Tag Archives: Minivans

Q&A: Green Car Pioneer Ron Cogan Offers Sage Insights

May 3, 2021 admin

Green Car Journal Publisher Ron Cogan at the 2020 Green Car Awards. He’s been covering the shift to environmentally friendly vehicles for three decades.

The automobile has transformed we live, work and play. Unfortunately, it’s also had a seriously detrimental impact on Planet Earth. And now, as it becomes more crucial to address issues like climate change, the automobile is in the crosshairs.

That’s a message many have come to just lately. Not Ron Cogan. The veteran automotive journalist was among the first to recognize the need to clean up the car, in 1992 launching Green Car Journal. Where some have focused exclusively on electrified vehicles, pure battery-electric models, in particular, Cogan and his magazine have looked at all the various green car technologies that have come — and, in many cases, gone — during the past three decades.

The latest issue of Green Car Journal focuses specifically on battery-electric vehicles. But, as is Cogan’s style, it takes a pragmatic, even somewhat skeptical, look at this potentially game-changing technology, recognizing there are still many challenges to be overcome before BEVs can clearly replace the time-tested internal combustion engine.

Cogan spoke to TheDetroitBureau.com about his years covering the green car world and what he sees coming in the years ahead.

Cogan’s enjoyed a front-row seat, watching and writing about the shift from ICE-powered vehicles to electrified models in the U.S.

TheDetroitBureau: These days, everyone is writing about electric vehicles but you’ve been at this for a long time, haven’t you? And don’t you take something of a broader look when it comes to environmentally friendly vehicles?

Ron Cogan: Green Car Journal, which launched in 1992, has been all about options, everything that’s happening in the green space, whether it’s methanol, ethanol and natural gas, even high fuel-efficiency gasoline. Now, there’s a huge push towards electrification. It wasn’t our call to tell people what to drive. With our 30^th birthday coming up we wanted to let people read different opinions from industry leaders.

TDB: We now have General Motors CEO Mary Barra setting a transition to all-electric vehicles and announcing a second battery plant. Is this the year of the tipping point for battery-electric vehicles?

Cogan: I would agree there’s a tipping point going on in the sense that there’s a major commitment by a lot of automakers. It’s gone beyond lip service. For the industry, the tipping point is here. The question is whether it is a consumer tipping point yet. Only so many people are willing to step up to pure electric vehicles. More see a hybrid as the way to go because it’s so seamless, and some to plug-in hybrids. But have we reached a tipping point for consumers? I’m not so sure.

Cogan notes that hybrids provide a level of convenience that pure EVs cannot.

TDB: Yet BEVs do seem to be gaining a lot of momentum.

Cogan: Well, the range issues is being overcome to a large degree, But even with 250 miles, on a long trip you have to plan ahead (to find places to charge), which is why I think plug-in hybrids are going to be pretty huge. When you can’t plug in you’re not limited, so I think that category is really going to expand. With a plug-in you can do everyday driving in electric but switch to internal combustion when you have to go farther. I think it’s a win-win. And it will get more people into buying electric vehicles.

TDB: I find that the best way to promote electric vehicles is to get people into electric vehicles. They’re often surprised by the performance, for one thing.

Cogan: Yeah, today’s electric vehicles are pretty amazing given what they offer — everything a combustion vehicle can offer and more. The launch in an electric vehicle can be pretty exciting and some companies, like Tesla, are keying in on that, talking about how they can beat a Ferrari on track and all that. I think that’s surprising a lot of people.

Cogan is quick to note that EVs are not the only way to improve the efficiency of vehicles. His publication’s honored several diesels.

TDB: I have more and more people asking if this is the right time to buy an electric vehicle. Many worry that, like with an iPhone, if they buy today something better will soon come out and they’ll regret it. What would you tell them?

Cogan: The technology, the range, all of that will improve over time, as will the cost which will continue to go down incrementally. So, it’s a tough question. If you find the right vehicle that appeals to you, it makes sense, go ahead and buy the vehicle. There are some great choices out there now and there are going to be more coming up. The jump to 250 miles (which most new BEVs are offering) is huge and there are going to be more and more charging stations coming online. True, the nature of it is that there’s always going to be something better. But do you never buy an electric vehicle because of that?

TDB: Doesn’t that make an argument for leasing, rather than buying? You can move to something newer and better in a few years — and not worry about trade-in values.

Cogan: I think leasing is the ideal way to go with electric vehicles. It means you don’t have to take as much of a risk. You know what your payments are. You know when you’re going to turn it in. And then, you can move on to the next generation of electric vehicles. Leasing takes the risk out.

