03-18-2015, 11:40 AM | #1 |
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Chrysler brand to drop from existance in the UK by 2017
In what can hardly be expected as a huge surprise, reports indicate that the Chrysler brand will be dropped from the United Kingdom markets by 2017. For a full report from USA Today - click here
FCA's strategy for the UK is to kill off the Chrysler and Lancia brands and spend more of their efforts developing the Jeep and Fiat brands. Given that FCA only sold 1982 Chrysler branded vehicles in the UK last year, it's hard to argue with their plans. Perhaps most interesting from a U.S. Chrysler Dealers' perspective, a UK based website is reporting that FCA is encouraging Jeep and Alfa Romeo stores to join forces - essentially a European Project Alpha. Hopefully FCA will treat all of the dealers fairly but I have to wonder if a Alfa Romeo dealer with a long tenure with Fiat might be in a better position than a Jeep dealer? |
03-18-2015, 07:14 PM | #2 |
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This is not a surprise at all. For the last few years the model range in the UK has consisted of the Chrysler Ypsilon (a re-badged Lancia that we may well see in guise as the Chrysler 100 the NA market), the 300C (as they call all of the 300 trims in the UK) and the Grand Voyager (you can guess what model this is)... nothing more than a niche brand in the UK. With Chrysler now being the restyled FCA, it is probably best for the new entity to put it's focus in the UK on the Fiat, Alfa, and Jeep lineups.
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03-19-2015, 09:48 AM | #3 |
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I agree that killing off the Chrysler brand in the UK makes sense at this point.
I do wonder, however, what's going to happen to the Chrysler/Jeep dealers in that region? Frankly, I can't remember whether the group of UK C/J dealers that was with Chrysler in the Cerberus days survived or whether they were terminated as part of the OLDCO process. Part of me seems to recall reading that the original UK C/J dealers were already screwed over by Fiat but my recollection could be wrong. I wonder if Project Alpha will be smoother and faster in the UK than it was in the U.S.? |
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