Creating a global footprint

Chrysler's Frank Klegon is focused on developing a new global D-segment platform and further OEM collaborations.

Twenty-three years after exchanging his American Motors company I.D. card for a new one with the Chrysler pentastar, Frank Klegon could write a book about the perpetual changes that have shaped his company. But the veteran Vice President of Product Development is too busy directing what some insiders believe is the most critical period of vehicle engineering in Chrysler's turbulent post-WWII history.

In the 1980s, the fabled K-platform and its many vehicle derivatives saved Chrysler following a bailout by the U.S. government. Today, the privately held automaker's future is pinned to rebalancing the product mix away from its precarious reliance on trucks, growing the passenger-car portfolio quickly, and transitioning from its present NAFTA base into a global player.