Stellantis – TurboSaga.com – For The Boundary Pushing Automotive Enthusiast

Stellantis Showing Grand Cherokee 4xe, Chrysler Concept at CES 2022

Attendees at CES 2022 in Las Vegas will get their first in-person look at the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe as well as a concept car called the Chrysler Airflow as Stellantis looks make an impact on the highly influential show.

The Stellantis booth diagram at CES 2022 seems to lack vehicles from some of their brands, including Dodge and Ram.

Stellantis will showcase its salvo in electrification with more than just the Grand Cherokee 4xe, displaying vehicles spanning all of the company’s 14 brands, and featuring not just electrification, but autonomy and connectivity — technology that has been largely absent from its portfolios.

“The future of mobility is fueled by technology,” said Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO, in a statement. “Electrification, with our 30 electrified models available including fuel cell vans, connectivity and autonomy are all important facets of that future.”

Four platforms underpin Stellantis’s future

In July, Stellantis announced over €30 billion of investments in electrification and software through 2025 to execute its ambitious transformation.

The company’s show of force at CES is proof of the company’s massive product makeover. Going forward, battery-electric vehicles will use one of four platforms: STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA large, and STLA Frame. The platforms are designed to accept a variety of drivelines.

Of 14 brands, Jeep’s the star

Despite its wide array of brands, the company appears to be focusing most on Jeep.

2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit 4xe charging — Stellantis is showing the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe, shown here in Summit trim charging, at CES 2022 in Las Vegas.

Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe: Given that Jeep has already announced “Zero Emission Freedom,” its plan to offer a fully electric Jeep vehicle in every SUV segment by 2025, the arrival of the first Grand Cherokee plug-in hybrid electric model is no surprise. It’s expected to deliver 25 miles of all-electric range, while returning 57 MPGe. That’s impressive for an SUV with 375 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque.

When it comes to technology performance, the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee is equipped with a 10.1-inch display, Uconnect 5, an operating speed that’s five times faster than its predecessor, and equipped to handle over-the-air updates. Front passengers get a 10.25-inch touchscreen, while those in back can have 10.1-inch displays. And Amazon Fire TV streaming is built-in. Jeep will offer the Grand Cherokee 4xe in four trim levels: Limited, Trailhawk, Overland and Summit. The 4xe will not be offered on base Laredo models.

Stellantis will emphasize its new Wagoneer luxury sub-brand at CES, with a display that fills a quarter if the booth.

Jeep Wrangler 4xe: Adding an exclamation point to the Grand Cherokee 4xe is the Wrangler 4xe, which provides 21 miles of pure electric driving, not bad for a vehicle that will take you to the edge of civilization. Power comes from a 2.0-liter inline-4 and two electric motors that generate 375 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque, enough to tow 3,500 pounds.

There’s also a conventional hybrid mode that blends power from both the gas engine and electric motors. A third, “e-Save” mode puts a priority on recapturing energy normally lost during braking and coasting to build up the battery pack’s charge.

Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer: Jeep’s new luxury sub-brand is not expected to be shown in 4xe trim. But the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer is loaded with cutting-edge technology, with up to seven screens, including a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, a 12.1-inch infotainment touchscreen, a third screen for the front seat passenger, two video screens for the second row and another for the third row.

Integrated Amazon Fire TV, and a 1,375 watt, 23-speaker McIntosh sound system rounds out its tech package. Opting for the less-flashy Wagoneer nets an SUV powered by a 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 with a 48-volt hybrid system, delivering 392 hp and 404 lb-ft of torque, and returns an EPA fuel economy rating of up to 16 mpg city and 22 mpg highway.

Is a reimagined Chrysler on the way?

Chrysler Airflow concept CES 2022 — Stellantis is looking to make a splash at CES with the Chrysler Airflow Concept. The company only released this computerized image of the vehicle.

Chrysler Airflow: Details are sparse on this concept, which we reported on a year ago. Bravely resurrecting the name of the failed, but innovative, 1934 model, Stellantis is saying little about the Airflow concept, other than it is “leading the brand’s transformation to clean mobility and seamlessly connected customer experiences.”

We do know that it uses the underpinnings of the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan suggests it could readily be brought to market. Currently Chrysler has two models: the Pacifica and the aging 300. Certainly, the brand’s lack of a clear image and its meager product line-up are ripe for a radical revision, and whatever the Airflow has to offer could be the first step in a reimagining of the brand. More is expected to be revealed at CES, but initial images reveal a concept with has a steeply raked windshield linked to an equally aggressive back end by a coupe-like roofline.

