Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Groupe PSA (Peugeot) have announced a merger. The combined entity will be the fourth largest OEM in terms of vehicle sales with a combined revenue of Euro 170 billion.

As per the deal, the shareholders of each company would own 50% of the equity of the new combined group. The merger will take place under a Dutch parent company with a balanced governance structure across the two shareholder groups, including a majority of independent board members. There will be 11 board members with 5 each nominated by FCA and Peugeot. John Elkann will be the chairman while Carlos Tavares would be appointed as a CEO for an initial term of 5 years.

The merger is also expected to result in cost savings to the tune of an estimated Euro 3.7 billion due to sharing of vehicle platforms, powertrains and technology as well as bulk purchasing rates due to the combined size. It is projected that 80% of these would be achieved after 4 years and a one time cost for the same is expected to the tune of Euro 2.8 billion.

The Dutch parent company would be listed on the Paris, Milan and New York Stock Exchanges and maintain presence in current head offices in France, Italy and USA. 

According to a media report, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and French carmaker Peugeot are in talks for a merger.

The report claims that the merger of the two carmakers would be valued at about US$ 50 billion. Peugeot's Carlos Tavares is likely to be appointed as CEO of the new company, while FCA's John Elkann would be the chairman.

The company will have brands like Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall under its umbrella.

Talks between the two carmakers are believed to be ongoing and it is still not certain if an agreement will be reached. Meanwhile, neither of the two companies have confirmed these reports.

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According to a media report, FCA India has appointed Partha Dutta as the President and Managing Director. He replaces Kevin Flynn, who will be heading FCA Australia.

Partha Dutta has 20 years experience in industrial and commercial operations, governance, business development, engineering and vehicle integration. 

Prior to his appointment as the head of FCA India, Dutta was the Director of FCA Technical Centres in Chennai and Pune. He has been the Head of Product Engineering in China and Head of North American Vehicle Integration & Validation. He was responsible for all validation activities of all FCA Group brands including Jeep, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge and RAM models in North America.

Source: NDTV

Kevin Flynn, President and Managing Director of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) India, has been appointed as the Managing Director of FCA Australia. He will continue to head FCA India until his successor is announced. 

Flynn's automobile career spans over 34 years. Before joining FCA, he was heading the South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa markets for Jaguar Land Rover. He had joined the British car maker in 2011. 

Flynn has been heading FCA India since February 2015. His successor is expected to be announced at a later date.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has proposed a merger with the Renault Group. As part of the proposal, each of the companies would own 50% shares of the combined business.

As part of the merger plan, a new Dutch parent company will be formed and both - FCA and Renault will receive equal equity stake. There will be 11 board members with 4 each from the French and Italian carmakers, one from Nissan and the rest will be independent members. The parent company would be listed at the Milan, Paris and New York stock exchanges. Before the deal is closed, to maintain equality across different markets, FCA shareholders would get Euro 2.5 billion as a dividend and distribution of Comau’s shares to FCA or an incremental Euro 250 million dividend. Comau is a subsidiary of FCA, specialising in processes and automated systems that improve corporate manufacturing production.

The combined entity would result in the third largest carmaker with annual sales of 8.7 million vehicles. It is also expected that the merger would result in capital-efficient investments in global platforms, architectures, powertrains and technologies. FCA has estimated that purchasing savings, R&D efficiencies and manufacturing and tooling efficiencies would bring about 90% of the annually predicted Euro 5 billion synergies.

According to a media report, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) will pay Tesla hundreds of millions of euros to allow the electric carmaker’s vehicles to be counted in its fleet to meet new EU emission norms.

FCA formed an open pool with Tesla on February 25, 2019. This will allow the Italian carmaker to bring down its average CO2 level with the help of Tesla’s electric cars to a permissible level.  The European Union (EU) will target an average of 95 gm / km of CO2 emissions from the next year. The 2018 average was 120.5 gm / km, while FCA averaged 123 gm / km.

The emission rules in Europe allow pooling of emissions internally, allowing carmakers like Volkswagen to offset Seat, Skoda and VW emissions against those from Porsche and Audi. While the rules also allow rival companies to form pools, there have been no pool agreements until now. Reports suggest that Toyota and Mazda are also likely to form an open pool.

It is also reported that Tesla generates significant revenue by selling EV credits in the US. In 2018 and 2017, the company earned US$ 103.4 million and US$ 279.7 million respectively by selling credits.

