Stellantis includes 14 brands and some of them may die, Tesla delivers a Y model made in China, as well as the elderly. All this and much more in Morning change for January 19, 2021.
1st Gear: Some Stellantis brands seem to be dying
Stellantis, that is what was the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Groupe PSA, includes 14 different brands. Let’s unleash them: Fiat, Chrysler, Peugeot, Opel, Jeep, Maserati, Dodge, Ram, Citroën, DS, Alfa Romeo, Vauxhall, Abarth and Lancia.
You forgot about Opel and DS, I know. It’s okay, this is a safe space, you can recognize it. Anyway, these are a lot of brands! Probably one or more of them will die in the US, according to Automotive News. Two of the most vulnerable brands appear to be Fiat and Chrysler:
The highlights of the North American post-merger plan are no secret: take out as many Ram pickups as possible and push Jeep into higher price points and new segments.
But Stellantis executives will have to figure out how to fit the rest of FCA’s list of brands into the long-term puzzle and whether discounts need to be made.
Chrysler downgraded to two minivan nameplates and aged 300 sedans. Alfa Romeo sees signs of life – its sales in the US rose 1.6% in a declining market last year – but volumes are down for the Giulia sedan and the Stelvio crossover.
Fiat has been clinging to its line of small cars, but its slowing sales have fallen further amid the pandemic, falling by more than half last year to just 4,303 vehicles. Meanwhile, Dodge has carved a niche as a muscle brand, but has no electrified offerings, and two of its three plates still in production are cars in a market heavily inclined towards SUVs and crossovers.
Add the seven brands that the PSA Group contributes to the merger, and some simplifications are likely. But killing any FCA brands would not be an easy decision or process, even if almost none of the company’s representatives are single-brand stores that would be left in the cold.
“You have to be very careful if you’re thinking of killing a brand as a parent company,” said Karl Brauer, an executive analyst for iSeeCars.com, a used car search site. “I look at two brands like Fiat and Chrysler. It certainly seems easy to imagine that they will disappear, that they are not justified given their sales volume and market share. But I also feel all those rules that we would normally have assumed [FCA] are different now due to fusion with PSA. ”
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Dodge is the “muscle brand”. For some reason, I can’t stop saying “muscle mark” in my head.
Second step: More Stellantis
Investors like mergers. For now.
from Reuters:
Stellantis, the carmaker created by combining Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner PSA, got off to a positive start on Monday, with shares rising 8% on its European market debut and valuing the business at around 42 billion euros ($ 51 billion). ).
[…]
“We have the scale, resources, diversity and knowledge to successfully capture the opportunities of this new era in transport,” President John Elkann said in a video on the Borsa Italiana website to mark the occasion.
CEO Carlos Tavares said the merger would add 25 billion euros to shareholders over the years, thanks to projected 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 reduce costs by more than 5 billion euros a year without closing the plant.
Stellantis’ $ 51 billion is a lot of money, but right now Tesla is worth almost $ 800 billion (on paper).
Third gear: Last year was the worst 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 for European carmakers is in line with everything else.
from Bloomberg:
European car sales fell the most in the past year, as relatively strong demand in the second half did so much to offset the crash during the initial Covid-19 outbreak.
New vehicle registrations fell 24%, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said on Tuesday, the largest annual decline since registrations began in 1990. A strong year-end for Volkswagen AG and PSA Group limited the industry’s decline in December at only 3.7%.
Car manufacturers have been better able to cope with government measures to limit the spread of coronavirus as the year begins, with the help of subsidies and dealers embracing online ordering tools. But the collapse of sales in March, April and May proved difficult to recover, with the industry managing to grow for only one month throughout the year. Instead, the Chinese car market expanded in the second half.
4th Gear: Tesla spoke to the media!
The news here is that Tesla is now delivering the Ys model made in China, but I’m more concerned that Tesla actually made a comment to the press. Was total silence from the California company for a while now.
from Reuters:
Tesla Inc. said on Monday that it has begun delivering its Model Y sport utility vehicles made in Shanghai to Chinese customers.
A representative of the US carmaker made the comment in response to a question from Reuters.
Speed 5: There is a bit of a calculation going on in Japan with the elderly and cars
Nearly a third of Japan is over 65 and there is an ongoing debate there (and everywhere) how old it is too old to drive. Car manufacturers add safety features, and many seniors there voluntarily give up their license after a horrible accident in 2019.
from Bloomberg:
According to the National Police Agency, 350,428 people over the age of 75 returned their driving licenses in 2019, the highest record.
[…]
Last year, Toyota updated its Safety Sense offer. The technology is designed to prevent or mitigate frontal collisions, as well as to keep drivers on their lanes. By using high-resolution windshield and radar cameras mounted on the bumper, it can detect approaching cars or pedestrians – or even bicycles during the day – and provide audible and visual alerts. If drivers do not respond, automatic braking may be triggered. The new software also has intersection functionality to help detect approaching obstacles if a car makes a turn from a stationary position.
Other features of the Toyota Safety Sense include correcting unintentional lane departures, automatic switching between high beam and low beam at night depending on the surrounding traffic and detecting cars moving slower on the highway and automatic maintenance of a preset distance. Roadside assistance technology detects stop and speed signs as they pass and displays an on-board alert if drivers have missed them themselves.
[…]
The aspirations of Subaru Corp. are similar; wants to eliminate all fatal accidents by 2030. Like other carmakers, 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. Called EyeSight, the technology looks ahead and warns drivers of any danger. Subaru says Eyesight vehicles are involved in 61% fewer accidents and 85% fewer rear-end accidents. Pedestrian injuries are reduced by 35%.
Reverse: Zeppelin
Neutral: How are you?
The guy across the street from me spends about 90 percent of his time sanding, epilating, and caring for his old Chrysler hot rod. I wish I loved anything so much.