Green Car Publisher Ron Cogan, Chevy Marketing Director Steve Mojoras and the 2016 Volt, which was honored by the Green Car Awards.

TDB: Let’s talk about batteries — in particular, next-generation batteries. Honda, Ford and others are all talking about solid-state batteries (which supposedly will be lighter, deliver longer range and shorter charging times and even reduce the risk of fire). Are they real? And will they live up to expectations?

Cogan: It seems that if solid-state comes close to all the promises it would put BEVs over the top, making all the difference in the world. Solid-state, from what we hear, is the ideal technology.

TDB: What would you estimate will be the BEV share of the market by 2030? And could it be even bigger than people are forecasting now?

Cogan: It’s tough to make a prediction, and I try to avoid that. But automakers and other interests are pushing for them and there’s a lot of interest in setting up a nationwide rapid charging network. All of that takes us in the direction where we know there’s going to be significantly more electric vehicles sold by then. But many things could influence the fate of gasoline vehicles. How’s the price of gas? If gas prices stay low there’ll be less incentive for electric vehicles. Technology will influence things. A recession could, as well. Legislation clearly will have an influence, especially if it’s a disincentive to drive on gasoline.

Honda has been at the forefront of fuel-cell vehicles with the Clarity.

TDB: On the subject of politics, the Biden administration wants to have 500,000 charging stations in place by 2030. Could that mean a faster growth rate for electric?

Cogan: If we get the range to drive on battery like you would on gasoline and you have a network of rapid chargers, suddenly, your functionality is increased exponentially. But there’s no way yet to know if the government is going to create (that public charging network). Administrations change. Agendas change. So, I don’t put stock into what you can count on as far as legislation matters.

TDB: But the Biden administration is clearly making a lot of proposals to promote electric vehicles. Do you like what you’re seeing?

Cogan: Yeah, as far as I can tell. I mean, we’re going to see how this all unfolds. This administration has a more proactive agenda for environmental issues in general and clean cars, specifically, than the previous administration. But I have to say you can’t always count on that. Back under the Obama administration, he wanted a million electric vehicles by 2015. It was never going to happen because there weren’t enough vehicles to make it happen. (But) I look at all of these things (Biden is proposing) as positive … a direction that seems to make sense for electrified vehicles.

Cogan drove a GM EV1 for a full year.

TDB: You started publishing Green Car Journal in 1992. Looking back on the last three decades, what were biggest surprises, the things you didn’t count on early on?

Cogan: One of the milestones was the debut of the GM Impact prototype and then the actual production of the GM EV1, I drove one of those for a year. It was an amazing car to be in on the evolution of electric vehicles. It was also interesting to note how hydrogen was big and then (see automakers) backpedaling, Now they’re interested in hydrogen again. It’s gaining momentum again.

One of the (other) things that surprises me is that we’re seeing such a push for electrification, at the extreme high end of both luxury vehicles and sports cars and exotics.

TDB: To wrap up, is the age of the internal combustion engine coming to an end?

Cogan: I don’t think you can discount internal combustion because it keeps getting better and better. And I don’t think you can discount hybrids and plug-in hybrids and focus just on battery-electric vehicles. Those are all a big part of the solution. It may have narrowed from when we started publishing. It’s no longer really about ethanol and natural gas and propane. It’s really about electrification and significantly more efficient internal combustion engines — and a combination of the two. It’s going to be even more exciting in the years ahead seeing how it will play out.

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Krafcik Leaves Waymo After Five Years as CEO

April 2, 2021 admin

Waymo CEO John Krafcik is way gone, announcing his departure and the company’s plans to move the current COO and CTO into the role of co-CEO.

Add “former” to the title of Waymo CEO John Krafcik, who announced today he’s left the company.

The former Hyundai Motor America chief spent five years heading up the autonomous vehicle subsidiary of Google, which, according to his farewell on LinkedIn, “was called ‘Chauffeur’ internally.”

Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov, of whom Krafcik said “having seen their brilliance, vision, and commitment in play for years — I assure you they are very well suited for this,” take over as co-CEOs of the Mountain View, Calif.-based AI-focused company. As is often the case with senior executives, Krafcik will stay on in an advisory capacity.

“So now, with the fully autonomous Waymo One ride-hailing service open to all in our launch area of Metro Phoenix, and with the fifth generation of the Waymo Driver being prepared for deployment in ride-hailing and goods delivery, it’s a wonderful opportunity for me to pass the baton to Tekedra and Dmitri as Waymo’s co-CEOs,” he wrote.

