Chrysler 2014 Annual Report Download - page 40

38 2014 | ANNUAL REPORT
Our Strategic Business Plan
Our Strategic Business Plan
Following our January 2014 acquisition of the remaining 41.5 percent interest in FCA US we did not already own, in May
2014, we announced our 2014–2018 Business Plan. Our Business Plan sets forth a number of clearly defined strategic
initiatives designed to capitalize on our position as a single, integrated company to become a leading global automaker,
including:
Premium and Luxury Brand Strategy. We intend to continue to execute on our premium and luxury brand strategy by
developing the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands to service global markets. We believe these efforts will help us address
the issue of industry overcapacity in the European market, as well as our own excess production capacity in the EMEA
region, by leveraging the strong heritage and historical roots of these brands to grow the reach of these brands in all of
the regions in which we operate.
Recently, we have successfully expanded in the luxury end of the market through our introduction of two new Maserati
vehicles. We intend to replicate this on a larger scale with Alfa Romeo by introducing several new vehicles being
developed as part of an extensive product plan to address the premium market worldwide. In addition, we intend
to continue our development of the Maserati brand as a larger scale luxury vehicle brand capitalizing on the recent
successful launches of the next generation Quattroporte and the all new Ghibli. We also intend to introduce additional
new vehicles, including an all new luxury SUV in 2015, the Levante, that will allow Maserati to cover the full range of the
luxury vehicle market and position it to substantially expand volumes.
Building Brand Equity. As part of our Business Plan, we intend to further develop our brands to expand sales in markets
throughout the world with particular focus on our Jeep and Alfa Romeo brands, which we believe have global appeal and
are best positioned to increase volumes substantially in the regions in which we operate.
In particular, our Business Plan highlights our intention to leverage the global recognition of the Jeep brand and extend
the range of Jeep vehicles to meet global demand through localized production, particularly in APAC and LATAM.
We are also developing a range of vehicles that are expected to re-establish the Alfa Romeo brand, particularly in NAFTA,
APAC and EMEA, as a premier driver-focused automotive brand with distinctive Italian styling and performance.
In addition, we expect to take further steps to strengthen and differentiate our brand identities in order to address
differing market and customer preferences in each of the regions in which we operate. We believe that we can increase
sales and improve pricing by ensuring that all of our vehicles are more closely aligned with a brand identity established
in the relevant regional markets. For example, we announced as part of the Business Plan that Chrysler would be
our mainstream North American brand, with a wider range of models, including crossovers and our primary minivan
offering. Dodge will be restored to its performance heritage, which is expected to enhance brand identity and minimize
overlapping product offerings which tend to cause consumer confusion. We also intend to continue our repositioning
strategy of the Fiat brand in the EMEA region, leveraging the image of the Fiat 500 family, while positioning Lancia as an
Italy-focused brand. We will also continue to develop our pick-up truck and light commercial vehicle brands leveraging
our wide range of product offerings to expand further in EMEA as Fiat Professional, in LATAM as Fiat and in NAFTA as
Ram. For a description of our vehicle brands, see Mass Market Vehicle Brands section below.
Global Growth. As part of our Business Plan, we intend to expand vehicle sales in key markets throughout the world. In
order to achieve this objective, we intend to continue our efforts to localize production of Fiat brand vehicles through our
joint ventures in China and India, while increasing sales of Jeep vehicles in LATAM and APAC by localizing production
through our new facility in Brazil and the extension of the joint venture agreement in China. Local production will enable
us to expand the product portfolio we can offer in these important markets and importantly position our vehicles to better
address the local market demand by offering vehicles that are competitively priced within the largest segments of these
markets without the cost of transportation and import duties. We also intend to increase our vehicle sales in NAFTA,
continuing to build market share in the U.S. by offering more competitive products under our distinctive brands as well
as offering new products in segments we do not currently compete in. Further, we intend to leverage manufacturing
capacity in EMEA to support growth in all regions in which we operate by producing vehicles for export from EMEA,
including Jeep brand vehicles.