Source: Financial Times

According to a media report, Renault will restart merger talks with Nissan within the next 12 months and are looking to acquire another car company, which might be Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance sold 10.76 million units, while FCA sales amounted to 5 million vehicles in 2018.  The combined entity could take on the likes of the Volkswagen Group and Toyota.  It is also reported that former Chairman Carlos Ghosn had initiated talks about the merger couple of years ago, but the French government, that holds a 15% stake in Renault, shot down the proposal.

John Elkann, chairman of FCA, is reportedly looking for deals to strengthen the carmaker. Elkann has reportedly met rivals including Groupe PSA to explore a potential deal. With the Jeep and Alfa Romeo brands, FCA has a market capitalisation of over Euro 20 billion. Meanwhile, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is valued at Euro 50 billion.

It is also reported that all the 3 carmakers are expected to announce a new plan by the end of this year with revised targets to sell 14 million vehicles (combined) by 2020. The companies would also have a reshuffle of their boards with Nissan adding outside directors and Renault reducing the size of its board.

Source: Financial Times

Last year, we had reported that Maserati sales had fallen sharply. Now, according to a media report, the company is planning a new strategy to overcome this.

FCA CEO Michael Manley admitted that pairing Maserati with Alfa Romeo was an organisational mistake. Manley has now appointed Harald Wester as the head of Maserati. He has been tasked to create a new management team and come up with a new plan for the company. Wester previously held the same position from 2008 to 2016.

According to the CEO, the pairing of the two brands in the FCA stable reduced focus on Maserati while treating it as a mass-market company. It is also reported that the company will take further action on the new plan in the fourth quarter of this year, with changes taking place by second half of 2019. To this effect, Wester has hired Jean-Philippe Leloup from Ferrari to lead a new department called as the Maserati Commercial.

As per the plan presented by former CEO Sergio Marchionne, the company was supposed to launch the Alfieri coupe in electric and plug-in hybrid forms, a new SUV positioned below the Levante and replacements for the Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante as EVs and plug-in hybrids.

Maserati sales had dropped in China, due to the WLTP regulations and models like the GranCabrio and the GranTourismo that are 11 years old with no new replacements in line. The brand's YoY sales fell by 26% in Q3 last year. While the yearly target of 75,000 annual units was reduced to 50,000, only 26,400 units were shipped by end of September, 2018.

Source: Autocar

According to a media report, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) will discontinue the Fiat brand in India later this year.

Earlier, there were reports suggesting that Fiat had pulled the plug on models like the Punto Evo and Linea and had asked dealers to allot more showroom space for Jeep vehicles. It has now been reported that neither of the two models will be updated to meet the upcoming safety and emission norms. Apparently, dealers have also been asked to clear remaining stocks before ABS becomes mandatory from April 1, 2019.

Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki are ditching the Fiat-sourced 1.3-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine for their own powertrains. With two of its biggest customers switching to newer engines, Fiat is unlikely to invest in updating the 1.3 Multijet to meet BS-VI emission norms. Therefore, this engine is also likely to be axed.

Source: Autocar India

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Toyota have issued yet another recall for vehicles fitted with the malfunctioning Takata airbags. The defective airbags issue came to light in 2013 and manufacturers collaborated in 2014 to investigate the same. Takata has since declared bankruptcy.

FCA has issued a recall for 1.4 million vehicles for replacement of passenger side airbag inflators. Affected vehicles include 2010 Ram 3500 pickup and 4500/5500 chassis cabs, 2010-2011 Dodge Dakota, 2010-2014 Dodge Challenger, 2010-2015 Chrysler 300 sedan, 2010-2016 Jeep Wrangler and 2011-2015 Dodge Charger. The same type of vehicles in Canada (88,830), Mexico (12,821) and markets outside North America (118,084) will also be recalled.

Toyota has issued a recall for around 1.3 million cars in the USA. These include the 2010-2016 4Runner, 2010-2012 Lexus ES 350, 2010-2013 Corolla, Matrix and Lexus IS 250, 2010-2014 Lexus IS-F, 2010-2015 Scion XB, Lexus IS 250C, IS 350C, 2010-2017 Lexus GX 460 and 2011-2014 Sienna. The owners of the affected vehicles will be contacted and the local dealer will fix either the inflator for the front passenger airbag or replace the whole airbag assembly free of cost.

Owners can visit the respective company websites or the NHTSA website for more details and check if their vehicle is affected.