WINDSOR, Ontario -

As president and chief executive officer, Reid Bigland has led Chrysler Canada into a major transformation and is pushing continued momentum for the company from a year ago, when sales soared double-digits. Last month was a shining example of the progress Bigland has helped foster, as Chrysler Canada notched its best July ever with sales of 23,385 units.

Having recently stepped into triple duty for the automaker, a recent report from Bloomberg shared how Bigland now has his sights set on bringing some of that success to America as the head of U.S. sales and the Dodge car brand’s CEO, responsibilities he picked up in June.

In Canada,  the automaker has realized more than a 13-percent year-over-year sales uptick, eclipsed the market share it wanted to achieve in Canada by 2014 and has continued the momentum from 2010 when sales rose 26 percent. But Bigland may have even steeper goals to reach in the U.S.

Chrysler Group and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne wants accelerated growth for the U.S. this year (45 percent), and the automaker still has a ways to go with sales, up 21 percent thus far, the report noted.

“I think he’s going to take his plan and what’s done in Canada and drop it down on the U.S.,” Chrysler’s Canadian dealer council president Bill Johnston said of Bigland in the report. “Aggressiveness is what he’s going to bring to the U.S.”

Bigland led Canadian operations during Chrysler’s bankruptcy and reorganization in the U.S. and guided Chrysler Canada when the company couldn’t provide leasing due to the 2008 credit crisis.

“We leased 55 percent of our vehicles in Canada prior to July 2008 and to this day our leasing is zero,” Bigland said in the story. “It really created a significant adjustment for us as to how we went to market and the types of financing arrangements that we used to accompany our vehicles.”

The company rolled out model-specific promotions, including the Journey, which was Canada’s best-selling crossover a year ago.

The same success for that vehicle has not yet been seen in the U.S. (sales climbed 2.9 percent in 2010), but Bigland believes there’s room to grow.
 
“It’s got a lot of unrealized potential in the U.S.,” Bigland noted.

Offering some dealer perspective, Pennsylvania Chrysler dealer David Kelleher said he believes Bigland’s promotional efforts in the U.S. will be much like the “No Payments for 90 Days” program that can draw in customers without having the same heavy cost burden as previous Chrysler incentive programs.

“That’s a very small cost item, but it’s a heavy retail message,” Kelleher said. “He’s probably the most retail-oriented executive that I’ve ever come across.”

That, apparently, was evident last month for Chrysler Canada.

The company enjoyed a 5-percent year-over-year gain in achieving its best-ever July sales total and is heading toward rather robust yearly totals, as well.

Marchionne called for a 13.8-percent share for Chrysler Canada by 2014, but so far this year, the company has already attained that goal, reaching a 15.2-percent share of the Canadian market through July, according to Desrosiers Automotive Consultants.

Moreover, Chrysler outsold rival General Motors last month and was second in Canada behind top-ranked Ford, according to DesRosiers. Its year-to-date market share is only slightly behind that of GM, putting Chrysler in the No. 3 spot.

Saying that Chrysler "continues to perform well" in Canada, Dennis DesRosiers, president of his namesake company indicated: “Not many would have predicted that GM could come in number three in the market this year. Chrysler now has a 15.2 percent market share just slight behind GM who captured 15.3 percent of the market YTD.”

Bigland appeared quite pleased when July results were announced, noting in a statement: “July was a remarkable month for Chrysler, and it shows in our results. We announced a 2Q adjusted net profit of $181 million, a 30 percent increase in revenues to $13.7 billion and now our strongest July sales in the 86-year history of Chrysler Canada.

“Right now, the only thing hotter than the weather is our products with record sales occurring on Jeep Wrangler, Dodge Journey and Dodge Charger. This business is all about product and we currently have the strongest and most fuel efficient vehicle lineup in the history of our company,” he concluded.