Interview with Dodge's new president

I am on my way to Gingerman raceway to drive the new Viper ACR-X. I know, tough job, but someone has to do it.

Anyway, I am also going to interview Ralph Gilles, new president of Dodge and interestingly enough, an avid reader of GRM and a long time racer.

Anything you want to know? Please keep it real, fairly nice, and I already was trying to figure out how to ask him... Caliber WTF?

They can make good looking cars(for the most part) and can go from concept to production quickly....why can't they make good interiors and when are they going to make quality a priority? BTW, I'm available if you need help or a second opinion.

Tim, I have a question or two for Mr. Gilles:

As you are looking into growing market share and attempting to determine a product line for the future do you consider the possible motorsport capabilities in the platform you are selecting?

Does the opinion of the motorsport enthusiast have any weight in your advertising and product planning?

With the product life of the Viper running to an end what is the chance that a proper lightweight rear wheel drive 4 or 6 cylinder (possibly turbocharged) roadster could make it into production? Possibly the rebirth of the Fiat 124?

And, Tim, if you need any muscle I am right down the road ;)

I would like to know what changes are in store for the Dodge lineup. I know the 500 is coming, but what else is in the works?

I'd love to see something interesting in the midsize range. What I think they are missing is something equivalent in size to the '80's Daytona or Lebaron coupe. Or for more modern competition something the size of a BMW 1 Series, or maybe the Kia Koup. Something that is sporty on a midsize-ish platform. Something that can share a platform with higher volume sedans and maybe a wagon. Something available with a real manual transmission, and not just on the base motor.

I don't see Dodge making it with a fleet of soulless offerings. There are already plenty of 4 wheeled appliances out there. I don't know anybody that gets excited over buying a new toaster or microwave. Same for an Avenger or Caliber.

-Rob

I have never owned a Dodge product in my life, but I wish Mr. Gilles well. He obviously can design a good looking car with a lot of mass appeal. He also seems to be a true car guy through and through. If I could interview him I'd like to ask him about why is it so rare to have a "car guy" in charge of building cars? What are all the other executives passionate about? Any plans to make something small, light, cheap, and fun?

When is speed density going to finally die?

Comparably, the other manufacturers get better power, mileage, and emissions with an engine management package not stuck in the late 80's early 90's.

Brian

As a real car guy yourself, do see Dodge making (or offering) cars for driving enthusiasts? Not "car" enthusiasts... they may be served by the current Charger/Viper/Cuda type offerings. I'm talking more about a driver's car with the kind of dynamics that made cars like the Miata, S2000 and M3 icons.

Ask him two things:

Is he going to get another Alfa any time soon, and if he's still going to have time to host his track event at Waterford Hills...

really- I would love to hear his opinion on how to ballance the very, very small enthusiest market with the realistic, and HUGE, appliance market. It's not like Chrysler is going to be able to sell their cars at BMW prices any time soon.

And say "hi" for me- Ralph is a great guy, and one would never know he's a VP of anything by the way he is around other car people.

Ranger50 wrote: When is speed density going to finally die? Comparably, the other manufacturers get better power, mileage, and emissions with an engine management package not stuck in the late 80's early 90's. Brian

(it's coming back. - far from "dated" technology- and it works darned well. just thought you should know that, and I bet Ralph would not have much knowledge on that, since he's a design guy, and not a controls/calibration guy)

I had a grand tour of the auto show with Road an Track's Shaun Bailey (I am a fixed income specialist with Citi and was there with our research team). Not only is Mr. Gilles a car guy and designer par excellence. He has struck up a solid relationship with Mr. Marchionne at FIAT. Apparently Mr. Gilles has a direct line to Mr, Marchionne and is receiving full support to turn Ma Mopar around.

alfadriver wrote:

Ranger50 wrote: When is speed density going to finally die? Comparably, the other manufacturers get better power, mileage, and emissions with an engine management package not stuck in the late 80's early 90's. Brian

(it's coming back. - far from "dated" technology- and it works darned well. just thought you should know that, and I bet Ralph would not have much knowledge on that, since he's a design guy, and not a controls/calibration guy)

Whew! Glad to hear that since I just chose to go with it on the race car megasquirt for simplicity sake

TJ wrote: Any plans to make something small, light, cheap, and fun?

this!!

alfadriver wrote:

Ranger50 wrote: When is speed density going to finally die? Comparably, the other manufacturers get better power, mileage, and emissions with an engine management package not stuck in the late 80's early 90's. Brian

(it's coming back. - far from "dated" technology- and it works darned well. just thought you should know that, and I bet Ralph would not have much knowledge on that, since he's a design guy, and not a controls/calibration guy)

[sarcasm]That's just phuckin awesome.[/sarcasm]

I've compared the Avenger/Sebring to a Fusion/Impala/Mailbu and the F/I/M beats them hands down. They are all appliances, but the F/I/M are a much better overall packaged appliance. As a service tech for DCX, all I ever heard was how horrible the power and mileage is/was to comparable vehicles. Styling was on par with the rest of the manufacturers, IE- BORING, but the three items I listed killed a lot of sales in our dealership, we also sold GM. Case in point, I know it has DoD/AFM, but my MIL's 08 Impala with the 3.9, gets 26-27 hwy mpg, an Avenger is smaller and with the 3.5 can barely eek out 23-24. Another example is why can't a freaking PT Cruiser break 30mpg?

