Date of the interview: March, 26 2013

Professional Profile: Pietro Gorlier was born in Turin (Italy), he joined the Fiat Group in 1989 as a market analyst in Iveco helding various positions in logistics, in the After Sales and Customer Care, before joining Fiat Group Automobiles in 2006.
After the experience in FGA and in CNH Global N.V., he joined Chrysler Group. He is President and CEO of MOPAR® since 2009 and , from its establishment on Sep. 1, 2011, he is member of the Group Executive Council (GEC). The GEC is the highest executive decision-making body within the Company outside of its Board of Directors.

In the next years we will see a close fight on everything concerning care, attention and customization of the car; this competitive scenario will generate significant margins, much more than the ‘metal’ alone.
In this perspective, it is strategic the position that Mopar® is taking on within Fiat Group Automobiles and Chrysler Group’s activities. Read more »

Emotion © Joe Shlabotnik

I belong to a relatively new generation, too much committed to principles and values typical of the previous generation and I consider myself quite prone to decode the behavior of the next generation. Read more »

As well as fishing in Italy is miserably in bankruptcy due to a wrong management of the sea – which allowed exploitation of resources beyond the limit – so now someone would like to follow the same exploitation of the “vast automotive’s sea” by continuing to preserve entire species of fishermen thanks to artifices such as bonus, contributions and Government incentives. Read more »

With trumpets and drums Mr. Rob Kurnick announces the landing of the Penske Group into the land of Fiat: “In Italy the economy is recovering and there are opportunities to grab!”

A few days ago the associations of Dealers and Manufacturers – Federauto and Unrae – had spoken a “bit differently” regarding the dramatic situation of all those spitting blood in the italian automotive: fearing the loss of 15,000 jobs in dealerships and 200,000 in the entire segment. Read more »

 Interview Date: March, 14th 2012.

Professional Profile: Marco Saltalamacchia

Remarks: Interview carried by  Pietro Montagna

I have asked Mr. Marco SALTALAMACCHIA (former Senior Vice President of BMW Sales & CEO of BMW Italy SpA) some thoughts about the future of our sector.
Good Morning Mr. Saltalamacchia, the current crisis of the European Automotive Market triggered a huge brainstorming of ideas and possible solutions. From your experience do you think it would be feasible to think about a distribution without dealers? Do you foresee a direct web selling, or either un-experimented channels? Read more »

The new Mercedes-Benz platform – CarTogether – which promotes car sharing to reduce emissions and traffic, promised to be a revolution.

What we lacked was that the German firm – rather than promoting his products or the image of the brand – it is more precisely using the image of the revolutionary par excellence: ’Che’ Guevara, with the M-B symbol on his beret, instead of the Red Star! Read more »

Emperor Constantine © by Photohunny

The way the OEM’s operate their franchises leaves a lot to debate about. Having worked for both OEM’s and retail outlets, I have formed some strong opinions about how the OEM’s are conducting themselves of late.
The relationship between the two used to be relatively simple: the manufacture designed and built cars and the retailer sold and serviced them. Read more »

As reported by Automotive News, Jim Peruto, a dealer in Pennsylvania, is considering – reluctantly – the purchase of a new building for his dealership. This new facility will replace the existing store that cost $20 million to build just six years ago. “Mercedes-Benz told me it was their most beautiful dealership in the world before they told me that I didn’t conform”. Read more »

Astronomía: Observación solar con telescopio © by campuspartymexico

Still have doubts? All there to see … what will happen?

Actually it is difficult, if not impossible, to understand a so complex subject in almost absolute absence of  “information”! Nothing to do, as we all remember, with “brass bands” and the media overexposure that …, accompanied the EU statement of Mario Monti before, during and after its arrival. Read more »