Manley's FCA leadership team gains some outside perspective

DETROIT — Sergio Marchionne's management team at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was a jumble of executives from the two automakers he mashed together, many with crisscrossing responsibilities and multiple job titles.

Since succeeding Marchionne as CEO last summer, Mike Manley has largely untangled FCA's organizational chart, delegated critical duties and given its leadership council several calculated infusions of new blood, inviting fresh perspectives from veterans of rival automakers and even Amazon.

Former Infiniti chief Christian Meunier became the latest outsider to join Manley's crew last week, taking over as global president of Jeep at a time when the SUV brand is intent on growing its presence overseas. Meunier brings a seasoned global view of the industry from stints at Ford Motor Co., Land Rover and Nissan Motor Co.

He arrived five months after Mark Stewart, a veteran of Amazon and the maker of the Snapchat app, became COO of FCA's North America region, a job that Manley took shortly before Marchionne died last summer.

While Meunier and Stewart settle in, FCA has to fill another prominent opening after the retirement of Steve Beahm, the North American head of Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat and Mopar.

Manley has made plenty of in-house promotions, including bigger jobs for Tim Kuniskis and Reid Bigland in recent months, but he also has shown a desire to shake things up by placing outsiders in key roles. And his ability to woo successful executives from elsewhere is a testament to how far FCA has come in the decade since its bankruptcy filing.

"I see the value of outside perspective for FCA, as for other companies being in an industry which is at an inflection point fueled by an autonomous, connected, electric future," Bernardo Bertoldi, a professor at the University of Turin who wrote a case study about FCA's management structure, said in an email. "FCA is now clearly able to attract talents who are willing to work for a strong company in an industry which is back, vibrant and interesting."

After Marchionne's death in July, Bertoldi expected Manley to put his own leadership team in place, but one that would represent an evolution of Marchionne's operation rather than a reset.

"In the long run, the culture is more important than the strategy, and the leadership group must be modeled to business requirements," Bertoldi said last week. "I think that the 'culture of the house' will be the key element for the performance of FCA."

Stephanie Brinley, principal automotive analyst for IHS Markit, said promoting executives only from within can lead to blind spots. Going outside the ranks to augment the leadership team with other viewpoints can help balance the talent developed from within, she said, but something FCA had done rarely during Marchionne's tenure.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that what they have been doing is wrong," Brinley said. "If you think about continuous improvement, and if you think about how things can always get better, sometimes one way to help that happen is getting an outside voice."

Dealers say Meunier's global experience should be an asset as Jeep, an American staple, looks to boost its performance abroad — particularly in China. Meunier was with Nissan Motor Co. since 2002, revamping the Nissan Division's marketing structure and giving its U.S. regional sales operations more decision-making authority before moving over to Infiniti, but he had been in the luxury brand's top job only since January.

Wes Lutz, who owns Extreme Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Jackson, Mich., said Meunier was an "interesting choice" to run Jeep.

"I think that the international experience is going to bode well for that position," Lutz said. "As a corporation, we need to get that brand viable and selling well all over the world."

China will be a challenge for Meunier. Jeep is FCA's leading brand in the world's largest vehicle market but, like many competitors there, it's facing increased pressure.

FCA's sales last year in China declined 28 percent to 209,000 vehicles while revenue slid 17 percent to $3 billion.

Michael Dunne, CEO of ZoZo Go, a consulting firm that advises American companies on China, said Jeep is struggling in that country because of branding and its decision to pursue the mainstream market instead of the luxury segment, which has been more robust and stable.

FCA began China production of the Jeep Cherokee in October 2015, followed shortly after by the Jeep Renegade. More recently, it added production of the Jeep Compass and China-specific Jeep Commander/Grand Commander while continuing to import the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Dunne says a smarter play would have been to lead with the Grand Cherokee, which is considered a luxury vehicle, and go downmarket rather than up. Jeep also is behind regarding development and deployment of all-electric vehicles, which China has made a priority for automakers in the country.

"China is a challenging space," Brinley said, "and it's interesting because Jeep has been there for a long time. One of the challenges that automakers are facing in China is that as the market matures and that buyer matures, you have to start to understand that buyer a little more carefully."

Michael Wayland contributed to this report.