 @ 6:12AM
al coholic said...
Chrysler still faces the fundamental problem that the big three used to all be saddled with...second rate product.
It took a long time but Ford, and GM have finally proven that they can build a car that is eqivalent in quality to the imports. They have even covinced most of the savvy buyers of this fact.
The simple fact is that Chrysler products are perceived as inferior in quality compared to the other big players in the world. Unless they can match the workmanship that Ford and GM have attained the company will just wither away. Yes, there will always be a market for jeeps, but in the mainstream transportation market they just don't measure up.