Fiat and Chrysler are in danger

Stellantis includes 14 brands and some of them may die, Tesla delivers a Model Y made in China, as well as seniors. All this and more The morning shift by January 19, 2021.

1st gear: some Stellantis Marques seem likely to die

Stellantis, which is what the merger of Fiat Chrysler and the PSA Group has called, includes 14 different brands. Let them run: Fiat, Chrysler, Peugeot, Opel, Jeep, Maserati, Dodge, Ram, Citroën, DS, Alfa Romeo, Vauxhall, Abarth and Lancia.

You forgot Opel and DS, I know. Everything is fine, it’s a safe space, you can admit it. In short, that’s a lot of brands! Probably one or more of them will die in the United States, according to Automotive News. Two of the most vulnerable brands appear to be Fiat and Chrysler:

The strengths of the post-merger plan in North America are no secret: produce as many Ram pickups as possible and propel Jeep to higher prices and new segments.

But Stellantis executives will need to determine how the rest of FCA’s extensive brand list fits into the long-term puzzle and whether cuts need to be made.

Chrysler is reduced to two minivan nameplates and the aging 300 sedan. Alfa Romeo is seeing signs of life – its US sales increased 1.6% in a declining market last year – but volumes are low for the Giulia sedan and the Stelvio crossover.

Fiat has hung on to its line of small cars, but the slowdown in sales has plummeted amid the pandemic, falling by more than half last year to just 4,303 vehicles. Meanwhile, Dodge has carved a niche for itself as a muscular brand, but it lacks electrified offerings, and two of its three nameplates still in production are cars in a heavily SUV-oriented market and crossovers.

Add the seven brands that Groupe PSA is contributing to the merger, and some rationalization seems likely. But killing an FCA brand wouldn’t be an easy decision or process, even though almost none of the company’s dealers are single-brand stores that would be left out.

“You have to be very careful if you plan to kill a brand as a parent company,” said Karl Brauer, executive analyst for iSeeCars.com, a used car research site. “I am looking at two brands like Fiat and Chrysler. It certainly seems easy to imagine them leaving, that they are not justified given their sales volume and market share. But I also feel all these rules that we would normally have assumed [FCA] are now different due to the merger with PSA. “

Dodge is the “muscle brand”. For some reason I can’t stop saying “muscle mark” in my head.

2nd gear: more Stellantis

Investors love the merger. For the moment.

Of Reuters:

Stellantis, the automaker created by combining Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot-owned PSA, got off to a positive start on Monday, with shares rising 8% when they debuted in the European market and valuing the company at around € 42 billion. ($ 51 billion).

[…]

“We have the scale, the resources, the diversity and the know-how to successfully seize the opportunities of this new era in transportation,” President John Elkann said in a video on the Borsa Italiana website to mark the occasion.

Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said the merger would add € 25 billion in shareholder value over the years, thanks to planned cost reductions.

“I can tell you that from day one the focus will be on creating value that is the result of implementing these synergies,” Tavares said in the same video.

Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and PSA have said that Stellantis can cut costs by more than 5 billion euros per year without closing factories.

Stellantis’ $ 51 billion is a lot of money, but at the time of this writing, Tesla is worth almost $ 800 billion (on paper).

3rd report: Last year was the worst record year for car sales in Europe

No one had a good year last year. Even if you did, no one wants to hear about it. News from European car manufacturers is in sync with everything else.

Of Bloomberg:

European car sales fell the most on record last year, as relatively resilient demand in the second half of the year only partially offset the collapse during the initial Covid-19 outbreak.

New vehicle registrations fell 24%, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said on Tuesday, the largest annual decline since the record began in 1990. A good end to the year for Volkswagen AG and PSA Group limited the industry fell in December to just 3.7%.

Automakers have been able to better cope with government measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus as the year progresses, aided by subsidies and dealerships adopting online ordering tools. But the sales slump in March, April and May proved difficult to come back, as the industry managed a single month of year-round growth. In contrast, the Chinese automotive market grew throughout the second half of the year.

4th gear: Tesla has spoken to the media!

The news here is that Tesla is now shipping Model Ys made in China, but I’m more concerned that Tesla has actually made a media comment. It was absolute silence of Californian society for a while.

Of Reuters:

Tesla Inc said Monday it has started shipping its Shanghai-made Model Y sport utility vehicles to customers in China.

A representative for the US automaker made the comment in response to a question from Reuters.

5th gear: there is a bit of math going on in Japan with seniors and cars

Almost a third of Japan is over 65, and there’s an ongoing debate there (and everywhere else) as to how old is too old to drive. Automakers are adding safety features, and many seniors voluntarily surrender their licenses after a horrible accident in 2019.

Of Bloomberg:

According to the National Police Agency, 350,428 people aged 75 or over surrendered their driving licenses in 2019, the highest on record.

[…]

Last year, Toyota improved its Safety Sense offering. The technology is designed to prevent or mitigate head-on collisions and to keep drivers in their lane. Using high-resolution windshield cameras and bumper-mounted radars, it can detect oncoming cars or pedestrians – or even bikes during the day – and give audible and visual alerts. If the drivers do not respond, automatic braking can be deployed. The new software also has an intersection feature to help detect oncoming obstacles if a car is making a turn from a stationary position.

Other features of Toyota Safety Sense include correcting unintentional lane departure, automatic switching between high beam and low beam at night based on surrounding traffic, detection of slower cars on a freeway, and automatic maintenance of a predefined distance. Traffic Sign Assist technology detects stop and speed signs when they are passed and displays an alert on the dashboard in case drivers themselves have missed them.

[…]

The aspirations of Subaru Corp. are similar; it wants to eliminate all fatal accidents by 2030. Like several other automakers, it uses stereo cameras, which have two or more lenses with a separate image sensor for each, offering the ability to capture three-dimensional images . Dubbed EyeSight, the technology anticipates and alerts drivers to any danger. Subaru claims vehicles equipped with the Eyesight system are involved in 61% fewer accidents and 85% fewer rear-end collisions. Pedestrian-related injuries are reduced by 35%.

Reverse: Zeppelin