SteveRacer wrote: ↑03 Jan 2018, 19:32
I get that Haas in an American team but
I dont see the logic in a tie up with an American brand like Chrysler. F1 has a global following and that is who the sponsors should be catered to. The "home" of the team won't help Chrysler sell any more cars in America.
than you seem to miss the point that Chrysler is part of FIAT, and as such, it could make sense for Marchionne to see the potential of branding the Ferrari engine as Chrysler as it's essentially under the 'same' umbrella.
Alfa Romeo is now represented, Ferrari itself has it's representation, and there has been discussion about potentially adding Maserati to that group. I understand that Maserati is still a rather 'untouched' 'gold' mine to start digging in, and it is true that Maserati is popular in the states, but at the same time, Chrysler and FIAT share a lot of car platforms nowadays, and exposure of Chrysler in F1 would greatly improve the connection of American brands with F1, which is still rather abscent bar offcourse HAAS and some mostly international brands, and some american.
rebranding the Ferrari engine in the HAAS to Chrysler would, again, change that even more - after all, even though Haas rightly so uses the team as a business platform, and actually has gained success with the team from the get-go, the 'normal' or 'regular' viewer doesn't have HAAS CNC machines in their garage, or has any potential use for such.
That is different with chrysler.
it would 'connect' chrysler-owners immediatly with Formula 1, and for those who are not driving a chrysler, they atleast see something touchible in the form of a chrysler in F1. I wouldn't go as far as to say it would make americans buy chryslers, but it would surely have a positive influence in F1 fanbase in the states, especially with the ever-growing market of F1 in the USA thanks to the US owners through Liberty Media.
There's a lot, a real lot of potential there, if adressed correctly offcourse.
Let the drivers and important team figures drive Chryslers. Add Chrysler in big words to the trucks.
Have HAAS-themed promotianl material at Chrysler dealerships. Let a HAAS CNC machine cnc the chrysler logo.
Let's see if the Chrysler 'factories' have or could use HAAS equipment. A big expansion of the partnership.
Add some HAAS Liveries to some sporty chryslers and promote it in events in the USA, ESPECIALLY when the USA GP is nearby and on the event calender, let Magnussen and Grosjean do PR work.
Offcourse the only cork in the bottle might be the fact that HAAS uses a ford partnership in the states with the NASCAR side through Stewart-HAAS racing. I don't think however there's much pain as long as they simply keep NASCAR and F1 fully seperated in their events/PR works. Also, there's no Chrysler in NASCAR, only Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota so i wouldn't see the conflict there.
So again, businesswise, the HAAS-Chrysler 'partnership' would make sense.
HAAS could never do that same level of PR and partnership with Maserati. It would only be somewhat in a name label.
I fully doubt Maserati is waiting for HAAS CNC material or that there is a potential profitable CNC partnership - ALLTHOUGH it must be said HAAS generally has aimed for a european market, and Maserati after all IS european.
So really, what do i know.
Still - Chrysler HAAS F1 Team does make sense.as long as both parties are open for it.
I'm sure Liberty Media would praise it. If Bernie still would be rolling the dice, i'm sure he'd actually make it happen.