New Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne is deciding how the Chrysler-Fiat alliance will manage the Dodge and Alfa Romeo brands, which he regards as American and European counterparts.
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“The level of competition between these two brands is tremendous because they are both going after the same customer,” Marchionne told Bloomberg News.
“Dodge is the American muscle car, while Alfa Romeo is the European muscle car. How we dovetail these two brands is very important.”
One solution might be to sell Alfa Romeo models under the Dodge brand in the US and Dodges as Alfa Romeos in Europe, Marchionne was cited as saying.
Fiat and Chrysler executives have said previously they would build a new vehicle in the US based on the platform of Alfa Romeo’s yet to be released 149 model.
Chrysler should be able to take control of its European dealer network by September, Marchionne told Bloomberg.
Certain operations are still controlled by Daimler, which owned Chrysler from 1998 to 2006, Chrysler spokesman Gualberto Ranieri told the news agency.
Here in the UK, Chrysler/Dodge operations still share an office facility with Daimler’s local Mercedes-Benz operations.
