"The Fiat Experience" - 08/30/10 - Detroit Institute of Arts

[XDCX]

I wanted to create this thread in the event we had any members who were planning to go to "The Fiat Experience" later this month.

Chrysler is holding "The Fiat Experience" at the Detroit Institute of Arts on 08/30/10. Approximately 600 dealers have been invited and each dealership can bring up to two people. (Dealer Principals or GMs only.)

The dealers will be staying at the Detroit MGM Grand Hotel and Casino and will be responsible for their own lodging and transportion expenses. Chrysler has not indicated how many dealers they expect to attend the event.

Invited dealers will have an opportunity to present a proposal for the Fiat franchise up until September 22nd. Chrysler will evaluate the proposals based on the following criteria:

• Sales performance
• Plans for a separate Fiat facility
• Comprehensive marketing plans
• Compliance with dealer standards
• Proper capitalization

Anyone here planning on attending? Do you know any fellow dealers who are planning to go?

[jayhawk]

no and no!

[CJD]

Yes we will be represented.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by CJD

Yes we will be represented.

That's great - it will be interesting to hear what reaction the dealers who attend the meeting have to Chrysler's presentation. It will also be interesting to get an idea of what percentage of the 600 invitees decided to make the trip.

[CJD]

Yeah I'm most interested in hearing what the future product plan will be for the Fiat brand.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by CJD

Yeah I'm most interested in hearing what the future product plan will be for the Fiat brand.

For Fiat, the answer should be pretty straight-forward. Here's an excerpt from the other Fiat thread:

Originally Posted by XDCX

As I understand it, here's what the Fiat dealers can look forward to selling:

• Fiat 500 - Arriving in late 2010
• Fiat 500 Convertible - Arriving in 2011
• Fiat 500 EV (Electric Vehicle) - Arriving in 2012 - possible delay
• Fiat 500 Abarth - Arriving in 2012
• Fiat 500 Four-door - Possibly arriving in 2013

Concerning the 500 EV, there was news last week that Chrysler has changed battery vendors and it's unclear if that will delay the launch of the vehicle.

Concerning the 500 Four-door, as I understand it the vehicle has a raised roof and more closely resembles a minivan.

The big wild-card, in my opinion, is Alfa Romeo. While it has been suggested the Fiat dealers will get Alfa it's never been stated as a foregone conclusion. Without the potential to sell Alfa Romeos I can't see why anyone would have any serious interest in a single-point Fiat store.

[Ralph]

Well...they're certainly not going to open a Fiat Franchise system, with only the best locations in the country, with only the best facilities and best capitalized dealers...and give Alpha to all Chrysler dealers, that's for sure. The life raft Obama asked Fiat to toss overboard to Chrysler dealers had a major electrical malfunction, (as I remember all Fiats used to have rendering them boat anchors in the driveways across America), and sank.

"Chrysler needs Fiat's small car technology to survive in the long term. That's why, I've instructed my Auto Task Force to give operational control to Fiat. In the coming years, their vehicles will replace the aging product line and introduce world class small, fuel efficient technological advanced vehicles to the Chrysler line-up. This will insure the Tax Payer funds will be repaid."

Anyone remember a speech kinda like that outside the White House...last spring...when the next sentences were something like...

"And because Chrysler Financial isn't able to continue on it's own, I've instructed my Auto task Force to take all of Chrysler Financial's customer base away permanently, thus insuring it will fail and punishing the evil Cerberus Capital Management of Wall Street fame. Since we have taken over GMAC, taking control of it from...again Cerberus Capital Management, we decided to give all of Chrysler Financial's customer base to GMAC."

Thus El Presidente and his "Kitchen Cabinet" saved Chrysler Union Jobs. Oh...hang on a minute...that didn't help the dealer body much did it? Oh...right...they're not union shops...yet. LOL

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by XDCX

The big wild-card, in my opinion, is Alfa Romeo. While it has been suggested the Fiat dealers will get Alfa it's never been stated as a foregone conclusion. Without the potential to sell Alfa Romeos I can't see why anyone would have any serious interest in a single-point Fiat store.

Originally Posted by Ralph

Well...they're certainly not going to open a Fiat Franchise system, with only the best locations in the country, with only the best facilities and best capitalized dealers...and give Alpha to all Chrysler dealers, that's for sure.

