'Alpha' ends, 'Genesis' begins

Chrysler has cancelled the 'Project Alpha' strategy which was the company's first attempt to develop the business into a leaner, more profitable cost centre.

Replacing 'Alpha', 'Project Genesis' has been described by Chrysler executives as "Project Alpha on steroids", according to well regarded US industry publication, Automotive News.

From what the report in Automotive News indicates, Chrysler has launched Genesis as a platform to reduce autonomous models across the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands, allowing more dealers throughout the country to sell all three brands under the same roof. At present, many Chrysler dealers specialise in Dodge, Jeep or Chrysler in isolation.

Chrysler's parent company, Cerberus Capital Management, has offered finance to Chrysler dealers prepared to undertake the changes necessary for the dealer network to be much leaner and more profitable.

Under the Genesis plan, urban dealers will likely bear the brunt of this consolidation and stronger dealerships may swallow up the minnows or merge their various franchises.

Less obvious to the casual observer, Genesis will streamline vehicle development and production to reduce costs. That also means fewer badge-engineered vehicles (such as the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger) across the three ranges.

The danger lies in the possibility that two existing badge-engineered vehicles could be redeveloped independently of each other -- at extra cost -- to separate them within the market, one example of this being the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango (both pictured), which between them sell 40,000 units a year.

"We sell about 40,000 Aspens and Durangos a year, combined", said Chrysler co-President Jim Press (more here). Taking the view that one of those vehicles alone should be capable of selling 40,000 units per annum, Press suggested that the Aspen could migrate to a monocoque cross-over SUV, while the Durango remains a full-chassis SUV, to separate the two models.

That is not outside the focus of the plan, which also commits Chrysler to develop new models for market segments in which the company doesn't currently compete.

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