The Fiat Group’s is looking to kill two birds with one stone.  Lancia is Fiat’s entry-level luxury brand, a sort of Italian Buick.  And like Buick, Lancia has been suffering from a stale image.  Fiat execs’ strategy will gradually merge the American Chrysler and the Italian Lancia into one.  The new Lancia Delta will be the first bilateral vehicle, set to be showcased this coming year.  The Chrysler 300 will serve as the basis for Lancia’s next full-size saloon, the Sebring will cover the next mid-sizer, and the Dodge/Chrysler crossover architecture will be exported to Italy.

There’s been a lot of hype surrounding Alfa here in the US.  With all the talk of the pretty cars and Italian style, observers ignore the horrid rep Alfas (and Fiats) have in reliability.  For the past decade, Alfa-Romeo’s been trying to serve as the Italian Audi–which comes to a wannabe BMW.  The overweight, front-drive convertibles and trouble-prone saloons aside, Alfa’s place in the Euro sales charts has been slipping big-time.  Total sales are down by almost half of what they were a decade ago.  Alfa and Fiat heads are looking to converge the Euro-American vehicles with Chrysler corresponding to Alfa and the dying Lancia, and Dodge hooked-up to Fiat.  We’re betting on the Marchionne Magic burning out by 2015.

“It was all about the unions. The unions didn’t want to have their very generous contracts renegotiated so we put $80 billion into both General Motors and Chrysler, and anybody believes that Chrysler is going to survive, I’d like to meet them.”

So goes Senator John McCain.

The Arizona senator spoke to The Detroit News while attending a Phoenix racing event.  McCain’s grim prediction comes amid the continually declining state of the Chrysler brand and dismal words for CEO Sergio Marchionne’s business plan.

McCain went on: “We see the automotive industry, and my heart goes out to the citizens of Detroit, really in the tank, and yet we have manufacturing plants all over the South, which are not bound by some of the labor rules and contracts that make them non-competitive.”

Image courtesy of Caricature Shack.

Here’s an official preview video for Fiat’s 500C cabrio.  The new trim features a sliding fabric roof, akin to the Porsche’s 911 Targa.

The significance of this?  The 500 has been a sensation in Europe–and it’s coming to these shores within the next two years.

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Fiat will be shipping development of its 169 to Ontario.  The new rear-drive luxury sedan will use the LX layout seen in the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger.  The 169 development has run into problems dealing the issue of a suitable platform.  The LX did wonders for Chrysler, borrowing Mercedes components to help refresh the 300 franchise.  The 169 will replace Alfa’s failed front-drive 166–think of it as an Italian Oldsmobile.  The 169 will surely be a looker, but how about the reliability?

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After months of wrangling, a deal has been reached for Fiat to acquire Chrysler.  A brief delay from Justice Ruth Ginsberg of the Supreme Court was overcome, with Chrysler proceeding to exit bankruptcy as soon as next week.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is already beginning his own restructure of the Chrysler Group.  The Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge divisions will now operate separately and have a president/CEO to assume responsibility.  Chrysler’s Jim Press will now report directly to Marchionne on all corporate matters.  Sales guru Steve Landry and head engineer Frank Klegon have been fired.

The key names emerging from this change are Peter L. Fong, Michael Manley, and Mike Accavitti.  Fong will oversee the Chrysler division; he previously handled Ford operations in Philadelphia before leaving to handle Chrysler Mid-Atlantic sales.  Manley, now president for Jeep, manages US sales and global product planning.  Mike Accavitti will be chief exec for Dodge after a history with its motorsports branch.

In the meantime, Marchionne is deciding whether or not to cut the Lancia and Chrysler nameplates.  It’s likely Lancia will be retired, but Chrysler’s still-sizeable minivan share, coming 300 update, and well-received 200C concept (pictured above) are giving the brand a better shot at survival.

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