Dassault losing the massive Chrysler account to Siemens

"You say Catia, I say NX." 

With Fiat being the controlling owner of Chrysler, it gets to decide on the CAD system used to design the cars. And it has decided to go with the status quo -- for itself, meaning Chrysler and its suppliers have to shut off their Catia workstations and flip the on switch for NX.

There's more details at Automotive News, but since they require a subscription [like too many CAD vendors], Autoblog gives a good summary:

Chrysler's engineers have been using Catia from Dassault Systems for more than two decades while Fiat uses the other major brand, Siemens PLM's NX software. CEO Sergio Marchionne wants everyone in his domain to use the Siemens software for new projects.

Unfortunately, the problem goes well beyond just switching out the software at the Chrysler tech center. Suppliers will also have to buy new software because they share design models with the automaker and they need compatibility. Chrysler has begun using the Siemens software for the modifications to the North American version of the Fiat 500, but it could be some time before the issue is resolved completely.

Unless there are crucial details missing from the report [such as, might this affect only the design of the North Americanized Fiat 500?], we in the CAD industry know that ceo Marchionne would be nuts for making such a decision. As Autoblog commenter Frank expertly put it:

I know that as a software developer this is a big deal. Chrysler had major problems when Daimler forced them to go the new version [V5] of Catia a few years ago. Unfortunately the new version was not fully backwards compatible with the old version [V4] and it cost them a lot of headaches and delays which directly impacted their product and bottom line. Of course the IT engineers told them it was a bad idea but of course management thought they knew better.

We saw the Catia V4/V5 incompatibility problem bite Airbus big-time -- incompatibility-designed wiring. I am surprised giant corporations put up with incompatibility nonsense.

"Let's call the whole thing off."

Comments

[Ron]

This is not a surprise. I used NX for years and then learned and became a Catia instructor. I'll tell you that knowing both well, NX has some major functional advantages over Catia. It's just as powerful as Catia but with much more flexibilty. Especially in Assemblies and Drafting.

[bob]

They won a dead company!
In the mean time Dassault is being used at
all future car companies:

a. Tesla Motors
b. Fisker Automotive
c. Phoenix Motorcars
d. Aptera Motors
e. Miles Electric Vehicles

[Steve]

That should pretty much shut down Chrysler now...