Marchionne counting on Ferrari designer to give Chrysler, Lancia some common style

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

Imagine what would happen if a Ferrari designer blessed Chrysler models with some style? Well, that’s exactly what’s going on right now as we type this. Fiat SpA, which now owns a controlling stake in Chrysler Group LLC is counting on Lorenzo Ramaciotti, the designer of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, to make Chrysler models appear at home in Detroit and Milan.

63-year old Ramaciotti has a goal to create a common styling for Chrysler and its Italian sibling Lancia in a bid to save/cut costs and double sales of each brand by 2014.

“We are trying to find an international language, which could have a place both here in Italy and in the U.S.,” Ramaciotti, who heads design at Fiat and Chrysler, told Bloomberg in an interview. “If you put all the models into the showroom, they must fit together. It’s a delicate problem.”

Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne combined Chrysler and Lancia to put together a strong global team. Marchionne is aiming to increase sales of the group to 5.9 million vehicles by 2014.

Target deliveries for Chrysler and Lancia are planned to hit 800,000 in three years, up from the current 300,000 right now.

We wish Ramaciotti all the luck.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Bloomberg