Chrysler: Wider distribution, marketing marks Mopar’s 75th birthday
Chrysler and Fiat are celebrating this year’s 75th anniversary of its Mopar line by emphasizing a series of initiatives that includes an expanded global parts distribution network, significant dealership upgrades and several specially accessorized commemorative vehicle releases.
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“Customization is king,” notes Pietro Gorlier, Mopar’s president and CEO. “These head-turning ‘Moparized’ vehicles show how we can go to the next level of personalization,” he explains. “With our best-in-class offerings of parts and accessories, we give our customers every opportunity to further enhance the appearance and performance of their vehicles.”
Mopar, a contraction of the words “motor” and “parts,” was established in 1937 to designate a line of antifreeze. It quickly grew to include components for the Chrysler Airflow, which had been launched in 1934 with streamlined design elements contributed by aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright.
Pursuing an ever-increasing focus on servicing the aftermarket needs of Walter P. Chrysler’s Dodge, Desoto, Plymouth and Chrysler nameplates, Mopar especially made its mark during the 1960s muscle-car era with a heightened emphasis on perfecting performance enhancements.
Currently a four-pronged approach is typically applied during the engineering and selection processes to evaluate the viability of a proposed new vehicle add-on:
- “Protection” involves maintaining aesthetic properties and providing longevity, as with bedliners, cargo mats and skid plates.
- “Style” offers the owner a chance to enhance the exterior and interior appearance with added chrome along with alternative grilles, wheels and other options.
- “Performance” applies to creating an “unforgettable” experience for the driver, such as the array of standardized Hemi engine components.
- “Technology” refers to desired electronics, covering navigation systems, DVD players, wireless charging stations and vehicle-tracking devices.
Combined with Fiat, Mopar’s worldwide product portfolio now includes more than 500,000 parts and accessories that are distributed in more than 120 countries. “We’re taking the brand global with our new relationship with Fiat,” says Zvibleman.
Mopar recently opened distribution centers in the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Brazil, joining more than 50 other international DCs, including a new Chinese facility in Yangshan Port Shanghai, a Free Trade Zone that offers Mopar a platform to support its marketing efforts within the region by implementing a more efficient and cost-effective supply chain and improved service levels for the company’s growing presence within the region, Gorlier says.
The 170,000 square-foot site will be distributing more than 35,000 part numbers to more than 100 dealer locations in China and more than 20 third-party distributors and joint-venture partners throughout Asia-Pacific. The warehouse will also be a referral point for other Mopar locations in South Korea, Japan and Australia that service more than 200 additional dealerships.
“It’s a more centralized effort,” Zvibleman explains. “We’re able to fully serve our customers around the world and we’ll continue to look for opportunities to grow.”
A supply partnership reached last April between Chrysler and Magneti Marelli now allows the automaker’s dealerships to offer maintenance and repairs for nameplates produced by other OEMs. The firm is already providing brakes, shocks, struts, oil filters, air filters, fuel filters and cabin filters for competing makes.
Headquartered in Italy, the company has added 26 product lines encompassing more than 3,000 part numbers to the marketing mix. Additional releases are to be phased in over time.
Dino Maggioni, CEO of Magneti Marelli Aftermarket, reports that “we have joined forces with Mopar and worked together on the synergies in distribution and parts range proposition, and now we are ready to strengthen our presence in the U.S. aftermarket.”
“For customers with competitive vehicles,” says Gorlier, “the agreement with Magneti Marelli effectively creates one-stop service shops” for the dealership network. The plan is to “enable comprehensive servicing” for vehicles from General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia.
“We have 2.6 million customers who visit our service lanes that are driving competitive vehicles,” says Zvibleman, “and with our partnership with Marelli we’re able to service these customers.”
There are some 4,000 Chrysler/Fiat dealerships worldwide; more than half of them are in the U.S.
“Our new program is designed to foster customer loyalty to the dealership and further support all of our brands,” says Gorlier.
“Mopar’s effort to enhance the customer experience complements our dealer standards initiative, which has dramatically increased the skill and competency of dealership personnel, has prompted many of our dealers to renovate and modernize their facilities, and has transformed our new-car showrooms into proper showcases for our brands,” says Peter Grady, vice president of network development.
Literature racks that hold Mopar brochures are among the showroom enhancements, along with glass pillar display cases that act as beacons to highlight accessories and apparel, tabletop displays for small impulse-purchase items such as touch-up paint, plus Mopar floor graphics that adhere to linoleum surfaces.
New merchandising fixtures have the capacity to display products ranging from Mopar hats and t-shirts to antifreeze, RPM gauges and other parts. If a dealership does not have a retail shop area, the mobile racks work well elsewhere in the building, Grady says.
A tires and maintenance zone features a variety of wall-mounted and mobile racks for tires and wheels, along with displays for wiper blades and floor mats.
The same types of bold Mopar signage displayed at auto shows are now available for dealership service centers. Painted graphics and overhead signs direct customers to the appropriate entry – “Express Lane” for a quick oil change or “Service” for maintenance and repairs.
About 80 percent of the dealers now provide Saturday service hours, resulting in a 20 percent uptick in business, according to Zvibleman.
“More than one-third of our dealerships offer Express Lanes, and we’re starting to improve on that number. Those who have been offering Express Lane are doubling their oil change business,” he says, adding that a new 120-page book, entitled “Legacy in Motion,” chronicles Mopar’s history and achievements.
For more information, visit www.mopar75.com.
About the Author
James Guyette
James E. Guyette is a long-time contributing editor to Aftermarket Business World, ABRN and Motor Age magazines.