Posted by MoparNorm on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 21:21:55 :
From Allpar:
The Wall Street Journal online edition reports Chrysler is considering completely reorganizing its brands in a move that management hopes will hasten the company’s return to profitability.
According to three dealers familiar with the proposal, all passenger cars would be badged as Chryslers and sold only through Chrysler dealers. Dodge would become a purely truck brand with its dealers selling pickups and commercial vehicles and Jeep dealers would sell Jeeps and sport-utility vehicles. This would have the benefit of allowing Chrysler to trim its product line and eliminate overlap.
The changes being discussed would also allow Chrysler to drop as many as a thousand underperforming dealerships that are carrying excess inventory and relying on profit-sapping incentives for sales.
One of the dealers, who declined to be identified, said, "This is just one of the plans they are studying. At the end of this year, they hope to have a plan for the future."
Reported by Bill Cawthon.
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