Tavares' 10-year flourish-or-perish plan reasonable

Ten years is an eternity in the automotive business. So as Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares grants each of the newly merged company's 14 brands a full decade to justify their existence or face a possible culling, the decision seems more than generous.

The clock is clearly ticking on storied American brands Chrysler and Dodge, as well as long-troubled Italian brands Fiat and Lancia — and maybe even Alfa Romeo and Maserati. There is no time to waste on fanciful, nostalgia-indulgent comeback plans long on promises but short on results.

Tavares says he will give each of his brands a fair shot, pledging both adequate resources and opportunity to make long-term success possible. If true, that alone gives Chrysler and Dodge better odds of survival than what they faced in the last decade, when their product futures were sacrificed by then-Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's indulgent and ultimately futile obsession with resurrecting Alfa Romeo.

The sentimental attachment that Marchionne had for his stable of Italian brands beggared his decision-making. When Fiat and Chrysler merged in 2009, his team operated under the assumption that pushing together weak brands such as Chrysler and Lancia would make each stronger. The experiment failed and left weaker brands adrift. Even FCA's strongest, Jeep and Ram, saw vehicles that carried the promise of big profits — including the Wagoneer — delayed for years while management chased impossible dreams for Alfa Romeo.

Badge engineering has a long and undistinguished history in this industry, especially when it comes to the North American brands Tavares picked up in the FCA merger. But the key to their survival is finding products in Stellantis' global catalog that will work with North American consumers, can be built locally and can benefit from the automaker's global scale to achieve profitability.

Product always has been and always will be the key, and the investments that Tavares says he is willing to make to give all of his brands a shot at a long-term future are laudable. But it's important to remember what's on the line: Factory jobs, local economies and dealer franchises hang in the balance.

For their sakes, here's hoping that those mapping out the future for Stellantis' troubled brands find what they need to survive.