THEY SAY INTERVIEW Steve Beahm, FCA North America Head of Dodge, SRT, Chrysler, and Fiat

They Say...

Steve Beahm FCA NORTH AMERICA HEAD OF DODGE, SRT, CHRYSLER, AND FIAT

Steve Beahm took over as head of FCA passenger car brands for North America in February, responsible for selling and marketing once-majestic brands now struggling for relevance in an SUV-happy market. In 32 years with FCA, the Washington native has done fieldwork and supply chain management, and he led Maserati North America. He started racing at 16 in a ’69 Road Runner and still follows the sport, so when FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne asked him to take this job, “it was a quick ‘yes.’”

Interview

FCA’s five-year plan centers on volume brands. What is the role of the brands you

oversee? Passenger car brands represent 20 percent of NAFTA revenue. Dodge is the biggest brand by volume and revenue. Dodge’s role is to be prominent as America’s sports car brand.

The Charger and Challenger stay on the same platform; do you just keep updating it?

There’s a lot to be said for keeping a similar platform, knowing how to make it better. The architecture might be off the same platform, we might make some enhancements, but everything else will be relatively new.

With the Challenger, have Hellcat and

Demon been a boost to visibility? It has been. The Challenger started as a 2008, then Hellcat in 2015; Demon came out as a 2018 model. And we’ve got some other stuff coming down the road. (See page 18.)

Is there room to further expand the

Hellcat family? We’re always challenging our engineers. We’re always challenging our people on the marketing side to come up with what the people want. Our job is to listen to [our customers], and when we can go down some paths they want us to, if it’s good for our brand, we’ll do it. That’s a lot of what’s happened with Hellcat, Demon, and then the Redeye. A lot of the Demons are in storage rooms, a few of them are on the track. I want to see some Redeyes out on the road.

We’re always challenging our engineers and marketing to come up with what people want. That’s one thing Dodge has done well.Ó

What do you think of putting the Hellcat

engine into a pickup? The Ram guys think that’s a good fit. We’re good with that.

There were reports of the Viper coming back.

As Mr. Marchionne indicated, the Viper is not in the [next five-year] plan.

The Viper plant no longer exists. It does not. It is being modified for meetings, a conference center, and a way to display some of our cars.

Does SRT remain as a brand? It is important to Dodge. SRT has to be the organization that pushes us on the edge of performance. It’s that fine line of putting it on the track and driving it on the street. The engineering team provides that performance level that, in a lot of cases, can’t be matched by our competitors.

Durango SRT fits the brand? Absolutely. It has an SRT version, so don’t underestimate Durango. The Journey may be a little different.

How do the Journey, Caravan, and Durango

fit in Dodge? They have a role through the ’19 model year. But being America’s performance brand, long term, [some of those vehicles] may not fit.

When does the Grand Caravan go away?

We haven’t announced the end of production. It’s going to be through the 2019 model year, like the Journey, at this point.

Was the Magnum ahead of its time? We had a couple trendsetters: the original Pacifica and the Magnum. We’ve actually looked at it, but at this stage we’re not headed down that path.

Is Chrysler the minivan brand? I view it as people movers. The Pacifica is the anchor, good for us to build upon. We’re looking for other opportunities. It’s my job to find ways for that brand to grow.

A Pacifica-based crossover was delayed. Is it

still in the plan? It’s not in the future plans Mr. Marchionne spoke about, so I can’t give more details.

Do you stop making the Chrysler 300 but

keep Dodge large cars? The 300 goes through the ’19 model year. If you step back and say, ‘Does it fit people movers?’ it does from the sedan standpoint, but not from a utility.

Can Chrysler survive with just a minivan?

It’s my job to look for opportunities—in a profitable way—to build on the Pacifica. Waymo agreed to buy 62,000 [Pacifica hybrids for their autonomous vehicle fleet]. I want to build on that and add Chrysler products.

Is Fiat’s product line streamlined for North

America? The product plan is driven from EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa). Our job is to identify what models work for the U.S. and NAFTA. We’ll take products they build in Europe, homologate them, and they’ll be electric with a high percent of them hybrids.