Yesterday Sergio Marchionne showed at a private meeting in Las Vegas with thousands of American dealerships not only the plans for the upcoming two years, but also three new models were presented (two of them were Alfa Romeo’s). The just recently arrived CEO (before he was in Monza), showed a special kind of enthusiasm over the whole weekend, now it revealed itself. More than 2600 dealerships from the North-, Middle- and South America were introduced at the so called Dealer Announcement Show in Las Vegas. The new Fiat-Chrysler was showed for the period up till 2014, a period which represents a lot of innovations and elan. The sales numbers are good, so everybody was looking forward to this moment. Up to 66 innovations will be implemented, which also incorporates updates and some new light commercial vehicles. This is a lot more than the earlier presentation in 2010 in Orlando, when 29 innovations were mentioned. Marchionne states that Chrysler is more dynamic and more creative than ever, it will pursuit its goals as never before.

The introduction of Alfa Romeo in the US is a key element for achieving a larger market share. The two Alfa’s were shown to 178 exclusive Fiat dealerships. Sadly no information was shared which models were part of the introduction. We expect the 4C and the mid-segment SUV to be part of the operation. The Chrysler dealerships made their acquintance with the new 200, which will be the basic starting point for the next mid-segment Lancia saloon, the real successor of the Lybra. The only information which is available for the 200, is the fact that the car will be a new kind of Chrysler. The design of the car and its size will resemble the Dart/Viaggio. Dealerships also mentioned a new compact model, which will be called ’100′ (C-segment). Jeep dealerships were also prepared for the upcoming period. They saw the new ‘Crossover’ vehicle and looked at the future designs of the Compass/Patriot and Liberty cars. In short Fiat gives Detroit a lot of input, we see a lot of results after some years of hard work. This gives us hope in contrast to the economic situation in Europe and strengthens the plans for expanding in Russia and China.