At 33, Jason Stoicevich is Chrysler’s youngest brand (Fiat North America) CEO who, in a short period of time, has almost doubled Chrysler’s market share in California.
Find out what Stoicevich has done for Chrysler in his current position.
So [Stoicevich] assembled a team to staff a new California Business Center and crafted a marketing plan that has helped the automaker nearly double its California market share in three years.
He did so well that the big boss, Sergio Marchionne, tapped Stoicevich in April to lead Fiat North America, replacing Tim Kuniskis, who was promoted to CEO of Dodge. But he retained his responsibility for California.
At 33, Stoicevich is Chrysler’s youngest brand CEO. A Detroit native, he didn’t set out to work at Chrysler, or even in the car business. Both his father and grandfather worked for Chrysler, but never saw himself as “a traditional car nut.”
But Stoicevich was fascinated by what led people to buy what they bought. After graduating from Eastern Michigan University in 2002 with a marketing degree, Chrysler hired him. He worked his way through a variety of customer service, retail and dealer relations positions.
In California, Stoicevich said consumers were rejecting the company’s cars because of their styling inside and out, and the shortage of attractive features.
As Chrysler was overhauling its product lineup, Stoicevich reminded his colleagues what was needed to reach California customers.
“In California, the Toyota Tacoma outsells the Ram brand. At first, I couldn’t get my head around that,” Stoicevich said. “I needed to speak to the surf community … so, we created our own marketing campaign.”
The result: Chrysler’s market share grew from 3.5% in 2010 to 5.8% in 2012.
