Under the sweater this time there is a tie. Sergio Marchionne, shirt collar unbuttoned, thus fulfilling the promise made at the beginning of the year to wear a tie to cancel the debt. “Today you see me with my tie neatly knotted because I predict that at the end of June we will have a positive net financial position”, he began, adding that “there remains work to be done this month to get to that point, but we are confident that we will be able to achieve the goal”.
And so the CEO can allow himself to speak under a photo and quote from Oscar Wilde: "A well-done tie knot is the first serious step in life". A joking but serious way of signaling that, after the long battle to get out of debt (since his arrival in 2004 "when we rescued Fiat from bankruptcy") "the structural weakness that has weighed heavily on us for too many years" has finally been removed. Now, however, "we will be able to focus on the financial structure and the targets we have set for the group until 2022. And you will see that they are ambitious".
That's how it startedFiat Chrysler Investor Day, opportunity to draw the future rather than a balance sheet of the past. Without allowing digressions of various kinds, not even political ones. “It's a step forward” the CEO simply says when asked for a comment on the government. “We have always been pro-government: you choose and we adapt”.
If anything, the manager allows himself only a revenge on his rivals: "At the beginning of 2015 - he recalls referring to his diagnosis on the need for consolidation - I expressed my point of view on the efficiency of capital in the sector and on the capacity for change, in the light of a historic series of decidedly unacceptable value distribution and returns on invested capital. Ironically, FCA's shareholder value has nearly doubled since then, excluding the increase in value at Ferrari, while the shareholder return of ten of our key industry competitors has been negative on average (6 %)", he observed, adding, however, that he did not want to "start new speculation on a possible consolidation", even if "the thesis back then is even more valid today, given the increase in costs for the adjustments required at a technological level and regulatory".
In short, the economic, technological and cultural disruption ("the world perceives our sector as the most serious threat of pollution") is destined to mark, already in the short term, the future of the sector, forced to think in terms of consolidation. A season that FCA is preparing to face in the most appropriate way, as evidenced by the strengthening of the axis with Waymo, the Google company for autonomous driving or Maserati's challenge in the luxury electric car.
“You can ask us if we mean challenge Tesla – explains Timothy Kuminski, who has been at the helm of the Trident as well as Alfa since last February – The answer is affirmative”. Also thanks to a luxury partner because the cars will be developed with the partner Ferrari. Also thanks to these news Maserati aims at 100 cars sold in 2022. "Our goal - concludes Marchionne's presentation - is to move towards the future together with leading partners in the various fields".
The strategy that the manager hands over to the group before handing over the baton of command to a successor starts from this premise. Perhaps Mike Manley, the first to take the stage after the leader. The protagonist of the Jeep boom, which in recent years has gone from a US-only brand to a brand of absolute global value, capable of selling over 1,9 million cars this year. A springboard rather than a goal: the group, which it will phase out of diesel by 2022, meanwhile plans to launch nine new products with a strong commitment to the electric, which will result in a margin reduction (“a price we are ready to pay”). By 2022, all Jeep models will be electrified in some way. By that date, one out of 12 SUVs sold worldwide will have a Jeep brand, but if you look further, the ambition is to go up to one in five, explains Manley seriously, before going on to illustrate the possible goals of Ram, the beast presented with a reference to Jurassic Park which aims to rise to second position on the commercial vehicle market in the NAFTA area.
In short, the show started with a tasty appetizer. The big pots will come in the afternoon, when Wall Street has opened its doors.
