Auburn Hills (WWJ) -- Change is underway at Chrysler even as the automaker is on firmer financial footing. That was the message at the beginning of a daylong event in which Chrysler was outlining it's five year business plan.
WWJ's Jeff Gilbert said the message from one Chrysler executive after another was that the automaker has lost ground the last couple of years and now they are going to gain it back.
Chrysler Chairman Robert Kidder, who spoke at the opening of the event, set one theme -- that all Chrysler employees understand the need to change and have begun to implement and plan significant changes in the Chrysler business.
"There is no business as usual at Chrysler. There is incredible commitment to an energy for change," Kidder said.
"Sergio and his team are re-inventing the Chrysler business model. In the one with global economy as a scale, with strong focused brands and products, and with an entirely new high-performance culture," Kidder said later.
Chrysler plans to revamp its struggling Dodge car brand under the new turnaround plan and says the company's cash has grown by nearly $2 billion since it exited bankruptcy protection in June.
Under the plan, the automaker aims to introduce four new Dodges by 2013 and put new exteriors, interiors and engines on most of its current lineup. The new Dodges include a mid-size sedan for the North American market designed by Fiat SpA, the Italian automaker that now owns 35 percent of Chrysler.
"I think that a lot of cars nowadays, you can almost blur your eyes and you can't tell them apart from each other. So, we're always going to be that kind of car that you cannot walk past and you have to contemplate.” Ralph Gilles, president and CEO of Dodge, said, stating that they'll have Dodges that will look very different from Chryslers.
That Dodge sedan is a key component of Chrysler LLC's five-year overhaul, which is being outlined here Wednesday. Chrysler currently lacks a competitive product in the segment, the largest in the U.S. car market.
But it will be tough to win back U.S. consumers, who are skeptical of Chrysler's quality. The automaker's sales are down sharply this year as a weak U.S. economy saps overall demand for cars and buyers flee to other brands.
The 84-year-old Chrysler lost upward of $8 billion last year and would have run out of cash had the U.S. government not stepped in with $15.5 billion in aid. Chrysler was forced into bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said Wednesday the automaker had $5.7 billion in cash at the end of September, up $1.7 billion since the company emerged from Chapter 11 this summer. He also said Chrysler was breaking even in the month of September.
It will need to offer better cars to improve its fortunes. Chrysler's current mid-size offerings are the Sebring and Dodge Avenger, which sell poorly and have received low marks from Consumer Reports and others.
Sebring sales were down 71 percent during the first 10 months of this year, while Avenger sales were off 45 percent. The Auburn Hills-based company has sold only 44,000 of both models combined, far short of the 294,493 Camrys sold by Toyota, the top-selling car in the U.S.
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