A possible lifeline for Fiat

Fiat 500 and Chrysler Airflow concept CES 2022 — The auto company plans to show the new Fiat 500, left, as well as the Chrysler Airflow Concept at the show.

New Fiat 500: While no longer sold in the U.S., despite the presence of Fiat dealers. Unlike the previous electrified 500, dubbed the 500e and sold only in California, the New 500 has a range of up to 199 miles, not the 87-mile range that proved so impractical on the 500e, and comes equipped with an 85-kW fast charge.

Whether it will be brought to the U.S. remains unknown. Fiat dealers have one model in their current U.S. line-up, the 500X, which might explain why they’ve only sold 2,107 vehicles in the first 9 months of 2021. Given its meager line-up, the future of this brand in the U.S. remains questionable. Without new models, such as the New Fiat 500, the risk of consumers being stuck with an orphan will continue to smother sales.

A strong French presence

Stellantis will also display three vehicles by brands not currently sold in the U.S. Perhaps the most intriguing is the Citroën Ami, a diminutive two-seat urban EV that uses symmetrical parts to keep costs down. Its cube-like shape maximizes its interior shape, and its tiny footprint allows it to recharge in three hours. There’s also the Citroën Skate Mobility Concept, a skateboard platform that can be used as a base for different pods that go on top of it. The company sees this as an autonomous mobility solution in urban centers.

A bit more excitement comes in the form of DS, a Citroën luxury sub-brand that was spun off as a standalone brand in 2015. They are showing the DS E-Tense FE21, a two-time defending champion in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Weighing a mere 1,984 pounds, its 52-kWh battery helps generate 338-hp, resulting in a 2.8-second 0-60 mph time. Sacrebleu!

Other brands MIA — so far

Curiously, Stellantis said nothing about Ram, Dodge, Alfa Romeo, Maserati or others under the Stellantis umbrella. What those brands will display remains to be seen — or not. It is possible that Stellantis is seeking to emphasize Chrysler, so the absence of those brands leaves bandwidth for the Airflow to garner significant press.

Stellantis’s display can be seen virtually on Jan. 3, 2022.

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Automakers Suspend Operations, Change Equipment Due to Chip Shortage

Ford is temporarily suspending production at its Kansas City assembly plant to deal with the shortage.

Automakers continue to search for ways to deal with the semiconductor chip shortage impacting the industry on a global scale.

Most companies cut back production and shift available chip inventory to high-profit vehicles like pickup trucks. Seemingly no automaker is immune to the problem, including pricey luxury and sports car makers. Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and others all recently announced moves to deal with the shortage.

This week is not different with Daimler, Stellantis and Subaru reporting today they are taking new measures to account for current run of chip shortages, both in the U.S. and in other facilities around the world.

New announcements

Ford plans to extend the shutdowns at plants that build its F-150, Ford Transit, Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, Ford Edge/Lincoln Nautilus and Ford Mustang. The Kansas City Assembly Plant that builds its top-selling F-150 and Transit commercial van suspend operations for the weeks of May 3 and 10. It’s currently closed down.

GM is slowing production of its van at its Wentzville plant to deal with the chip shortage.

The Flat Rock, Michigan plant, which builds the Mustang, and Chicago plant that builds the Explorer and Aviator will also be down the first two weeks of next month. They’ve been down since the week of April 12, according to Automotive News.

The company plans to continue the reduced production of its Super Duty and medium-duty trucks at the Ohio Assembly Plant near Cleveland.

General Motors plans to move its Wentzville (Missouri) Assembly plant from three shifts to just two on a temporary basis starting the week of April 26. It’s cutting van production at the site. Production of its midsize pickups, the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon, are unaffected. The company just restarted operations at the facility last week after a two-week shutdown.

Other moves

In what may be the most novel approach to dealing with the issue thus far, Stellantis is using analog speedometers in some its Peugeot models instead of the digital ones they would normally come equipped with.

Daimler is cutting hours for 18,500 workers at two plants in Germany as it waits for more chips.

The move affects only the Peugeot 308, Reuters reported, which are built in France. The brand sold about 98,000 of the 308 model last year. The 308 is being phased out this fall in favor of a new vehicle. The company may reduce the price as a result of the less advanced speedo.

Daimler plans to reduce hours for 18,500 employees and idle production at its Bremen and Rastatt plants in Germany. Bremen builds the C-Class as well as the GLC, GLC Coupe and the all-electric EQC. The Rastatt plant produces the A-Class hybrid as well as the A-Class sedan, B-Class and GLA compact SUV.

Japanese automaker Subaru Corp. revealed plans to temporarily suspend production at its plant in Lafayette, Indiana. The closure will be in place until the end of April, according to officials. It will affect about 15,000 vehicles for North America, officials noted. The company builds the Ascent, Outback, Legacy and Impreza at the site.

