Chrysler to drop CATIA for NX

Chrysler has officially announced that it will be moving to Siemens NX and PLM (product lifecycle management) software to develop future vehicles, starting with adopted Fiats: the Fiat 500 (both gas and electric), the 1.4-liter engine, and the new Chrysler C segment cars. According to the release:

“Over time, the Siemens software will be fully integrated into all Chrysler Group vehicle design, development and powertrain programs. Chrysler is already utilizing Siemens’ Teamcenter® digital product lifecycle data management software to manage product data across its entire product portfolio.”

While CATIA is considered to be superior in many ways, Fiat has standardized on NX, and moving to NX would make it easier for Chrysler to share vehicles and technologies with Fiat.

Siemens based NX on Unigraphics, which was purchased from EDS — the company known for Ross Perot’s leadership, which was sold to General Motors and then spun off again.

An extensive discussion of the issues involved, and the implications for Chrysler, is in this CATIA vs Siemens NX page.