File this under “So, you wanna work for this guy?
Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, reports Automotive News, says the Chrysler 200 did not get a Consumer Reports recommendation because the designers copied Hyundai’s sharply sloping rear-seat entry shape — making ingress and egress a head-banging experience.
He referred to the 200’s designers as “dummies.” He said certain design staffers “left some of their private parts on the table after we came up with that (design) determination.”
Yikes! It’s one thing to get roasted by your boss in a private meeting. It’s quite another for the boss to fricassee you in front of reporters.
The management team led by Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FCA, has crafted a five-year plan one analyst calls “fantasyland.”
So, is The Great Sergio Marchionne losing his cool? After all, for years now he has been dealing with the enormous pressure associated with rescuing and rebuilding FCA. At the same time, he must please the company’s largest and controlling shareholder – the Agnelli family. Marchionne in essence is managing the turnaround of a family business.
This may help explain why the notoriously impatient and short-tempered Marchionne blew a gasket in public. Impatient? Short-tempered?
When Fiat acquired Chrysler, a top insider told me he conducted 25-minute interviews with Chrysler’s then-top leadership. Those who didn’t impress him in 25 minutes or less, were culled from the management herd. Since then, Marchionne has quickly promoted and dismissed a long list of senior people who failed to meet expectations.
Now Marchionne has thrown his own designers under the bus in a very public way, suggesting a heightened sense of urgency. Why? FCA is in the middle of a five-year plan that so far has not produced a lot of big winners, other than the Ram pickup and the Jeep brand overall. Fiat in North America? Total disaster.
A recent Reuters report suggests FCA is unlikely to meet cost-cutting and product-launch targets that are critical to the success of the plan. “‘Ambitious’ is not really an adequate word to describe it (the plan); ‘fantasyland’ might be more appropriate,” Bernstein’s Max Warburton said in the report.
Warburton has an “underperform” rating on FCA stock. Many share his view.
File this under “So, you wanna work for this guy?
Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, reports Automotive News, says the Chrysler 200 did not get a Consumer Reports recommendation because the designers copied Hyundai’s sharply sloping rear-seat entry shape — making ingress and egress a head-banging experience.
He referred to the 200’s designers as “dummies.” He said certain design staffers “left some of their private parts on the table after we came up with that (design) determination.”
Yikes! It’s one thing to get roasted by your boss in a private meeting. It’s quite another for the boss to fricassee you in front of reporters.
The management team led by Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FCA, has crafted a five-year plan one analyst calls “fantasyland.”
So, is The Great Sergio Marchionne losing his cool? After all, for years now he has been dealing with the enormous pressure associated with rescuing and rebuilding FCA. At the same time, he must please the company’s largest and controlling shareholder – the Agnelli family. Marchionne in essence is managing the turnaround of a family business.
This may help explain why the notoriously impatient and short-tempered Marchionne blew a gasket in public. Impatient? Short-tempered?
When Fiat acquired Chrysler, a top insider told me he conducted 25-minute interviews with Chrysler’s then-top leadership. Those who didn’t impress him in 25 minutes or less, were culled from the management herd. Since then, Marchionne has quickly promoted and dismissed a long list of senior people who failed to meet expectations.
Now Marchionne has thrown his own designers under the bus in a very public way, suggesting a heightened sense of urgency. Why? FCA is in the middle of a five-year plan that so far has not produced a lot of big winners, other than the Ram pickup and the Jeep brand overall. Fiat in North America? Total disaster.
A recent Reuters report suggests FCA is unlikely to meet cost-cutting and product-launch targets that are critical to the success of the plan. “‘Ambitious’ is not really an adequate word to describe it (the plan); ‘fantasyland’ might be more appropriate,” Bernstein’s Max Warburton said in the report.
Warburton has an “underperform” rating on FCA stock. Many share his view.
About the Author / Jeremy Cato
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