Next steps

Waymo named former COO Tekedra Mawakana as its new co-CEO to replace Krafcik.

Krafcik didn’t offer many details what the future holds, although it could be that he’s uncertain himself. He said he and his wife, Leila, will take a “coupbatical,” which he described as “a refresh period where we look forward to reconnecting with old friends & family, and discovering new parts of the world.

“After that, we’ve got a few ideas for focus and contribution that we’ll flesh out together and share when the time is right. We’ve already relocated to Austin, Texas, and we look forward to seeing some of you there, or on our travels.”

Krafcik once headed up Hyundai’s U.S. operations, helping lead the brand through an image renaissance and a period of rapid growth. He even earned the “Automotive Executive of the Year” in 2013. However, his run there ended in late 2013 after the South Korean automaker declined to renew his contract — despite the accolade.

However, he quickly landed on his feet, taking over as CEO of TrueCar just as the automotive sales and data website was readying to go public. His tenure there was short, however, as he moved on to Waymo, then-Google’s self-driving car project, just a little more than a year later in September 2015.

Dynamic duo

Waymo CTO Dmitri Dolgov joins Mawakana as co-CEO with Krafcik’s departure.

As for the company, Mawakana and Dolgov now step into new roles. Previously the COO and CTO respectively, they are described as having “complementary skill sets and experiences.” Due to the nature of their roles, they’re already accustomed to working together.

Dolgov, who started in autonomy as part of Stanford’s DARPA Urban Challenge team, joined the company in 2009, when it was still referred to as Google’s self-driving car project. Over time, his influence and responsibility grew. He became CTO late in 2016.

Mawakana, joined Waymo as a policy lead. Prior to joining the company in 2017, she led global policy teams at eBay, AOL, Startec and Yahoo, after beginning her career as Washington, D.C.-based law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

Q&A: Unite Digital Chief Strategy Officer Dave Zuchowski

March 25, 2021 admin

Unite Digital’s Dave Zuchowski offered insight into the future of automotive retailing during his session with TheDetroitBureau.

Since the very earliest days of the auto industry, motorists have shopped for cars much the same way as they do today. Or, at least, how they did until the COVID pandemic struck. During the past 12 months there’s been a massive shift to online shopping and few expect to see a return to the previous “norm.”

That’s setting in motion a dramatic transformation on the retail side of the business, starting with what dealers do and how they make money. It’s also expected to bring a sharp decline in the number of dealers serving the U.S. market, with perhaps 30% of today’s retailers closing shop or selling out to chains like AutoNation in the not-too-distant future, says Dave Zuchowski.

Zuchowski has spent four decades in the auto business, including a run as CEO of Hyundai Motor America. After a few years working as a consultant, Zuchowski took a new assignment last year, signing on as the chief strategy officer for Unite Digital, a startup that works with dealers on the challenges of working in a digital retail environment. He spoke to TheDetroitBureau.com about what he sees coming in the new world of automotive retailing.

Impact of the internet

Shopping online rose during the pandemic, and is likely here to stay.

TheDetroitBureau.com: We see more and more car buyers going online, whether to do their homework or to complete a purchase. What are the challenges for dealers?

Zuchowski: Inertia is a huge issue. Dealers are resistant to change because it’s a high-dollar, top-line business. If all else fails, revenue cures a lot of evils. So, they’re very reluctant to change because what they’ve had has worked for a very long time. They’re very reluctant to walk away from what worked and that, to me, is the biggest problem. (But) what really matters is what the consumer wants and the biggest change is that they’re not putting up with what we put up with all these years.

TDB: COVID clearly sped up change on the retail side, didn’t it?

Zuchowski: You have all the overlying conditions (for change) and what happened is that dealers reported record profits in the midst of the pandemic. They went through the process, line by line, and they renegotiated costs. They consolidated jobs and responsibilities. They cut back on inventory. They flattened and streamlined the organization. That happens in a downturn. But what surprised everybody was that consumers really turned out to like shopping at home, having a single point of contact and contactless delivery and concierge services, all the things that came out of necessity.

Dealers saw marketing and inventory costs come down and that let them have very targeted, customized marketing campaigns rather than broad-based campaigns that are extremely expensive and pressure margins and do bad things. They went from a supply-side model to a demand-side model. And they realized that though volume went down, margins came back up. People are willing to pay more for that personal touch, even as expenses go down. Dealers have done this before when the economy goes down. The difference is that this time, with COVID, customers responded very favorably.

