The Chrysler nameplate will survive in Europe, according to Fiat Auto boss Sergio Marchionne.
Under the recent Fiat takeover of Chrysler Group, the Chrysler and Lancia brands were merged under the control of current Lancia boss Olivier Francois.
Because Lancia and Chrysler will share future products, it was thought that Chrysler might disappear in Europe, where it sold just 30,000 vehicles.
However, Marchionne has told the Automotive News website that Lancia and Chrysler "need to find a way to make Chrysler and Lancia co-exist and not fight. It takes a huge amount of money to maintain a brand."
Marchionne noted that Chrysler had international recognition, but that Lancia was "well established" in some European countries.
One Fiat source told Autocar that Chrysler and Lancia could operate in the same way as Vauxhall and Opel, merging product lines and advertising as far as possible.
Another report says that the Chrysler will expand its product offering by selling its own version of the next-generation Lancia Ypsilon supermini and Delta hatch in most European countries.
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Re: Chrysler will survive in Europe
When Strategic discussions such as this are aired in public you just know the companies are in trouble.
Re: Chrysler will survive in Europe
Forget Chrysler give us a new Lancia Stratos.
Re: Chrysler will survive in Europe
Agreed, Chrysler is far from a failure and I think they have a lot of promise with a bit of investment. Given time I think they could become a real alternative for those who don't want to follow the crowd and want somthing with some individuality.
Jeeps future however was never in question and was going to continue in europe. Its good to see that Chrysler and Jeep will both continue, hopefully Dodge will too. With some focus they could become really competitive brands.