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Fiat Chrysler wins top Total Quality Award for first time

The Strategic Vision Total Quality Awards are 20 years old in 2015, and Chrysler has never topped the awards before. Until now, that is. Fiat Chrysler takes the overall award on the corporate level with six segment leaders from Fiat, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram. The Fiat 500 won Small Multi-Function Car, the 500e won Small Alternative Powertrain, the Dodge Challenger tied at the top in the Specialty Coupe category alongside the very un-coupe Mini Cooper Countryman, the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited took the Entry SUV category, the Dodge Durango won in Mid-Size SUV, and Ram took the overall in Best Non-Luxury Brand. The accolade means FCA has gone from one segment winner in 2010 to overall victory in five years. Cars have gotten so good, says Strategic Vision, that it is harder than ever to win. In fact, says the group, 18 years ago 85 percent of all vehicle brands had more than half a problem per vehicle. This year, no brand has more than half a problem per vehicle. The organization measures "over 155 specific aspects of the customer's experience," and scores are based on input from more than 46,000 customers. Other notables in and near the winner's circle include Volkswagen and General Motors, who tied for second place on the corporate scale, one point behind FCA. The Mini Cooper Roadster scored the highest of any model, the Corvette Stingray Convertible and Coupe scored the second- and third-highest. The Chevrolet Colorado is the first domestic Standard Pickup winner in more than ten years, and the Nissan Titan carried the Full-Size Pickup category. The press release below has all the details on how winners and losers are selected, and the full list of automakers and how they finished. "The Customer's 'Total' Experience Defines Quality, Fiat Chrysler Scores Highest in Total Quality," says Strategic Vision The 2015 Total Quality Awards® SAN DIEGO, Friday, July 17, 2015 — Unknown to many, when some consumer research firms rank a car company's quality performance they often do so by simply "counting problems." In the past, this may have been acceptable, but in today's modern and efficient manufacturing world the difference between the worst brand and best brand is LESS than half-a-problem per vehicle. Thus, any "quality ranking" based on this method is severely lacking in the complete picture of the "Total" Quality experience that customers actually use to judge their product ownership.

FCA eliminates just under 2,000 supplemental contract workers due to coronavirus constraints

Car companies have jumped in quickly to help combat coronavirus. They’re even beginning to manufacture some of the badly needed medical supplies, like ventilators and masks. However, with stay-at-home orders sweeping across the nation and folks practicing social distancing, automotive sales and manufacturing have quickly dried up in North America. That leads us to todayÂ’s news coming out of FCA. A company spokesperson told us that approximately 2,000 supplemental workers (a subcategory of the companyÂ’s many contract workers) are being laid off. HereÂ’s the official statement from FCA: “In light of the challenges created by the COVID 19 situation, and the various ‘stay at homeÂ’ orders from multiple states, a number of development projects within FCA have been temporarily put on hold. "As a result of this, subcontract companies who were providing external support to a number of these projects have been asked to temporarily suspend their activities as we reprioritize certain initiatives and projects. We will continue to monitor the situation with the intent to return to normal activity as soon as the situation allows.” FCA made it clear in our communications with the company that it is not terminating all contract workers, nor is it terminating any employees of the company itself. The rationale here is that certain development work is on pause, so those who were contracted to be a part of that work are now out. We're told that those workers are in white-collar functions, not manufacturing jobs. We asked FCA if it had plans to reinstate all of the affected workers once the coronavirus crisis has passed, but received no commitment either way. “At this point weÂ’re going to continue to monitor the situation,” a company spokesperson told us. Questions still remain when it comes to the stimulus package moving through Congress right now as it pertains to the automotive industry. FCA says itÂ’s currently studying the bill, but hasnÂ’t offered up a comment on the situation yet. We havenÂ’t heard of any similar cuts happening at Ford or GM yet, but now that FCA has made a move, weÂ’ll be on the lookout for more. Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Chrysler Fiat coronavirus

10 automakers shack up in Detroit hotel to talk Takata airbags

Since Takata has decided not to take the lead concerning potential issues with its airbag inflators, the automakers have. Perhaps that's unsurprising, since it's the automakers, not Takata, that will take a beating on the dealership floor if consumers decide its models are a health hazards. The Detroit News reports that Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru met in a hotel conference room near the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last week to sort out a way to understand the technical issues involved. So far, faulty airbag inflators have been ruled the cause of five deaths and 50 injuries around the world, but neither Takata nor investigators understands exactly why the inflators are malfunctioning. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently asked Takata to issue a national recall, Takata declined, citing a minuscule failure rate and the fact that it's still investigating the issue. Toyota and Honda then made an industry-wide appeal for "a coordinated, comprehensive testing program" that would pinpoint the problem inflators and get them replaced, and that's what the Detroit meeting was about. Numerous issues, however, will make this a long row to hoe: simply getting the parts to replace the nearly 20 million inflators in cars recalled around the world so far - even working with other suppliers - will take a years, but more importantly, no one knows if the replacement inflators currently being installed will suffer the same issue. Answers will hopefully come quickly with Takata, the ten automakers and NHTSA all independently investigating the problem.