A Great 5 Year Plan for the 1970's

"Groagun" (groagun) 05/10/2014 at 11:46 • Filed to: None

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How many old, traditional or 'staple' statements can you think of? Which are the ones you use in your life, or do you hear from those surrounding you?

"Let's get down to the brass tacks!" I bet some of you thought it was 'tax' and not tacks. It's a reference to the garment industry when shop owners would save fractions of an inch on each purchase of fabric and over the life of an entire role may get an extra sale. People caught on and started to demand that the fabric was cut right down to the brass tacks that measured out the length that they ordered, no more, no less.

Much can be read into these various sayings but one came to mind this week as I read the fallout from the Fiat/Chrysler 5 year plan. It isn't very common but I think it fits perfectly in this case. In Italian, how appropriate, it's " Sacco vuoto non può star in piedi" In English it translates to"An empty sack cannot stand upright."

While some criticism has been leveled at Sergio Marchionne, now and in the past, for the most part he is hailed as the 'golden boy' of auto executives. I'm not in the praise and 'God' making business so let me start the tear down.

For as long as I have been alive, Chrysler has been the perennial loser, 3 rd place and last choice of vehicles when it came to 'The Big 3'. That is not to say we haven't had them in our family: our sins were 2 mini vans, a K car and a Reliant, what an oxymoron that was and if I remember correctly, a New Yorker/5 th Avenue.

All but 1 of those, a blue Voyager my dad used as a work vehicle, was parked in the driveway of my grandparents at one time or another. They were a part of that generation that really struggled with buying 'foreign' cars: that's a story for another time.

Really I'm not so interested in the past but it does show a pattern and a real cause for pause and concern with the vision for the future of FCA, or should I say lack of vision?

If you have read some or any of my previous posts, you may get the impression that I'm 'pro' hybrid or all 'green' when it comes to cars but really what I am is a proponent of technology and the future. I'm finding it hard to understand and deal with people my own age, and younger, who seem to have adopted the exact same philosophy as our baby boomer parents.

You know the baby boomers, peace and love and until that didn't work then fuck it, put on your suit and rape and pillage until your heart's content. Every generation is entitled to nostalgia and eventually I (we) will have and need ours but it should simply be a fond memory we share and maybe even relive in small doses. It should not influence or direct the path of progress.

I'm primarily talking about the idea of America of the 50's, 60's and 70's. A time when V8's were in everything and gas consumption was a worry of those who crossed us and we flew over and bombed their supplies.

Not until 1973 did we get a slap upside the head and we started to think about oil as a precious resource. In the 1980's we started to think of greenhouse gasses and the damage they were/are doing to the environment.

Yet here we are today with most people and almost all television pundits and business analysts seeming to say with new oil discoveries in the North Pole and the Key Stone project out of Alberta that oil is once again the free flowing and over abundant resource that will power our future.

So what is the problem and what the hell does it have to do with Chrysler and its 5 year plan?

Look closely at the product portfolio, see anything missing? There are but 2 PHEV vehicles listed. Most everything else is big heavy iron. Scour the auto web sites you love the most and you will find Sergio's dislike, dismissal and seeming indifference to hybrid or alternative tech of any kind.

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That does not mean FCA will not implore new technologies, hybrid, electric or otherwise. The key to the story is found in this second link. The quote that is most interesting is this " Green Car Reports !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that FCA is also still buying itself time by snapping up emissions credits from other automakers."

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That says but one thing, we are already behind the curve and it's only getting worse. They are conceding the market to its competitors and if you were or are still pissed about the bail outs of both GM and Chrysler this should cement your anger. It is entirely possible that FCA is setting itself up for trouble once again in the not too distant future.

Ahhhh, the good old days. "If it aint broke, don't fix it!" I love the old sayings but while it's not broke it just may become irrelevant. Particularly on the Chrysler badge offerings, I see nothing but names from the 50', 60's and 70's. An entire company based on nostalgia products and seemingly with a distain for new technology.

So once again, " Sacco vuoto non può star in piedi" I don't think Sergio Marchionne is the empty sack, the company is but, and now I get to use one of my favorite phrases, "For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise." Or in modern speak, don't suffer fools lightly!

And my advice to all of my American friends in particular, don't be the fool in this old saying from Dr. John Bridges in 1587, " A fool and his money are quickly parted."

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