Marchionne lays out plans for FCA

Fiat Chrysler Automobile's boss Sergio Marchionne (pictured) and a posse of senior brand execs have laid out the next five-year plan for the Italian-American auto group. The plans for brands as diverse as Dodge to Ferrari were revealed in a marathon 12-hour press and investor briefing in Detroit overnight.

In the conference, FCA execs laid out the brand and product cycle plans for its nameplates in some detail. While it's our intention to expand on these over the coming days, at first glance one thing is clear: FCA will rely on Jeep, Chrysler and Alfa Romeo to provide the lion's share of its volume and profit growth, with the offroad brand in particular set to spearhead the auto group's impact on emerging markets.

Under the 'START 2014-18' manifesto, FCA will grow global sales from around 4.4m units per annum to almost 7.0m. Jeep will do much of the heavy lifting growing from 700,000 units in FY13 to around 1.9m vehicles. In the process, it will likely topple Fiat as FCA's largest brand. In the same period Fiat is only projected to grow from 1.5m units to the same figure as Jeep.

In percentage terms, however, the largest growth is projected for Alfa Romeo and FCA's premium brands Ferrari and Maserati. 

Alfa, fuelled by an injection of 5b Euros and growth from three model families to eight, is projected to grow from around 80,000 units per annum to more than 400,000. The Modena brands will grow to over 80,000 units per annum: Ferrari, says Marchionne, will be capped at 7000 units per year; but Maserati is targeting volumes of around 75,000 by 2018. 

Under the 'START 2014-18' outline, Fiat appears set to polarise its model offering with two philosophies defining models as functional or aspirational. 

Many of Fiat's functional new models will be aimed at emerging markets including China, India and Latin America. Aspirational models targeted at established markets such as Europe and North America will drive profitability. 

Under the plan FCA projects none of Fiat's volume growth will come from Europe.

As an aside, overlaying the Alfa Romeo and Fiat cycle plans confirms the 2015 'specialist' vehicle co-developed with Mazda's all-new MX-5 will be launched into the Fiat family. Just one new Alfa is due in 2015, a mid-size 'mainstream' car.

Chrysler will refocus on passenger cars and people movers and grow volume from 300,000 units per annum to 800,000 in 2018. Its plan is to cover the six "mainstream segments": small, medium and large passenger cars, minivans and medium and large crossovers. Plug-in Hybrid powertrains are on the 2014-18 agenda for some of the larger vehicles launched.

Dodge and SRT reunite again in an outline that suggests Dodge will re-invent itself as a performance brand. Whether this comes to pass in a global or just North American sense is unclear. The arrival of small Dodge performance cars and even SRT-badged crossovers suggest this could be the case, but without clear right-hand drive production plans we'd not get too excited. Indeed, Dodge is not even listed in the Asia Pacific section of the business plan. 

Alfa Romeo
Promising best in class rear and all-wheel drive architecture
Engineered and manufactured in Italy for global markets
First all-new car Q4 2015, seven more new models by end of 2018 (includes two crossovers)
No MiTo replacement
Approx 5b Euro investment including standalone "Skunk Works" with 600 engineers by end of 2015
2018 production target 400,000 units per annum

Chrysler 
"Exceptional and attainable vehicles for mainstream America"
Mainstream focus: increase from 25-65% coverage in terms of US new car marketplace
Addition of small '100' sedan in 2016 and all-new 300C in 2018
200 mid-life in 2017: right-hand drive then?
Sedan focus but new crossovers full and mid-size arrive 2017 and 18 respectively
2018 production target 800,000 units per annum

Dodge
"…bring back America's passion for driving… one dodge at a time"
Non-conforming models killed off (Caravan and Journey) by 2016, new crossover aligned with "Dodge DNA"
SRT brand and Viper back in Dodge fold. Viper freshened in 2015
SRT high-performance versions of most models including crossover
Small hatch due 2018 (Hornet?)
2018 production target 600,000 units per annum (US market only quoted)

Ferrari
Not for sale, says Marchionne
New model every year 2014-18
Four year model life followed by "M versions lasting another four years" 
Operating margins in excess of 15% by 2018
Production to be limited to 7000 units but potential to increase to 10,000 as new markets mature

Fiat
"One Brand, Two Souls… Functional or Aspirational"
Model line-up and philosophy optimised to markets. Functional particularly focussed on Latin America, China, India, APAC
US growth 500 based, but 2015 'Specialty' model will be MX-5 co-developed
Substantial renewal and focus on style and private buyers for mature markets: more profit 
Cycle-plan not clearly presented – still a work in progress?
2018 production target 1,900,000 units per annum 

Jeep 
FCA's lead global brand
APAC will be largest growth market for Jeep. Hello China! 
Patriot and Compass killed off in 2016, replaced by new compact C segment model
All-new Wrangler and Grand Cherokees in 2017. Seven-seat Grand Wagoneer in 2018
Facelifts for Cherokee and Renegade in 2016 and 2017 respectively
Production spread to four continents and ten plants by 2018
2018 production target 1,900,000 units per annum 

Maserati
Promises 100 per cent coverage of luxury markets by 2018
Cycle-plan timeline less defined than other brands in presentation
Alfieri confirmed in both coupe and cabriolet form to take on 911 by 2017 (approx)
Levante luxury SUV next new model
All-new Granturismo in 2018, but Grancabrio outside business plan period
500hp-plus V8 and V6 powertrains planned
More AWD models including Alfieri variants
2018 production target 75,000 units per annum 

RAM and Fiat Professional
40 per cent growth to 600,000 units per annum Fiat Professional
New one-tonne ute planned 
No indication RAM will move beyond North America.