A version of this story first appeared in the August 2018 print edition of Automotive News Canada.
Canada’s Fiat Chrysler dealers have a simple message for FCA’s new CEO Mike Manley: Just keep doing what Sergio did.
Although Canadian dealers say they can’t get enough hot-selling Ram trucks, that doesn’t change a broad level of satisfaction with the way the late Sergio Marchionne dealt with the network of dealers across the country.
“Manley has been with him there forever,” said Jim McManes, owner of McManes Automotive in Calgary. “He’s solid.”
Reg Nimeck, co-owner of Raceway Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep near Toronto’s Pearson Airport and FCA dealerships in Oakville, said he expected Manley to continue with FCA’s latest five-year plan, although “Mike will make it his own.”
Manley’s warm welcome from dealers might not come as a surprise since he built his career on the company’s retail and marketing side. He spent 14 years working in car dealerships before taking over the former Daimler-Chrysler’s U.K. dealer network in 2000. Manley was appointed president and CEO of Jeep at post-bankruptcy Chrysler Group in June 2009 and, in 2015, Ram was added to his portfolio.
NOT ENOUGH RAM VEHICLES