Following its October announcement of a new stand alone RAM brand, Chrysler is appropriately updating its Auburn Hills, Michigan headquarters. Workers were spotted earlier on Tuesday affixing the new RAM brand logo to Chrysler’s HQ sign.
Confirming numerous rumors, Chrysler announced in October that it will split its Dodge lineup into two separate brands: The Dodge RAM division and the Dodge Car division, each with its own president and CEO. The automaker also shuffled its top executives.
Chrysler veteran Frank Diaz Jr. is acting president and CEO of the Dodge RAM brand (which Chrysler is capitalizing), while noted designer Ralph Gilles now leads the Dodge Car brand. The Chrysler division will remain, headed up now by Olivier Francois, the current head of Fiat’s Lancia unit. Francois will remain in charge of both Lancia and Chrysler, as the lead marketing executive for the automaker. Jeep remains under the control of Michael Manley, although he is now also responsible for distribution of the Michigan automaker’s products outside of North America.
Two Chrysler executives left the company in the brand shakeup: Peter Fong, the former head of Chrysler division, and Michael Accavitti, the former head of Dodge division.
Diaz Jr. has been with Chrysler since 1989. He will be responsible for the profitability of the Dodge RAM brand, which is expected to spawn more products than just the current Ram light duty and heavy duty pickups. It’s expected that the vehicles will continue to be sold in Dodge dealers, although the marketing and branding efforts will be entirely separate from cars.
Gilles, whose best-known designs include the successful Chrysler 300 and the high-quality Dodge Ram interior, will be in charge of expanding the Dodge lineup. Dodge will most likely take a more performance-oriented direction in the future, but Chrysler’s Fiat parents will certainly hope that Gilles will up the design quality of Dodge’s products.
Fiat executive Francois is the only true Detroit outsider in the lineup. He has been with Fiat since 2005 where he has worked on the expanding, but still niche, Lancia brand. It’s unclear if future Chrysler and Lancia products will share anything beyond a leader. The pairing does make some sense, though, as their target demographics of style-conscious consumers are remarkably similar. Neither brand has had significant success in meeting that target, however.
Manley’s new duties include managing how Chrysler’s products will be distributed overseas by Fiat. Since Jeep is unquestionably the best-known Chrysler unit overseas, his appointment to the position is logical. Jeep is expected to move more upmarket in North America beginning with the introduction of the 2011 Grand Cherokee next summer.
Note that the new signage also features Chrysler’s updated logo.
