How did FCA go from worst to first?

For years, you could always count on Fiat Chrysler brands being doormats in surveys of vehicle quality.

In a decade of annual J.D. Power Initial Quality Studies starting in 2008, only one FCA brand — Ram in 2017 — managed to make it among the top 10. That’s one for 100, a sorry batting average in any league.

FCA did better in scoring last-place finishes. During the same span, Dodge and Jeep each had one such inglorious title. And Fiat — true to its “Fix It Again, Tony” reputation — claimed four.

This is hardly what Dennis Pawley, Chrysler’s former manufacturing chief, had in mind when he went public in the 1990s with his goal of topping Toyota in quality.

What we saw in late June was more like it: FCA’s Dodge, in a tie with Kia, ranked No. 1 in the 2020 IQS report, the first time a domestic brand finished on top in 34 years of the study.

What’s more, Ram came in at No. 3. And Jeep finished above the industry average at 11, a notch above Lexus and well ahead of Toyota, Pawley’s target of long ago.

So, how did this worst-to-first journey unfold? My colleague Vince Bond gives one account on Page 4 of this issue.

For another view, there may be no one with richer insight than Doug Betts. The Georgia Institute of Technology mechanical engineering grad held quality and customer satisfaction roles at Toyota and Nissan before becoming Chrysler’s quality chief in 2007. He stayed there for seven years. He’s now president of J.D. Power’s auto division, where he has a unique window into what American consumers think of their cars.

Quality, he says, is a long-term game. It’s not just a matter of desire and hard work. One big cause of failure is thinking it can be achieved quickly. And it won’t happen without teamwork across the major technical functions — engineering, purchasing and manufacturing.

Some companies have quality officers with fancy titles to show their commitment. But too often, Betts says, they function more like police officers, pointing fingers of blame.

Their role should be to set a strategy, sell it and get the appropriate teams to work together to achieve it.

Chrysler did have a quality plan of sorts when he joined, Betts recalls. It was a carryover from the Daimler era — a detailed to-do list of thousands of things.

In his view, there was no distinction between the critical and the minuscule. It kept everyone guessing instead of acting.

“When you have a plan that nobody believes you can execute, then you don’t have a plan at all,” he said.

Still, you don’t want to throw out what works. Chrysler built on key elements of that Daimler plan as ownership transferred through Cerberus to Fiat in 2009.

Fiat brought a system called World Class Manufacturing, which Betts says played a huge role in improved quality. In it, performance is measured and scored, and factories compete against each other.

Fittingly, J.D. Power’s Gold Plant Quality Award for the Americas this year went to an FCA factory in Toluca, Mexico. And a bronze went to FCA’s Belvidere, Ill., plant.

Another piece is the role of advanced technology. You may debate whether a user-friendly, trouble-free infotainment system should count for much on a quality scorecard. Yet that’s what matters to customers these days, and Fiat Chrysler’s UConnect system, now in its fifth generation, has hit its stride.

“FCA has really stood out in terms of making the infotainment system easy to understand,” Betts says.

Fiat Chrysler also scored last fall, when it showed bigger gains than any of its rivals in Consumer Reports’ annual reliability scorecard. In that one, Dodge surged to No. 8. Still, that same study placed a number of FCA models, including Dodges, “below average” and even “well-below average.”

As Consumer Reports and J.D. Power both note, Dodge benefits from having a relatively small product lineup — and an aging one at that. Redesigns increase the potential for problems.

Given that, the bigger achievement in the IQS study may belong to Ram with its No. 3 ranking. Its signature product, the 1500 pickup, was redesigned just two years ago.

Still, when FCA touts the results in its advertising, you won’t see any asterisks.

The victory, long in the making, is real. But it should be viewed as just the beginning.

Says Betts: “If you ever say you’ve arrived, that’s the start of your downfall.”