I can see SD being used in low dollar vehicles along with "all out" race vehicles, but everything else too?

Ask about his back yard go-kart track!

I applaud Chrysler Corp. for being innovative and their stylists succeed in making cars that are generally a lot less boring than the competition.

In my opinion, the thing they most need to fix is quality/reliability. When virtually every car in your lineup is described by Consumer Reports as being "among the worst we've ever tested" then you might reasonably assume that you have a quality issue. Either make a product that's bulletproof for at least five years or extend your bumper-to-bumper warranty coverage to five years.

Kia_racer wrote:

TJ wrote: Any plans to make something small, light, cheap, and fun?

this!!

Oh, like the Razor concept

Ask him to please save the Viper.

Cotton wrote: Ask him to please save the Viper.

Then TELL him to not release any info on the Gen V until the IV are all sold.

alfadriver wrote: (it's coming back. - far from "dated" technology- and it works darned well. just thought you should know that, and I bet Ralph would not have much knowledge on that, since he's a design guy, and not a controls/calibration guy)

+1. My network of industrial spies in Detroit tell me that the Fiat MultiAir system is like the second coming of VTEC. This time, with torque and turbochargers. It will be in the Fiat 500 first, but a Dodge/Chrysler branded 2.4 is supposed to be following shortly behind.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, but I'm optimistic.

[edit] It turns out, the pudding contains no proof until you eat it. [/edit]

Ranger50 wrote:

alfadriver wrote:

Ranger50 wrote: When is speed density going to finally die? Comparably, the other manufacturers get better power, mileage, and emissions with an engine management package not stuck in the late 80's early 90's. Brian

(it's coming back. - far from "dated" technology- and it works darned well. just thought you should know that, and I bet Ralph would not have much knowledge on that, since he's a design guy, and not a controls/calibration guy)

[sarcasm]That's just phuckin awesome.[/sarcasm] I've compared the Avenger/Sebring to a Fusion/Impala/Mailbu and the F/I/M beats them hands down. They are all appliances, but the F/I/M are a much better overall packaged appliance. As a service tech for DCX, all I ever heard was how horrible the power and mileage is/was to comparable vehicles. Styling was on par with the rest of the manufacturers, IE- BORING, but the three items I listed killed a lot of sales in our dealership, we also sold GM. Case in point, I know it has DoD/AFM, but my MIL's 08 Impala with the 3.9, gets 26-27 hwy mpg, an Avenger is smaller and with the 3.5 can barely eek out 23-24. Another example is why can't a freaking PT Cruiser break 30mpg? I can see SD being used in low dollar vehicles along with "all out" race vehicles, but everything else too?

Don't blame the fuel mileage on SD vs. MAF. HOW it's implemented and tuned is the key, as well as the platform it's in. My Protege uses MAF, and has less power and uses 30% more fuel than my (SD) Neon did.

I'm not sure how long you've been here, but Alfadriver is "the Man" when it comes to engine calibration and I "believe" he played a crucial role in tuning the Fusion you speak of. He knows of what he speaks.

I just want to know how the Alfa connection will help them and us. What's really coming over that we can buy?

Chrysler sales up 30% in May due to incentives.

Ranger50 wrote: I can see SD being used in low dollar vehicles along with "all out" race vehicles, but everything else too?

I didn't work on the Fusion, but the EcoBoost SHO, MKT, MKS, and Flex. And those all use Speed/Density. It may be low buck, but it's not low tech- we are able to run twin-independant VCT with speed density- as long as the core calibration is good- there are no obvious issues with it.

Thanks to some peculiarities with boosted engines, they tend not to like MAF based systems. That, and one major control variable is pressure, so why not use it for other reasons- saves a bunch of money.

And njansenv is right- it's not S/D that's the problem, it's the enigne.

Back to Ralph- it will be interesting to find out how they plan on integrating powertrain technologies between Fiat and Chrysler/Alfa/Lancia. Multi-air is pretty cool, but also very expensive, so they have to get a lot of bang for the buck to really make it work (which it appears they are).

The #1 problem with Chrysler is quality and precieved quality. #2 is what kind of cars they have to build to drag customers back AND away from others. What path (roughly) will they take to re-become a volmume manufacturer, if they even plan on selling +5M cars a year (not Ram, but Chrysler).

E-

Ask Ralph if the cars are going to get smaller. The Challenger (for example) is a cool car, but it's HUGE. Everything is. Forget the Viper, bring something like that little stillborn sports car to market.

He is a cool guy, no question. And he thinks the Miata is tiny

Keith wrote: Ask Ralph if the cars are going to get smaller. The Challenger (for example) is a cool car, but it's HUGE. Everything is. Forget the Viper, bring something like that little stillborn sports car to market. He is a cool guy, no question. BUT he thinks the Miata is tiny

I modified Keiths statement to point out that while the Miata IS a small car it is closer to the size of car that will save the (1) Planet (2) Economy (3) Company (pick whichever one you like)

Manufacturers are getting into the bigger is better kick now that they figured out how to build a 30mpg 300hp V6 Mustang, let's get that engine into a Miata and see a 40mpg 300hp OE hotrod!