More and more dealers are bolstering their online sales resources.

TDB: So, will the car business go the way of Amazon, with everything done online?

Zuchowski: Digital retailing doesn’t mean 100% of the people will do 100% of the transaction online. It means we need to create a parallel path, replicating every sales process that can be done in the store and make it available online. Then you let the consumer decide how much to do in the store and how much to do online. I don’t think 100% will want to do everything online but I think it’ll be the distinct majority in the not-too-distant future. I’m talking three to five years.

Other changes in retailing

TDB: It’s not just the pandemic forcing change in automotive retailing, though. What about the coming age of the electric vehicle? We’ve seen Volvo, for one, say they expect to sell all their future battery-electric cars entirely online.

Zuchowski: The traditional retail model has been push, rather than pull. It’s supply, rather than demand oriented. In other industries, it’s completely the opposite. Traditional dealers have a lot of staff. They’re top heavy, with an average of two managers for every sales person. It’s a structure that’s very expensive and no longer what the consumer wants. They want a single point of contact. They don’t want to go into a store and deal with a salesperson, then negotiate with somebody else and then deal with somebody handling (finance and insurance). They want someone who can handle things, soup to nuts.

TDB: They also want a set, single price, don’t they?

Nissan@Home now allows consumers to handle the entire purchase of a new vehicle online.

Zuchowski: I think “one price” is a misnomer but we certainly have to decrease the variability between transaction prices. Customers know from the internet what a dealer paid for the vehicle so there isn’t nearly as much dependence on negotiations.

The dealership of the future

TDB: What does this mean in terms of the number of dealerships going forward and the number of employees?

Zuchowski: A great question. I firmly believe the 30% of dealers who don’t get it and are slow to react will go out of business or get consolidated. The new number will be 70% of what we have today.

When I started out in 1980 there might have been 24,000, maybe 25,000 dealers and now there’s 17,000. (Long term) it’s probably closer to 12,000. You’ll have dealers controlling entire market areas with one central facility and maybe inventory in a storage area, service in a commercial area and maybe a few boutique-style showrooms in high-traffic areas. You’ll have fewer stores with smaller inventory, fewer service bays. The stores will look different and they’ll go to different locations for different functions. There’ll be fewer individual owners and more dealer groups owning a bunch of stores.

TDB: Will things be different for those dealers who remain?

All pure electric Volvo models to be available online only

Zuchowski: There’s always going to be an important role for the dealer in this country. But that role will change. Dealerships essentially will turn into delivery and service centers. I would be very reluctant to make huge investments if I were a dealer, say, for a new, $5 million facility. The way a dealer will make money down the road will change. And there will different ways to get revenue. But even with volumes going down, margins could go up. They won’t have to carry 1,000 cars in stock and spend $100,000 a month on advertising, for one thing.

TDB: Let’s wrap up by talking used versus new.

Zuchowski: It’s a mistake not to look at the business holistically. Every year about 45 million to 50 million vehicles are being sold and when new cars are doing well used cars are off. And when used cars are doing well new car sales are off.

We’ve had an affordability problem for some time but there’s always been a way around it. We’ve now stretched out payments as far as you can go. And we’ve played with rates, now with the lowest interest rates on record. How many people can afford a $40,000 vehicle, especially if your interest rates aren’t at zero percent? Now, all the new technology isn’t free and there are all the regulations to comply with, and you have to add all that to the price of a vehicle. But we’re running out of ways to manage payments. I think used will gain more steam because new vehicle affordability will become a bigger and bigger problem as interest rates go up.

New Vehicle Sales Slowed in January Despite Improved Retail Results

January 27, 2021 admin

Depressed fleet sales are putting a drag on January’s results, offsetting improved retail results.

Depressed fleet demand continues to hobble the overall demand for new vehicles, leaving the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales in January 5.5% behind year ago levels, according to new estimates by analysts.

Conversely January retail sales are expected to increase slightly, according to TrueCar. U.S. retail deliveries of new cars and light trucks are forecast to see an increase of 0.4% from a year ago when adjusted for the same number of selling days. However, that increase isn’t going to be enough to offset the impact of the depressed fleet market.

TrueCar, the car-buying help service, expects the total SAAR to drop to an annual rate of 15.9 million units from 16.8 million units in January 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the car business into a tailspin.

(New year brings new deals on new cars, trucks and utes.)

