One of the least remarked upon of low-dough petroleum's surprise casualties actually might have been a forseeable one -- that is what it has done to FCA, maker of Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Ram, and Jeep vehicles. Sure, you can blame high recall expense and natural disaster, and FCA does, but in 2015, the best sales year in American history, the company just managed to turn a profit.
Incorporated in the U.K. and headquartered in the Netherlands, the carmaker with the glorious Italo-American heritage was born at a time when expensive gasoline and worldwide recession seriously curbed North America's appetite for thirsty pickups and SUVs.
Those were freestanding Chrysler's only reliable profit centers, and when sales went away, it drove the firm into bankruptcy while making Fiat's slender but worthy portfolio of small-car technologies suddenly appear relevant. What a difference a few years can make. |
