From a recent article on Chrysler’s new marketing efforts: “Meyer also announced that Chrysler will inaugurate a “customer advisory board” that will give customers a “direct line into the company” and “a voice in decisions for upcoming product decisions.”

This is definitely a departure from the traditional automaker’s process where a high profile “car guy” executive (Press, Lutz, and Bernhard) influences decisions over new products. The need for a car czar has been a long debated issue. Does the car czar hold too much power, allowing for reckless decision based on their convictions? Or do the automakers need the figureheads in order to push the company into a future direction and design that is not obvious to the marketing and product development folks?

On the other side of the argument, the czar may avoid all the data such as focus groups feedback and customer surveys and push through a product which ultimately flops in the showroom. Such bad decisions can cost the automakers billions of dollars in product development, manufacturing and advertising costs. All based on a “gut feeling” on a new design.

So who would you ultimately trust in the final decision on your next Chrysler vehicle: Jim Press or a dozen diehard Mopar fans?

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, People of Chrysler. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.