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Stellantis Employee Absenteeism Slowing Truck Production

Stellantis is facing higher than normal absentee rates at its Sterling Heights (MI) Assembly Plant due to COVID. The plant produces Ram pickups.

The surge in COVID-19 cases in Michigan has driven up the rate of absenteeism at a key Stellantis truck plant while the impact from the catastrophic winter weather in Texas also is creating problems for the auto company.

Facebook posts over the weekend indicated that as many as 700 employees at Stellantis’ Sterling Heights Assembly plant, where the Ram 1500 is built, have called in sick because of exposure to COVID-19 slowing production inside the plant. Stellantis acknowledged the company is seeing an increase in cases among employees.

“We continue to be aggressive in following recommended guidelines for contact tracing,” the company said in a statement. “We also continue to strongly encourage our employees to follow the same health and safety measures whenever they are out and about.”

Employees in auto plants are eligible for vaccination under Centers for Disease Control guidelines, which deemed their jobs as essential. However, while urging all employees to get vaccinated, UAW President Rory Gamble said he does not favor making vaccinations mandatory.

Weld curtains hang across the door line at the Sterling Heights plant to protect employees from the spread and transmission of COVID-19.

Stellantis production hit

Like General Motors and Ford, Stellantis has been forced to curb temporarily production at several North American plants including the Warrant Truck plant, just north of Detroit, which is scheduled to remain shut through May.

In addition, the Belvidere Assembly plant in Illinois where the Jeep Cherokee is made and in Ontario both Brampton Assembly, where the company builds its muscle cars, and the Windsor Assembly plant where the Stellantis builds the Chrysler Pacifica are down temporarily until the end of April. The company’s assembly plant in Toluca, Mexico that builds the Jeep Compass is also temporarily idled.

In court papers filed as part of a lawsuit in federal court in Detroit, Stellantis also could be forced to shutter production at the Jefferson North plant in Detroit where it builds the highly profitable Jeep Grand Cherokee also could threatened by the shortage of semiconductors.

Court fight about semiconductors

Stellantis is shutting down its Windsor plant due to the semiconductor shortage.

However, a federal judge declined to grant an injunction that would have compelled a Dutch company to furnish semiconductors to a supplier that builds HVAC controls for Stellantis.

The supplier, JVIS-USA, asked for an injunction that would have forced NXP to provide more chips to its operations. Without the chips the Jefferson North plant is in danger of an “imminent shutdown.”

However, NXP showed it does not have any semiconductors because its partner plant in Texas was shut following a severe winter storm in Texas that battered the state’s electric grid.

Until now most of the coverage on the semiconductor’s shortage revolved around the shortage of chips made in Taiwan but the lawsuit makes clear that the problems in Texas have exacerbated the problem.

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Plant Shutdowns Extend into April for Detroit Automakers

Ford canceled overtime shifts at its Kansas City Assembly plant’s truck line for April, May and part of June.

The shortage of semiconductors is forcing Detroit’s automakers to trim production, including production of pickup trucks that are increasingly short supply, in the mid-April.

Ford Motor Co. has already gone through a series of forced shutdowns due to the ongoing shortage. The company said this week it is closing the Dearborn Truck Plant, one of the company’s flagship facilities. It will be down the weeks of April 5 and April 12. In addition, the company cancelled super shifts — the company’s term for overtime shifts — the weeks of April 26, May 10, May 31 and June 21.

At the Kansas City Assembly Plant, the company is shutting down the truck side only the week of April 5. It cancelled super shifts at KCAP Truck side the weeks of April 12, April 19, April 26, May 3, May 10, May 17, June 7 and June 14. The Transit side is canceling super shifts for the weeks of April 5, April 12 and April 19.

Ford hit hard by shortage

The Louisville Assembly Plant, which builds utility vehicles, will be down the weeks of April 12 and 19.

Stellantis is temporarily shutting down its Windsor plant due to the semiconductor shortage.

Ford also said two other plants, Chicago Assembly, where the company builds the Ford Explorer, is canceling a super shift for the week of April 5, while the Ohio Assembly Plant, near Cleveland, where the company builds heavy-duty pickup truck is canceling super shifts for the weeks of April 12 and April 26.

In Canada, Ford’s Oakville Assembly Complex in Oakville, Ontario, where the Ford Edge is built, will be down the weeks of April 12, April 19 and April 26 due to the shortage of semiconductors.

Stellantis forced to shutdown

Stellantis said its North American operations continue to work closely with its suppliers to mitigate the manufacturing impacts caused by the various supply chain issues facing our industry as It announced another round of temporary plant.

The Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois, the Warren Truck plant in suburban Detroit, Toluca Assembly Plant in Mexico, and Canadian plants in Brampton and Windsor, Ontario, will be shut through the middle of middle of April, Stellantis said in a statement.

General Motors truck plants carry on

The company says it’s doing all it can to continue building full-size pickup trucks. However, the GM said the Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas, where the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4 and the CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, where GM Builds the Chevrolet Equinox will be shut through mid-April.

GM’s CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, builds the Chevy Equinox and will be shutdown through mid-April.

“We continue to work closely with our supply base to find solutions for our suppliers’ semiconductor requirements and to mitigate impact on GM,” the company said in a statement e-mailed to TheDetroitBureau.com. “Our intent is to make up as much production lost at these plants as possible.”

Automakers are either facing or about to face some tough times when it comes to sales, which were very strong in March, according to at least one analyst.

“On a SAAR level, March auto sales are shaping up to meet or exceed Pre-Covid levels. The big rebound from the prior month was assisted by stimulus and pent-up demand from weather impacts in February. However, the stronger sales results are bumping against ongoing production issues, creating what could be a volatile demand environment over the next few months,” Chris Hopson, manager, North American light vehicle forecast, IHS Markit.

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Stellantis Plans No Job or Brand Cuts, Expects to Have 39 “Electrified” Vehicles by End-2021

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Chairman John Elkann are all smiles during the official debut of the new company.

Despite aims of achieving about $6 billion in synergies through the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s Group PSA, there are no plans to drop brands or eliminate jobs, Carlos Tavares, the CEO of newly formed Stellantis, declared Tuesday.

If anything, the company expects to see opportunities to enhance the performance of its 14 brands and gain traction in markets and market segments where it is weak, Tavares said during a nearly two-hour media briefing. But the Portugese-born executive did warn that “headwinds” could force Stellantis to pull back in some places, notably Latin America, if it can’t maintain a profitable business strategy.

“Our commitment on this merger is that we will not shut down plants as a consequence of the merger,’’ Tavares said, later adding that there are no plans to eliminate any brands, either, though a formal strategy for rebuilding some of the weaker marques, such as U.S.-based Chrysler and Italy’s Fiat and Alfa Romeo, is still in the works.

(Stellantis enjoys warm welcome from European investors.)

The merger was formally announced in December 2019 but took more than a year to pull together as FCA and PSA not only negotiated terms but also had to deal with unions and regulators around the world. The final details fell in place last month and shareholders from the two companies each voted in favor of completing the deal by margins of more than 99%.

Workers take the covers off the new Stellantis sign at North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

The merger created what is now the world’s fourth-largest automotive manufacturer, behind Toyota, Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. And its size, diverse brand, product and market portfolios will serve as “a shield” said Tavares. That “helps keep affordability, helps keep the customer base and helps prevent bad things from happening.”

Tuesday’s lengthy media session was aimed at providing a sense of the direction Tavares sees for Stellantis while also addressing some of the many questions that have popped up during the last 13 months.

There has been widespread speculation that brands such as Fiat and Chrysler could be eliminated considering the challenges of maintaining a portfolio of 14 separate marques. But Tavares insisted Stellantis is up to the job, pointing to how it has handled its acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall from General Motors. Prior to that deal, the German-based unit had run up nearly two decades of losses. But it was profitable within a year of the purchase, Tavares noted.

One of the keys to the merger will be taking advantage of scale, the CEO said. That will allow more efficiency in product development and purchasing – which should yield 80% of the 5 billion euros in “synergies” Tavares has promised.

For one thing, weaker brands will benefit by being able to share product platforms and components developed for the broader enterprise – though Tavares stressed that it will be essential to make sure buyers can clearly differentiate between what he described as “sister cars,” say, Dodge, Fiat and Peugeot models that share the same underpinnings.

A mix of new and old with the new Stellantis sign in the foreground and the Chrysler Pentastar in the background.

“The importance is scale and the opportunity to purchase more effectively,” said Stephanie Brinley, principal analyst with IHS Markit, adding that Stellantis “also will benefit from having more cash that can be used to develop systems for more vehicles than (FCA and PSA) each could have done alone.”

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

That should prove particularly important when it comes to developing the electrified and autonomous vehicles that are expected to radically transform the globally transportation industry over the coming decade. While it’s unclear how soon self-driving technology will be ready for market, EVs are expected to gain significant traction over the next several years, Tavares expecting that they “will represent more than one-third of vehicle sales, possibly more in Europe,” by the end of the decade.

