Fred Diaz heading to Nissan

[XDCX]

Nissan just issued a press release indicating that Fred Diaz will be joining the company. Here's a link to a report from The Detroit News - click here

In his new job at Nissan, Diaz will be responsible for the OEMs Sales, Service, Parts and Fleet operations.

While I never knew him I know many of our members had a favorable impression of Diaz. I also felt he was a scapegoat for Marchionne's poor understanding of the U.S. market - especially the misguided "hibernation" period where Chrysler surrendered market share and lost a lot of good dealers.

I wish Mr. Diaz much success at Nissan. I wonder if he'll still keep in contact with the CJDR Dealers he's known for years?

[jayhawk]

mr. diaz seemed to be a straight guy, not taken with himself as others [some of the euros ] seem to be. he seemed a no b.s. dude. could be a big loss for our team.

[conn02]

He has an intimate knowledge of the Texas truck market and that could be trouble of Dealers here. I respect the man and his experience and wish him the best at his new post

[AR2]

I must say I am surprised by this news. Isn't he the CEO of Ram? If so, I think this is a huge blow. I really don't know anything about him, but he seemed to be all gun-ho about Ram's future. I think there is a featured interview with him in the current Motor Trend and he sounded very upbeat about Ram's future. So, I do find this very shocking. I have to wonder why he left, since everything is going right with Ram and he is part of Sergio's "dream team".

Still, I was wondering when other car companies would start pulling Fiat-Chrysler executives into their own company. I guess success will do that.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by AR2

I must say I am surprised by this news. Isn't he the CEO of Ram? If so, I think this is a huge blow. I really don't know anything about him, but he seemed to be all gun-ho about Ram's future. I think there is a featured interview with him in the current Motor Trend and he sounded very upbeat about Ram's future. So, I do find this very shocking. I have to wonder why he left, since everything is going right with Ram and he is part of Sergio's "dream team".

Still, I was wondering when other car companies would start pulling Fiat-Chrysler executives into their own company. I guess success will do that.

In my mind Diaz' departure isn't a huge surprise.

Diaz was essentially demoted when he was moved to Mexico and replaced by Reid Bigland to run Chrysler's U.S. Sales operations. In almost all situations a high profile demotion like that signals the end of an individual's career with Chrysler. In fact, I can't think of a single example where a high-level Chrysler executive was demoted and then continued to advance his/her career at a later date.

As I stated in the opening post, it's my belief that Diaz was demoted because he was forced to implement Marchionne's failed vision for selling cars in the U.S. and then he became the scapegoat when it was clear Marchionne's direction was misguided. It's like a NFL coach getting fired for having a losing season because he was following the owner's advice for coaching the team.

To be clear, I think Bigland is doing a good job and he deserves the accolades he receives for reviving Chrysler's sales. That said, in my opinion Bigland just threw out Marchionne's playbook and went back to the way Chrysler's always sold cars and found success. (Does anyone remember how Marchionne used to crow to the press that vehicle incentives were a sign of weakness and the product should sell itself? I wonder how that philosophy would be working out for the Fiat dealers trying to sell Fiat 500s?)

Concerning Diaz' future at Nissan, I'll create a new thread in the Nissan section of the forum and share a few thoughts about the challenges that await Diaz as he takes the helm at Nissan.

[XDCX]

I thought it was interesting to see how Auburn Hills filled Diaz' slot:

• Bigland will drop Dodge but takes Daiz' spot as Ram brand CEO
• Kuniskis will drop Fiat but takes Bigland's spot as Dodge brand CEO
• Stoicevich takes on the job of being the Fiat brand CEO and retains his position running the California Business Center

To me, moving Bigland to Ram makes sense given the importance of the Ram brand to Chrysler's profitability and the level of competition in that segment. (That and I'm convinced Auburn Hills will eventually kill the Dodge brand.)

Kuniskis' move is a surprise - I thought he was doing a pretty decent job moving the needle with Fiat and I'm surprised Marchionne would want to make another change and further alienate the Fiat dealers.

Stoicevich's move is an even bigger surprise. While Chrysler has clearly made large gains in the California market over the past two years they're still not a big player and running the California BC is not a job you can put on auto-pilot. While Fiat's sales have improved, the brand is still insignificant in the market and I cannot imagine why Marchionne wouldn't assign an executive to make Fiat's development a full time job.

It's possible these moves are just a quick response to Diaz' departure and more changes will be made in the near future. Time will tell....

[XDCX]

When I was reading the report concerning Diaz in Automotive News I thought it was interesting it included a picture of Diaz with Gary Barbera.

It was my understanding that Barbera was convicted of tax fraud and he no longer had a financial interest in the store that bears his name. Maybe I'm mistaken or maybe there's more than one Gary Barbera?

Here's a link to a thread concerning Gary Barbera that still draws a fair amount of traffic from Google searches - click here