Fiat-Chrysler is determined to re-introduce the Fiat into the United States. And the company has selected Laura Soave, formerly of Volkswagen of America, to oversee the venture.
Under Soave, the Fiat brand will be integrated into Chrysler’s marketing, sales, service and dealer organizations. Fiats will be sold in select Chrysler dealerships in urban markets.
Soave served VW in marketing, advertising, and communications before coming over to Chrysler. She was also the DNA manager for Ford.
The first of the Fiats to be introduced into the U.S will be the 500 which will be manufactured at a Chrysler plant in Tolucca, Mexico. Plans now call for about 100,000 units to be produced and will ultimately increase to about 130,000 a year.
It is expected that Fiat will be targeted toward younger buyers.
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Auburn Hills, Mich., Mar 10, 2010 – Chrysler Group LLC today appointed Laura J. Soave to serve as the Head of the Fiat Brand for North America.
Soave will lead the reintroduction of the Fiat Brand in North America, beginning with the Fiat 500. She holds full profit and loss responsibility for the Fiat product portfolio in North America. In her position, Soave, who reports to Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive Officer of Chrysler Group, will work with the brand Presidents and industrial leads to fully integrate Fiat product into the marketing, sales, service and dealer network organizations.
“Laura joins Chrysler with extensive experience in automotive marketing,” said Marchionne. “Her rich background will serve as a springboard for reintroducing the Fiat brand when it takes to U.S. and Canadian roads this December after more than a 25-year absence. This truly iconic car exemplifies Italian style, technology and passion and, offers something more. The 500 heralds a new vision of technology’s role in sustainable mobility.”
Soave joins Chrysler Group from Volkswagen of America where she most recently was the General Manager of Experiential Marketing leading consumer marketing initiatives. While at VW, she also was the head of advertising and communications activities for all large passenger vehicles and SUVs. Prior to that, she worked at Ford Motor Company in a variety of positions including most recently as a Brand DNA Manager where she managed the repositioning of the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands.
Press release via Chrysler
FIAT returns to the US like a traveling circus promising it will be new and better but it is simply looking for fresh marks. Worse, they have teamed up with that once proud, now shameless reliability carnival that is Chrysler. Hide your loved ones….something wicked this way comes.
Ms. Soave, FIAT’s new USA CEO, says she looks forward to sales to those ‘first time buyers’ and ‘enthusiasts’ but conveniently ignores that population who were so thoroughly cheated by the brand before it skulked away. News Flash Ms. Soave…. we’re not all dead yet. In my case it was my first new car, a 1974 X1/9, that I purchased while in college from a Mercedes/FIAT dealership in Cambridge, MA . It was a street-legal, bright yellow go cart and the most fun to drive car that I have ever owned. As a mechanical engineer, I thought I would be able to keep it running for years. Unfortunately the car was the quintessential lemon. It spent month after month in the shop. In addition to a litany of latent defects, many not covered by warranty, the car suffered from a spontaneous overheating syndrome that precluded travel of any real distance. For two years FIAT dealer mechanics and regional reps were unable to fix the problem. Desperation attempts included a major engine teardown. I still remember the generous handful of lockwashers and fasteners that were left over because the mechanics could not remember where they went and there was no repair manual published even 2 years after the car’s release to the US market. They even tried replacing the engine with a damaged one harvested from a train wreck in Texas. This engine also became damaged by the repeated overheating. Finally, regional FIAT management decided that even though they could not fix the car, they would no longer honor their warranty. I was left on my own. So Ms. Soave, why would a 3 year free maintenance program help inspire confidence in the brand that does not honor warranties? The dealer suggested that I unload it but to a different dealer, of course. I was not brought up that way so I junked it at a total loss. My only recourse was to haunt the auto shows to ‘help’ the FIAT show reps during their presentations and, hopefully, to save a few would-be victims. With the internet, I almost look forward to FIAT’s return. Retirement may turn out to be fun after all.