“Our company will have to be carbon neutral,” Tavares said, adding that he expects the new Biden administration will push for further reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. “This is going to be at the core of our long-term strategic plan.”

At the time of the merger – officially completed last weekend – Stellantis had 29 electrified vehicles, ranging from hybrids to plug-ins to pure battery-electric vehicles. Just by the end of 2021, Tavares revealed, that will grow to 39 models. And, by 2025, he said, “There will be electrified versions of all new models.”

What Tavares and Mike Manley, then CEO of FCA, started is now complete.

How many of those will be BEVs, however, he did not reveal, raising his concerns about the higher cost of producing all-electric vehicles and how that could price some traditional buyers out of the new vehicle market.

The reality is that many key strategic decisions have yet to be formalized, Tavares indicated during the Tuesday briefing. That includes how to prop up weaker brands and improve the presence of Stellantis in weaker markets. That notably includes China, where neither FCA nor PSA were strong players. Latin America is another challenging region — as was underscored by Ford’s announcement last week that it will end manufacturing operations in Brazil.

While analyst Brinley said she believes Stellantis can largely hold to its early goals, especially finding ways to maintain its current brand portfolio, she said the company ultimately might wind up cutting some jobs. But she doesn’t think factory workers are the ones who should be concerned.

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

“There will be some areas where there will be job redundancies,” though not in plants, said Brinley. More likely this could occur in places like marketing and purchasing, and even some in engineering, “operational areas where they just won’t need as many employees” as they did when FCA and PSA operated independently.

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Chrysler is No More as Stellantis Comes to Life

Is this the last logo that will use the Chrysler name?

Chrysler is dead.

Perhaps a bit dramatic, but nevertheless, the merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and Peugeot S.A. became effective today, resulting in Stellantis N.V. Shares of the newly formed Stellantis begin trading on exchanges in France, Italy and the U.S. starting Monday. All will use the ticker symbol STLA.

The deal has been going through extensive regulatory approvals, twin shareholder votes and the necessary dottings of i’s and crossings of t’s for more than a year.

As of today, that means that for the first time since June 6, 1925, when it was founded by Walter P. Chrysler, the Chrysler name will no longer exist as a corporate entity.

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

Stellantis is alive! The company’s stock begins trading on three exchanges Monday.

In many ways, the Chrysler name was a survivor. The company’s been through a variety of mergers, potential mergers and bankruptcies. It escaped the “merger of equals,” DaimlerChrysler from the late 1990s.

It was essentially spared its life when the late Sergio Marchionne swooped in and offered to keep it going if the U.S. government would help it through bankruptcy in 2009. The final deal got done with Chrysler Group LLC becoming part of FCA US LLC to follow

the naming convention of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. on Dec. 16, 2014.

Chrysler Corp. fought its way through several near misses when it came to mergers as potential deals with Japanese automaker Mitsubishi, China’s GAC and most recently an effort to merge with Peugeot’s French rival, Renault S.A., a deal that was reportedly scuttled after demands by the French government, which holds an ownership stake in Renault, were too much for then FCA CEO Mike Manley to accept.

(Fiat, PSA set to get EU go-ahead to complete Stellantis merger.)

Then there was the effort by the aforementioned Marchionne to find a partner for FCA, seemingly almost any partner would do. He approached General Motors and was promptly rebuffed. He reportedly got the same treatment from Volkswagen. There was even a rumored dalliance with EV behemoth Tesla, which would have bolstered FCA’s basically non-existent electric vehicle program.

The arrival of Stellantis means for the first time in 95 years the Chrysler name won’t be on a corporate marquee.

It also survived a previous bankruptcy in the late 1970s, paying off the loans early with its charismatic CEO Lee Iacocca, who came over from Ford, helping to lead the company’s charge back to prosperity. Chrysler did enjoy one major merger success when it acquired American Motors in 1987, including – and especially – the Jeep brand.

In fact, no one seems certain what the future holds for the Chrysler name period. Early in the process, officials said that all brands would be retained, but time and economics often change the equation and currently, the Chrysler brand offers just two products: the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and 300 sedan. Neither are in segments that are seeing sales gains.

To be fair, there’s been some speculation about the survival of the Fiat name in the same vein. Fiat’s been around even longer, founded in Turin, Italy in 1899. In the U.S., it’s only offering the 500X in 2021.

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

The Chrysler name isn’t the only vestige of FCA seemingly taking a step back as its CEO Mike Manley is no longer in charge, that duty going to PSA’s Carlos Tavares nor will he be on the board of directors as John Elkann, FCA’s chairman, will take that spot as the chairman of the new Stellantis. Manley, 56, is now Head of the Americas.

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