Pentastar window at the top of FCA headquarters, Auburn Hills, Mich.
FCA
As someone who worked at three different iterations of the automaker over the course of 10 years and 11 months, I can tell you with great confidence that from the Chrysler side, holding on to its name and logo is of paramount importance.
I arrived in 2005 while it was still the junior partner in the disaster then known as DaimlerChrysler AG. The logo during that time eliminated Chrysler’s well-known Pentastar. That hurt. A saving grace was the logo was an integral part of the Chrysler headquarters building in suburban Detroit as it formed the shape of a giant window on its top floor. But the Pentastar was nowhere to be seen on company letterhead or sign. This was something that gnawed at longtime Chrysler employees who viewed the Pentastar as a symbol of the company’s legacy.
Things changed in 2007 when the Germans served divorce papers on their American spouse and the company was eventually sold to Cerberus Capital Management, which had no previous experience running a car company. But the upside was the Chrysler name would stand alone as the new Chrysler LLC and the Pentastar restored.
Pens handed to Chrysler Group employees on the first day under new ownership of Cerberus Capital … [+]
Ed Garsten
Management was so excited we were given pens that said “The New Chrysler” on them and some of us were lucky enough to score exclusive decks of playing cards with photos of historic Chrysler vehicles and past executives on them resembling the “Ten Most Wanted Iraqis” deck issued during the second Persian Gulf war.
Images from commemorative playing cards distributed when Cerberus Capital Management took over … [+]
Ed Garsten
Such enthusiasm had the potential to be overplayed, which is what happened. Someone had the great idea to blast a giant spotlight through the big Pentastar window across the adjacent I-75 for a few nights to show the world the beloved logo was back. This was bad for two reasons. One, motorists traveling at 70 mph find it hard to see when a strong light beam fries their eyes. Two, the light was so hot, it melted the artificial plants in the atrium where the light was mounted. The plug was quickly pulled on the well-intentioned, but foolhardy stunt.
When the company went bankrupt and was acquired by the Italians at Fiat, there was fear the identity gains of the past two years would be quickly lost. It happened but not so fast. Our side of the new company hung in as Chrysler Group LLC until the two sides fully combined in 2014 and became Fiat Chrysler Automobiles under a logo of blue block letters FCA. See what’s missing? The Pentastar was snuffed again. This caused renewed heartbreak on the part of the American side of the company and sparked a big decision for my team. Since 2007 we had produced a weekly video recap of company news titled “Under the Pentastar.” Now we were under the gun to come up with something new. We settled on “FCA Replay” and that feature is still produced to this day by the wonderful team I left behind when I retired from the company in 2016.
No idea what they’ll do with STELLANTIS. Perhaps retitle it “Under the Stars”? Now if they could have just slipped in the logo that keeps getting the slip in the new company name, it would have satisfied everyone. After all, what’s so bad about PENTA-STELLANTIS, which, roughly translated, might be Pentastar.
Author’s note: I worked a FCA and its predecessors from 2005-2016 as Head of Digital Media Communications