I guess I never completed my thought when I finished that post. I agree there's a ZERO percent chance the Chrysler dealers will get Alfa, I just think it's strange Marchionne doesn't guarantee that any dealer who step-ups for Fiat will get Alfa when the brand comes to the U.S. in 2012.

Part of me thinks Marchionne wants limit the interest the existing Chrysler dealers have in Fiat so he has an excuse to go outside the network and recruit competitive make dealers.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by XDCX

I agree there's a ZERO percent chance the Chrysler dealers will get Alfa, I just think it's strange Marchionne doesn't guarantee that any dealer who step-ups for Fiat will get Alfa when the brand comes to the U.S. in 2012.

Marchionne partially addressed this concern yesterday. Here's a quote from a story carried by Automotive News - “It's more than likely that Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands will be sold in the same” dealerships, Marchionne said.

While that statement may provide some reassurance, it's certainly not as declarative as it could be. It was also stated that Alfa isn't expected to arrive in the U.S. until late 2012 - that means almost two full years of running a stand-alone Fiat store.

[XDCX]

According to a report in The Detroit News, Chrysler's expecting 400 dealers to attend "The Fiat Experience" in Detroit on Monday. For the full report - click here

Surprisingly, Marchionne will not be in attendance. The report indicates Soave and Grady are listed as presenters and the dealers will be briefed on Fiat's five-year product plan.

Not surprisingly, Chuck Eddy is one of the invited dealers....

[XDCX]

I had to smile when I read the final sentence from The Detroit News report that questioned the venue for "The Fiat Experience."

Here's the excerpt for the report - "The event was held at the DIA because Chrysler could not accommodate an event of this size at its Auburn Hills headquarters, Kisiel said."

Auburn Hills can't accommodate 400 dealers? For Heaven's sake, Kiesel, if you read the forum you'd know there were thousands of dealers in Auburn Hills for the '93 Grand Cherokee launch. Is Chrysler's World Headquarters shrinking?

[Ralph]

Let me get this straight....the first official Fiat USA launch...and no Marchionne and not at Chrysler headquarters? Doesn't Marchionne run Fiat? Ugh

[CL Pgh]

Originally Posted by XDCX

Surprisingly, Marchionne will not be in attendance.

If you already knew who you were going to hire… why show up for the interview process!? Seems to me this presentation resembles Marchionnes LOI’s … the decisions are already made and final … but lets do this “event” so we can say the dealers had their chance but couldn’t produce.

[79LilRedExpress]

Correct me if I am off base here....

This is a Fiat/Alfa show, its purpose is to est a distribution system separate from the Chrysler Sales/Service brick and morter facility already owned by dealer guests that were selected by the "Fiat people".

These guests will pay there own way to get there and stay, but the show at the Art Center, ground transportation and meals are to be paid by Chrysler...

Why should Chrysler(which incl's the rest of the dealers) pay for this.

It's Fiat's party.... Let Fiat pay for it !

[Ralph]

Originally Posted by 79LilRedExpress

Correct me if I am off base here....

This is a Fiat/Alfa show, its purpose is to est a distribution system separate from the Chrysler Sales/Service brick and morter facility already owned by dealer guests that were selected by the "Fiat people".

These guests will pay there own way to get there and stay, but the show at the Art Center, ground transportation and meals are to be paid by Chrysler...

Why should Chrysler(which incl's the rest of the dealers) pay for this.

It's Fiat's party.... Let Fiat pay for it !

Simple...the US Government said Chrysler was too far gone to survive on it's own. The only way they can survive is with Fiat's small car technology. So to get Chrysler over the hump till Fiat brings in their vehicles...they got a handful of those pesky billions that keep getting in the way in Washington.

What no one knew, except a bunch of us with stones big enough to say it from the start...was that these billions were to pay for another foreign company to pilfer what's left.

To beat a dead horse, Fiat, with not a dime of investment of their money, gets total control of a company with billions in the coffee cans out back...yet can make not a penny on the deal until those billions are paid back. You don't have to be a Detroit Executive to figure out that bringing in their own vehicles in a separate franchise system is the ONLY way they can profit from this. Oh, I forgot...they can steal any and all the technology they want and bring it to Italy...which they've been doing since August of 2009.

Chrysler is a fat sacrificial host given to a, rightfully-so, hungry parasitic Fiat. Plain and simple.