“Consumer activity has kept the vehicle market on a strong recovery path in recent months. Retail sales, which generally account for four-out-of-five vehicles sold in the U.S. market, are expected to remain strong in January,” noted a report from Cox Automotive.

The Cox report said positive economic news, coupled with improving consumer confidence, is helping rebuild both interest and ability to buy.

“Entering 2021 with retail sales in line with last year is a big win for the automotive industry,” said Nick Woolard, lead industry analyst at TrueCar.

“However, while retail sales have rebounded, rental fleets remained depressed and continue to interrupt fleet sales. As a result, fleet sales are struggling to come back to pre-pandemic levels and are driving total unit sales down,” Woolard said.

In addition, the average transaction prices for new vehicles are projected to be up 4.2%, or $1,509, from a year ago but down 4.5%, or $1,759, from December 2020. TrueCar projects that U.S. revenue from new vehicle sales will reach approximately $39 billion for January 2021, down 4.4% from a year ago.

(Despite production cuts due to chip shortages vehicle inventory remains stable.)

“The automotive industry continues to reap the benefits of continued strength in retail demand with lower incentive spend.

Improved consumer confidence and other factors continue point to continued retail sales strength.

“A handful of brands such as Ford, Genesis, GMC, Ram and Toyota, appear to be in the coveted quadrant of both retail growth as well as incentive decline. This is mostly driven by new product and being in the right segments or a combination of the two,” added Woolard.

Woolard said average transaction prices have finally come down from the record-setting highs we saw last month but are still higher than this time last year. Of the top carmakers, only Kia has an average transaction price below $30,000, TrueCar reported.

Alain Nana-Sinkam, vice president of Industry Insights at TrueCar, said the trend is most likely to continue so buyers are going to adjust their buying process in response.

“As new vehicle prices rise, we may see more price-conscious shoppers gravitate back towards smaller segments or the used car market due to growing concerns around affordability.”

(Auto sales gain traction as Americans avoid mass transit.)

Fleet sales for January 2021 are expected to be down 23.7% from a year ago but used vehicle sales for January 2021, which are critical for setting the price of leases on new vehicles, are expected to reach 3.2 million, up 1% from a year ago and up 10% from December 2020.

Stellantis Enjoys Warm Welcome from European Investors

January 18, 2021 admin

Stellantis Chairman John Elkann is meeting with the media tomorrow to talk about the company’s future.

Not every merger involving an automaker these days involves a blank-check company. The newly minted tie-up between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and Peugeot S.A. was finalized over the weekend and the resulting company, Stellantis N.V., is enjoying a warm welcome.

At least on the stock market.

The new company’s stock trades on three exchanges and it finished the day on the Paris exchange up nearly 7%, closing at €13.14. It also jumped up 7.7% on the Milan exchange.

The New York Stock Exchange, the third exchange it’s traded on, was not open today due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

(Chrysler is no more as Stellantis comes to life.)

CEO Carlos Tavares has a lot on his corporate plate now that the merger is complete.

The $52 billion merger of near equals creates a massive enterprise with operations on six continents, employs about 400,000 people, sells – at least for the time being – 14 vehicle brands and sells 8.1 million vehicles annually, making it the fourth-largest automaker in the world behind Volkswagen, Toyota and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.

With all of those possibilities, it’s going to take a press conference Tuesday to start revealing what Stellantis will look like now that’s it’s a living, breathing entity. What brands will stay? How many workers will keep their jobs?

People are nervous because the CEO of the new enterprise, Carlos Tavares, has a history of being fearless when it comes to eliminating unprofitable operations and processes in the pursuit of corporate profit. One need only look at how what he did with former General Motors’ subsidiary Opel. A money-loser for a decade, he had it in the black in one year.

(FCA CEO Manley gets new assignment following Stellantis merger.)

“Stellantis faces a mixed outlook as U.S. stimulus plans may buoy Chrysler vs. a more uncertain outlook for Peugeot in Europe,” Michael Dean, BI automotive analyst told Bloomberg. “Former PSA CEO Carlos Tavares takes the helm and, similar to his handling of PSA’s takeover of Opel in 2017, we anticipate a new strategy in the first 100 days of his stewardship. All regions face a difficult 1H amid continued lockdowns.”

Quirky name aside, investors gave Stellantis a warm welcome when it began trading Monday.

The two companies have worked to allay fears of major cutbacks in France and Italy. While top managers have outlined plans to trim costs by $6 billion following the merger, they insist they will be able to do that without closing any plants. They have outlined 40% of those cost savings coming from purchasing, 40% from combining product development efforts, and 20% from marketing and other operations.

