The birth of Stellantis coincided with a real shock for the automotive market and for the Italian industrial fabric. Alfa Romeo and Lancia are great protagonists of the story, the first comes from an attempt to relaunch unfortunately failed for volumes not up to expectations, the second has been on the market for years with only one model: the Ypsilon but is seen by the new management as a premium brand. Further details on their future come from recent statements by Carlos Tavares CEO of Stellantis who, after expressing his thoughts on the electric revolution, also clarified the plans for the group’s brands, waiting to do it brand by brand in the programmatic plan planned for the end. 2021.
All brands will have a chance
Tavares confirmed that Stellantis’ upper echelons are giving each brand a chance, granting each a ten-year window and providing ten-year funding to define a business model. CEOs of their respective brands need to be clear about the brand promise, customers, goals and communication of the brand. If they manage to achieve the ambitious goals set, the result will be truly fantastic as said by Tavares himself.
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The respective plans of Alfa Romeo and Lancia
It is not the first time that the Portuguese manager has expressed his support for all the Stellantis brands, both former FCA and former PSA, but now a well-defined time window has been added, within which brands must prove their value in order to remain on the market. It is worth underlining a fundamental concept of the Tavares interview: from his words it seems that the CEOs have full freedom of action, within the limits of funding, so the future of Alfa Rome is totally in the hands of Jean Philippe Imparato and that of Lancia by Luca Napolitano.
The plan will be operational for all brands
Obviously we mentioned the two brands about which there were more doubts after the merger, but Tavares’s plan will also apply to Abarth, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, Opel / Vauxhall, Peugeot and RAM. A chance was also given to Chrysler, a brand that for years has been going through a crisis of sales and perhaps also of identity; it will be ten years of fire for CEO Timothy Kuniskis, who is also at the helm of Dodge.
The near future of Lancia
But let’s go back to the two Italian bands starting with Lancia. For the years to come, the new head of design Jean-Pierre Ploué will have a lot of work to do: we are talking about the man who will have the task of reviving Lancia. Luca Napolitano, Lancia’s Chief Executive Officer, had no doubts about the choice, welcoming Jean-Pierre Ploué who replied that he was truly honored that such a heterogeneous group of professionals is working together for Lancia’s success. But who exactly is Jean-Pierre Ploué? He is not a figure external to Stellantis, on the contrary he is Chief Design Officer of the group for the Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Fiat in Europe, Lancia, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall brands, so he knows the environment and the history of a particular brand like Lancia that deserves an appropriate relaunch.