Automotive News has a report indicating Marchionne will extend an "investment freeze" which will delay the introduction of the new Panda for the European markets. The new Panda has been delayed twice and is now scheduled to be released in 2012.
Marchionne's rationale for the delay is it wouldn't make sense to launch a new vehicle in a recessionary market.
What, if anything, does this mean for the U.S. Chrysler dealers?
On the plus side, perhaps Marchionne can use this delay for Europe to speed-up the introduction of new product for the U.S.? To the extent the U.S. may recover from the global recession before Europe this strategy may make sense.
On the down side, perhaps this is an indication that Marchionne is quick to change his mind and will back away from his recovery projections for Chrysler.
To that point, here's an excerpt from the report in Automotive News:
"Hauser also questioned how long Fiat's European dealer network will tolerate a falling market share and a lack of model launches.
Fiat's new freeze in product investments represents a drastic change of route from what the company announced in January when Marchionne said Fiat was planning to return to normal investment levels this year to benefit from an expected European market recovery in 2011."