Fiat Marchionne Faces Tough Sales Job in 2010
By Michelle Krebs January 14, 2010At past Detroit auto shows, one could always count on Chrysler to provide the event's glitz and 
glamour with sexy or wild concept cars introduced with theatrical flair, like minivans leaping through the air and Jeeps crashing through glass.
Not so this year. Chrysler held absolutely no press conferences during this week's press preview, and the automaker whipped together a new show stand at the last minute -- one that is simple, clean and noticeably absent of new vehicles.
That void points out the seemingly unwinnable battle Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne faces in 2010.
But in roundtable discussions with the media, Marchionne remains simultaneously undaunted and passionate but also realistic.
He's insistent the worst is behind Chrysler. "We're not out of the tunnel," he contends, "but we hit rock bottom."
Whether it is rock bottom or not remains to be seen, but, indeed, Chrysler hit a new low in 2009 with annual sales that for the first time since 1962 dipped below 1 million mark in the U.S., according to Edmunds.com's records.
For 2010, Marchionne says Chrysler must sell 1.65 million vehicles worldwide to put the automaker in a "slightly positive" profit position, profit needed to re-pay government loans as Marchionne promises will be done. That would mean about 1.1 million sales in the U.S. and another half million outside the States with Fiat's global help.
Still, that's no easy task, especially in the year's first half when Chrysler has absolutely nothing new to sell. In fact, Marchionne says he found a "scorched earth," particularly in the future product pipeline, when he arrived at Chrysler last year. That's why he refused to allow the display of possible future models or tempting concepts on the Chrysler's show stand.
"I'm not [Lee] Iacocca and can't convince people as he did that a K-car will save the world," he admits. "I have to sell what I have now."
Besides, he notes, the public and press have been "threatened with success" of Chrysler before in concept vehicles that never saw the light of day, says Marchionne, who readily recognizes the automaker has credibility issues.
In the latter half of the year, a redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee arrives along with some tweaks of existing vehicles -- hardly enough to sustain Chrysler much less buoy it beyond 2009's sales lows until the Fiat-based models arrive beyond 2010. At next year's show, Marchionne and company assure, Chrysler's stand will be stocked with new models.
Still, this year's show-goers may well leave Chrysler's stand asking is this all there is? But Marchionne leaves one with the slightest feeling that maybe -- just maybe -- he can pull this Chrysler thing off as he turned around Fiat. Surely, it will take the best sales job of his lifetime. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large
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Its nice to see some fair reporting on Chrysler. Too many are prematurely writing it's obituary. Thank you.
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