Fiat Chrysler Automobiles boss Sergio Marchionne was on the floor of the New York stock market on Monday, the newly merged company’s first day of trading – we wonder what he was thinking two days later when the world’s financial markets plummeted after poor data from the US heightened fears for the global economy.
He also learned that some analysts are sceptical that he can meet his ambitious target for the Jeep brand: to nearly double global sales over the next four years.
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That target is 1.9m sales by 2018 while those analysts think the figure will be considerably less – 1.2m – according to a survey by Reuters.
Marchionne remained bullish, however, telling Bloomberg TV: “I have all the best intentions (of reaching 1.9m). We may even blow through it.”
The FCA chief and the analysts appear to be a long way apart with all projections. Marchionne is expecting total group sales to reach 7m by 2018; analysts expect 5.1m, according to Reuters.
Jeep has grown sales globally from 200,000 in 2009 to 1m this year, growth described by Marchionne as “a miracle”, and he is backed by his equally bullish Jeep CEO Mike Manley.
Manley told just-auto the ambitious growth will be fuelled by the completion of two new plants, one in Brazil and one in China.
He added: “Localisation gives us a huge opportunity to bring down the price of our vehicles and be more competitive in China where the Jeep brand is already very strong. In Latin America we have not been very strong and a factory in Brazil will give us access to what is now the fourth largest car market in the world. We will also be entering the Indian market next year so that is yet another opportunity for us to build sales.”
Much of Jeep’s growth since 2009 has come without significant new products. This will change with launch of the new Renegade, which will be built at Fiat’s Melfi factory.
Manley said: “Melfi is a huge plant, capable of producing around 320,000 vehicles a year and we would hope to utilise a lot of that capacity.”
Currently five Jeep models are built in four US plants and the plan in four years’ time is to build six models in six countries while stretching the range to include a luxury seven-seat flagship in late 2018, the new Grand Wagoneer which Manley is convinced will compete with the best of the high-end SUVs.
The Compass and Patriot will be replaced by a single model in 2016, with redesigns of the Grand Cherokee and the Wrangler slated for 2017 and 2018, respectively.
