off eight new products by 2018<\/a>. Oh, is that all?<\/p>\nFiat Chrysler has put this formidable task on the broad shoulders of Reid Bigland, 48, a straight-shooting Canuck with a physique right out of a Mr. Universe contest. At a June 4C introduction, I half expected him to come out with one under each arm. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to mess with this guy,\u201d laughs Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne about Bigland.<\/p>\n
Bigland\u2019s swift rise at FCA \u2013 since 2006 he\u2019s run Dodge, RAM trucks, and now juggles Alfa, North America sales and CEO of FCA Canada \u2014 has landed him on the short list of names to succeed Marchionne. I sat down with the ex-hockey player to talk Alfas, muscle cars, and Powerhouse Gym.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0You cut one of the most recognizable profiles in this business. You were an athlete?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0I grew up in Canada. I played a lot of junior hockey. I was lacking one necessary ingredient to play pro which was talent. Today I just try to keep fit by going to the gym.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0What gyms do you use in Detroit?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0Lifetime Fitness in Auburn Hills and . . . Powerhouse Gym in Detroit. That\u2019s one of the old bodybuilder gyms left in this country and I usually hit that on the way to Canada.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0What was your first car?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0A 1979 Chevy Impala. I thought I was stylin\u2019. It was up in the Toronto area . . . and the floorboards started to rust out and you could see the pavement.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Do Canadians covet Detroit muscle cars?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0Absolutely. Growing up I had a soft spot for Corvettes. I\u2019m very excited about our Hellcat with 707 horsepower. The question is who wants to drive a 707-horsepower car? Well, me.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0What\u2019s in your garage?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler, and a Dodge Charger Hellcat.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0What excites you about FCA?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0It\u2019s an honor to be working for Sergio Marchionne. I\u2019ve learned a lot working for him the last six years. I\u2019m a competitive guy \u2013 I like to compete in all things \u2013 and in the United States marketplace we\u2019ve had 62 consecutive months of sales growth which is a significant source of pride, and in Canada . . . we\u2019re the #1 selling vehicle manufacturer in the country. If I were to tell you that back in 2009 \u2014 which I did \u2014 you would have put me in a rubber room.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Why the 4C to launch Alfa?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0The 4C represents what all of the great Alfas represented in the past and what all of the Alfas going forward will represent from a technological, style, and performance perspective. The car is truly unique: Carbon fiber chassis, aluminum sub-frame, mid-engine setup. There are only five other cars in the world like it \u2013 and most are north of a million dollars.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0The 4C comes out of FCA\u2019s sports car toolbox. But Alfa has been a small, economy car brand in Europe. How do you make Alfa a global luxury brand?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0Alfa has been a lot of things over its 105 years. Some of the greats have been performance cars with outstanding style. We\u2019re looking to re-recreate what the great Alfas were. We are currently in the process of investing over $6 billion to make sure these Alfa products . . . are consistent with those key attributes of technology, performance, and style. We have segregated a team of 1,000 people in Europe led by two senior engineers from Ferrari uncontaminated by the mass market.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0You\u2019re starting from scratch?<\/p>\n
Bigland:\u00a0To be a credible, luxury player you cannot be tempted into dipping into the mass market parts bin. We\u2019ve got great mass market cars, but to be true to the knitting in the luxury performance segment you\u2019ve got to be authentic. As far as any leveraging of the FCA family it\u2019s more along the lines of Ferrari and Maserati. Rebadging of a mass market car has shown time and time again that it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Suddenly, automotive startups are all the rage. Fresh luxury names like Tesla and Fisker have made headlines rekindling the century-old competition between battery and gas power. But an Old World, 105 year-old brand is also starting with a clean sheetagainst icons like Mercedes, BMW, and Cadillacusing the tried-and-true gas engine. Say hello to Alfa Romeo, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16955,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16954\/revisions\/16955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Bigland_alfa_full\"](\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/9b085c10af52c1dd8fdac3b80b5cc11b5cc086fc\/c=166-0-2835-2002&r=x404&c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/07\/24\/DetroitNews\/B99290892Z.1_20150724194655_000_GF9I9ML0.1-0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n