However, it’s unclear how Tavares plans to tackle other issues such as improving the company’s performance in China, the world’s largest automotive market, and bolstering its electrification efforts, especially in the aforementioned China as well as in the U.S. Just addressing those two issues are likely to require billions of dollars and euros. Some of plans for these things and more may get touched on Tuesday, Marco Santino, a partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman, told Reuters.

(Fiat Chrysler and PSA not exactly a “merger of equals.”)

“He has proven to be the kind of person who prefers action to words, so I don’t think he will make loud statements or try to over-sell targets,” he said.

FCA-PSA Set to Kick Off New Year With Completion of Merger

January 4, 2021 admin

Fiat Chrysler and PSA shareholders are expected to approve the merger of the two companies forming Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker.

This story has been updated to reflect the merger’s approval in separate votes by Fiat Chrysler and PSA investors.

The deal is done; shareholders at both PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles now have voted to approve a merger creating the world’s fourth-largest automaker by sales volume, Stellantis.

Shareholders overwhelming approved the deal that was first announced in late 2019 — but only received final regulatory approval late last year. The $58 billion deal won an “Aye” vote from 99.15% of FCA shareholders, while 99.85% of PSA investors approved of the deal during an online meeting. Following the vote, the two companies said the merger process is expected to be completed by January 16.

Officials with the two companies have promised that the merger will yield a significantly stronger automaker, helping drive down manufacturing costs while also making it easier to prepare for the many changes set to sweep through the auto industry in the coming decade, notably the shift to electrified and autonomous vehicles. But the merger also raises numerous questions, starting with the broad range of brands each of the new partners bring to Stellantis. There has been widespread speculation that the new company could eliminate some of the weaker marques, including FCA’s namesakes, Fiat and Chrysler.

(FCA CEO Manley won’t be on the board after merger with PSA is completed.)

Carlos Tavares, PSA (left) and Mike Manley, FCA, shake hands following the signing of the merger agreement between the two companies in 2019.

“Stellantis will be a sort of conglomerate of brands, some great and some not so good and most very regional,” wrote Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois. “The merger will be a good opportunity for a reset.”

The auto industry has been facing enormous pressures in recent years and FCA’s former CEO, the late Sergio Marchionne, began looking for an additional alliance partner even before completing the merger that formed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles a decade ago. During his tenure the plan was rebuffed by some of the industry’s giants, including Volkswagen and General Motors. It was Marchionne’s successor, Mike Manley, who took things a step further.

Manley came within hours of completing a merger with the largest French automaker, Renault, but the deal unraveled just before it was set to be announced. Months later, FCA made the surprise announcement that it was talking with PSA, parent of brands including Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Vauxhall.

A formal plan was announced in December 2019 but it faced a variety of challenges, including issues raised by the coronavirus pandemic. Nonetheless, the process moved forward, the proposed partners clearing the last regulatory hurdles as 2020 drew to a close.

Under the agreement, FCA’s Chairman John Elkann – heir to Fiat’s founding Agnelli family – will retain that title at Stellantis. So too will Carlos Tavares, the highly regarded CEO who has been credited with turning around the French company since joining it six years ago, keep his role. Significantly, PSA was able to put the Opel/Vauxhall unit into the black

FCA CEO Mike Manley will not retain a seat on the board of directors after the merger.

within a year after acquiring the German-based operation from General Motors. Under GM, Opel had been in the red for nearly two decades.

(FCA, PSA pick name for post-merger company: Stellantis.)

Nonetheless, PSA has plenty of challenges of its own. Among other things, it is trying to find the formula for returning to the critical U.S. market it left nearly three decades ago.

As Stellantis, the new enterprise will need to move quickly to catch up with key competitors racing to bring electric vehicles to market. These include not only established manufacturers such as VW and GM but new entrants like Tesla and Lucid.

The partners set some tough goals going into the final phase of the merger. Early on, officials estimated they could squeeze out savings of 3.7 billion euros, or $4.5 billion, through various efficiencies. They later upped that to 5 billion euros, or about $6.1 billion. But the pandemic has made the business of forecasting, whether unit sales, revenues or earnings, exceedingly difficult. And the expectation of analysts, such as IHS Markit, is that it will take to nearly mid-decade before global sales come close to pre-pandemic levels.

