Posted on 07/25/2018 4:00:52 AM PDT by Carriage Hill
Auto legend Sergio Marchionne, the charismatic executive who turned Fiat and Chrysler around before combining the companies as a profitable business, died Wednesday. He was 66. "Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass. Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone," John Elkann, a member of Fiat's founding Agnelli family, said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
His spaghetti westerns were good too.
Wait, that was another Sergio.
RIP.
In the interview video at the link, he talks about building cars that people like, and to make a profit doing that.
As far as Fiat is concerned, they clearly forgot about “cars that work”.
He died at the same age my mom did. Much too young.
RIP.
RIP
I have a 2018 Cherokee Trailhawk. When the new design was introduced in 2014, I sneered. It was the first Jeep designed after Fiat’s acquisition and was not popular with Jeep purists, myself included. It’s grown on me, and as my bones grow older, I appreciate a slightly less traditional “Jeep Ride.”
Well done Sergio. RIP.
Fiats were a disaster here, but in Europe they like the punishment. Heh.
Fix it again, Tony!
707hp?
I have the large V6 in a new 2017 Grand Cherokee, and that’s enough for me. Doesn’t the Trailhawk let you select suspension settings? Mine does.
The Trackhawk has 707 hp...and gets about 8 mpg. It’s built on the Grand Cherokee and has a more conventional Jeep look. The Cherokee has more of an edgy shark look to it. Yes, the Trailhawk has an adjustable drive train with modes for auto, sport, snow, sand/mud and rock which all differentiate how torque gets distributed and how individual wheel respond to loss of traction. It also has a 4-low range and rear axle lockers and a 1” lift over the other Cherokee models and skid plates underneath. It has been a lot of fun so far, and in that regard, really captures the Jeep spirit.
Did you pay the $85-100k window sticker price, or was it a used unit?
RIP, Sergio.
No, that’s the sticker for the Trackhawk. I have the Cherokee Trailhawk, which is less than half that, and I paid under sticker with veteran and customer loyalty discounts (I’ve had Jeeps for decades).
“I’ve had Jeeps for decades”
Me too; since my first 1987 Grand Cherokee LTD in black & gold.
Trackhawk, Trailhawk.
Model naming error in same model line-up.
Have a Renegade Trailhawk. Got the previous year’s model brand new at a huge discount (someone else got the depreciation haircut). Perhaps $8k under sticker.
Absolutely love it. We have extended family out on rural, gravel roads. Great way to get there.
Interesting bit of trivia: yes, the Renegade is made in Italy. FCA had a plant sitting there with excess capacity. But to get the cost numbers to work... FCA had to move engine manufacture to the US. In the process, more jobs were created in the US to make the engines than might have been lost in the assembly part.
I loved the Fiats I owned in Italy...500/600/128.
But then...there was a Fiat mechanic on every corner.
RIP, sir.
Fiat mechanics were the key to that brand surviving, and with most of the leaving the mediocre-paying dealerships, or dying of old age, the younger guys couldn’t get cams/valves/shims right. You either fixed it yourself, or “bricked it” out in a field, and got something the corner shade tree mechanic could repair.
I rolled my brand new Fiat 128SL Sport Coupe down a hill while stationed in Italy. Too much vino and a dusty sharp curve. Crushed the roof in. The local mechanics put it back together...made it look brand new. Took them 3 months. It wasn’t until I shipped it back to the States that all the Bondo on the roof started cracking. Still...it was a good car.
I almost bought a 128 Spyder, but went with 3 TR6s back in the 70s, and glad I did. A neighbor couldn’t get his engine/tranny problem fixed at their so-called “dealerships”, and just bricked it on his property, covered with a tarp. Some guys bought it just before I moved to PA, in 1990, and got it repaired and running.
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