The industry has been seeing an acceleration of mergers, acquisitions and less overarching joint ventures and alliances in recent years. But FCA provides a textbook example of how they don’t always pan out. The U.S. side, Chrysler entered into a supposed “merger of equals” in 1998 but, a decade later, found itself discarded by the German side of DaimlerChrysler AG. It would have been allowed to go bankrupt by the Obama administration in 2009 were it not for Fiat pulling together a rescue plan.

Fiat Chairman John Elkann will retain the same role in a merged company.

Then, under CEO Marchionne, FCA spent years chasing an even bigger alliance.

Curiously, the company that originally defined the concept of “bigger-is-better” reversed course following its own brush with Chapter 11. GM not only sold off the endlessly struggling Opel unit but also pulled out of an assortment of once important markets, including Australia, Russia and South Africa. After the formation of Stellantis, GM will slide back one spot and become only the world’s fifth-largest automotive manufacturer.

(FCA, PSA formally lock merger into place.)

“The auto industry has been chasing size and consolidation for years, but it’s been slower in coming than many would like to see,” Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois told investors. “The question is whether GM, Toyota and Renault-Nissan have provided evidence that there may be limits to this strategy.”

Auto-Themed Book an Ideal a Last-Minute Gift for the Car Fan on Your List

December 15, 2020 admin

If you need a last-minute gift for the automotive fan on your list, one of these books may fit the bill.

Editor’s Note: Finding that perfect item for the car nut on your shopping list gets tougher and tougher every year. TheDetroitBureau will be offering up some suggestions during the next few days in hopes spreading some holiday cheer — or easing the headache associated sometimes associated with gift giving.

Books are a favored choice for gifts during the holiday season, particularly the last-minute variety. The list of books aimed at gearheads is exceptionally long with plenty of amazing options for the automotive maven on your shopping list.

However, in recent months, several new titles have appeared, paying homage to storied brands, taking an in-depth look at motorsports and even examining junkyards.

With the number of days left the calendar to get gifts dwindling, here’s a list of some of the best of new automotive-focus books that could move you from Grinch to the Greatest with the simple swipe of a credit card.

(Zoox’s new “toaster” may be the EV of the future.)

Hemi Muscle Cars 70 Years: Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth High Performance. Darwin Holstrom. 190 pages. Quarto Publishing Group.

One of the best elements of this book is that it places the muscle cars from Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth in a historical context and ties those vehicles back to wider design and automotive traditions. I especially liked the fact that the author, who has written other collection-style books on Gibson Guitars and Indian Motorcycles, makes the writing is straightforward and accessible.

In addition, the book includes a broad selection of photographs of many vehicles built over the past seven decades from a variety of sources. An interesting book for both fans and for anyone interested in muscle cars.

Junkyard: Behind the Gates at California’s Secretive European-Car Salvage Yard. By Dieter Rebmann/Roland Lowisch. 176 Pages. HEEL Verlag gmbh.

Southern California has rich tradition of serving as the is setting for mystery stories and the German-based team delve into one that is set amid region’s rich and varied automotive culture. The text tells the story a German-born immigrant who settled in Los Angeles and built a business out scrap by buying up the wrecks of the European-made cars he found around LA.

The pictures by Dieter Rebmann, a long-time photographer, whose list of commercial clients includes, VW, Bose Bugatti and Daimler, turn the landscape of the space that Klein created in South Central L.A. into a work of art that could grace the coffee table of anyone interested in automotive culture or impressive photography.

(First Drive; 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E.)

Volkswagen Beetles and Buses: Smaller and Smarter. Russell Hayes. 176 pages. Quarto Publishing Group.

Even if you are not Volkswagen fan, the books are bound to bring a smile to your face simply because the quirky, off-beat design of the Beetle and the legendary VW Bus seemed to be such a departure from traditional automotive design.

The text by Russell Hayes, a veteran London-based automotive journalist, delves into the history of both vehicles going all the way back to the 1930s. But it also builds out into a history of the design push-pull that led to the re-emergence of Beetle in the years after World War II and its continuous evolution that turned it into a global icon.

The VW Bus initially came from Volkswagen effort to meet the demand for an economical vehicle that could be used for inexpensive travel and camping, which became popular with a cash-strapped population in the post-war years. One of the book’s shortcomings is that while there are a lot of historical snapshots in the book, overall, the photography is rather bland.

Shadow: The Magnificent Machines of a Man of Mystery: By Peter Lyons. 463 Pages. Evro Publishing.

Fans of auto racing invariably get hooked on the drivers or the machines or even the team owners if the develop if the cars develop a reputation for invincibility. But this book, by a writer with a long career chronicling motorsports, tells the story of an underdog whose teams and cars took on the giants of auto racing in the 1970s. Donald Robert Nichols’ small, under-resourced teams succeeded in literally making a race of it any number of series, including Formula One where money is often a decisive factor in determining who wins and who loses. It is a compelling story, but the author, who enjoyed unique access to Nichols and his colleagues as the photographs demonstrate, is underserved by his editors.

100 Years of Bentley. By Andrew Noakes. 240 Pages. Quatro Publishing.

Bentley is one of the most celebrated marques in the automotive world and throughout the past century it has retained its aristocratic bearing despite the vicissitudes of the global automotive industry. The book tells the story from the beginning, starting with the company’s founder, W.O. Bentley, a railroad engineer by trade.

The story told in the book is artfully illustrated with photographs, drawings and other types of material that helps brings the story to life. The photographs, many of them drawn from Bentley’s archives, have the feel of fashion photography found in glossy magazines such as Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar. The book also comes with a slip cover suitable for a coffee table.

(FCA begins new era with production of first Jeep Wrangler 4xe.)

The Complete Book of Classic MG Cars. By Ross Alkureishi. 238 Pages. Quatro Publishing Group.

The first MG was built in 1924, according to this chronicle of the fabled MG marque. The book celebrates the company’s history of producing a long line of sports cars that have come to define the automobile for generations of motorists.

The book lays out MG’s history model by model and includes descriptions of the technology and specifications of virtually every model. The chronicle could have been rather plodding but the author, a British automotive journalist, manages to artfully keep the story moving forward to the early days of the 20^th century when the Rover Group – than the owner of MG – ran aground and ownership was transferred to Chinese hands. While the MG name has been eclipsed, it has never died, which makes the book so interesting.

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FCA CEO Manley Says Hybrid Wrangler Arriving By End of 2020

June 26, 2020 admin

FCA CEO Mike Manley told attendees at the company’s annual shareholder meeting held online that the new Jeep Wrangler would be here by the end of 2020.

After sitting on the sidelines when it came to electric vehicles and their derivatives Fiat Chrysler revealed it’s now in the game with the introduction of the Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid.

FCA CEO Mike Manley discussed the importance of the new entry during the company’s annual general meeting held online Friday. Prior to the Wrangler, the company’s only real efforts at electrification were the current Chrysler Pacifica hybrid and a past iteration of the Fiat 500e.

That vehicle was so reviled by then-CEO Sergio Marchionne, he implored people not to buy it because he said the company lost too much money on the sale of each vehicle. The new Wrangler hybrid will usher in a new era at FCA.

(Jeep bringing three plug-in hybrids to CES.)

“Jeep’s icon the Wrangler will arrive on the market with a 4xe version that will be on the front line of our electrification strategy in North America,” he said during the automaker’s annual general meeting held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Detroit News.

All Jeep plug-in hybrids will adopt this badge in the future, starting with the new Wrangler hybrid.

Going forward, all electrified Jeep products will carry a special “4xe” badge. Now the arrival of the hybrid Wrangler wasn’t really a surprise, as had been discussed for some time and made an earlier appearance at CES in Las Vegas in January.

No real details were given at the time, but now Manley said it will be available in the U.S. by the end of this year. China and Europe will get it sometime in the first quarter of 2021. Manley didn’t offer up what Jeep models are next to be electrified, if you will.

(Click Here for an earlier look at Jeep’s PHEV plans.)

However, at CES the Wrangler was joined by Compass and Renegade hybrid vehicles. It wasn’t even the first real event for those vehicles either, Jeep having teased versions of the Compass and Renegade plug-ins last year.

The new Jeep Wrangler hybrid is slated to arrive at the end of 2020.

If it hasn’t torn up those original plans, we can expect to see the new plug-in hybrids deliver up to 31 miles range and the ability to operate at speeds up to 62 mph in all-electric mode. The gas and electric power sources, the brand said last year, combine to deliver about 240 horsepower.

The hybrids are critical to the commitment to offer electrified versions of all Jeeps by 2022 to meeting tougher carbon emissions standards in other parts of the world. Orders for the plug-in Jeep Compass and Renegade crossovers in Europe will start in by early July.

(FCA makes splash at SEMA as Jeep takes 4×4 award.)

Manley did not talk about the brand’s larger, pricier models, which will need to find a place for a plug sooner rather than later, especially the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, which will be built in Warren, Michigan.

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