Free Republic

Fiat Chrysler said May 21 that construction will begin immediately on a new, $1.6-billion assembly plant for Jeep Grand Cherokees, a new Jeep SUV and hybrid cars on Detroit's east side. The automaker receives tax breaks and 215 acres of land adjacent to its Jefferson North Manufacturing plant from the city and state in the deal. The land Fiat Chrysler is getting is valued at $108 million and the tax incentives at a savings of $291 million. To put together the land parcels for the deal, the city of Detroit agreed to purchases and exchanges with prominent landowners such as...

Fiat Chrysler says construction is set to begin immediately on a new $1.6 billion assembly plant on Detroit's east side. A representative of the automaker told state officials Tuesday that vehicles are expected to start rolling off the line at the plant by late 2020. The Detroit City Council on Tuesday approved land deals and community benefits agreements tied to the project. Michigan's Strategic Fund was expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on the state's portion of incentives for the project. Fiat Chrysler is pledging to add 6,400 jobs in the Detroit area, including just under 5,000 in the city of...

Tesla sent out an invite to automakers who could use its important zero-emission fleet in Europe and according to an update on the European Commission’s website, Fiat Chrysler took them up on the offer. It also comes at a great time as Tesla is believed to be under a significant cash crunch following a lackluster first quarter in 2019. That said, Tesla shouldn’t expect it to last for too long because automakers don’t like to send money to their competitors.

Fiat Chrysler plans to open a new assembly factory in Detroit to build sport utility vehicles, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. The move comes as all of Detroit's Big Three automakers abandon sedan lines in favor of more popular and profitable SUVs and cross-over vehicles. The industry is also under pressure from President Donald Trump to keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

Auto legend Sergio Marchionne, the charismatic executive who turned Fiat and Chrysler around before combining the companies as a profitable business, died Wednesday. He was 66. "Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass. Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone," John Elkann, a member of Fiat's founding Agnelli family, said in a statement.

The automaker recently settled a lawsuit over emissions cheating Fiat Chrysler has become the latest automaker to turn its back on diesel-powered engines as more of the industry pivots to battery-electric vehicles. According to the Financial Times, the Italian-American carmaker will end production of its diesel passenger vehicles by 2022. FCA, which manufacturers Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Chrysler, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Fiat, will unveil its four-year plan to phase out diesel vehicles on June 1st, the Times says. A spokesperson declined to comment. "Diesel has been falling out of favor" Diesel has long been promoted by governments and carmakers as...

Fiat Empire Full Documentary.

Fiat Chrysler is in talks with the Chinese company Foxconn to develop and manufacture battery-powered vehicles, the U.S.-Italian automaker said Friday. Fiat Chrysler is in the process of merging with France’s PSA Peugeot, which is 12% owned by Chinese company Dongfeng Motor Co. Both Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot have lagged in developing electric powertrains and also have been struggling to increase sales in China, the world’s biggest auto market. It was unclear what impact Fiat Chrysler’s proposed joint venture with Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd., would have on the wider merger, which is expected to...

MILAN/PARIS (Reuters) - The board of French carmaker PSA (PEUP.PA), the owner of Peugeot, approved a binding agreement for a $50 billion merger with rival Fiat Chrysler (FCHA.MI), a source close to the matter said on Tuesday. A separate Fiat Chrysler (FCA) board meeting was under way to discuss finalizing the memorandum of understanding to create the world’s number four carmaker, the source added, in a deal that would reshape the global car industry. Both companies declined to comment.

Volkswagen and BMW increased their 2018 car sales in the United States while major American competitors General Motors (GM) and Ford both had declines in new vehicle sales, according to sales reports published on Thursday. Volkswagen sold over 350,000 cars in the US in 2018, a 4.2 percent increase over 2017. It was the company’s second year of sales increases after sales plummeted following the dieselgate scandal, where a US investigation uncovered massive fraud in its diesel emissions reporting. Volkswagen’s boost in sales figures were helped by popular SUVs Tiguan and Atlas. BMW saw an increase of 1.7 percent to...

A downturn in China's car market has wrong-footed some of the world's biggest automakers, saddling them with factories they no longer need and that are costly to retool, according to a report from the Dow Jones Newswires supplied to EFE on Tuesday. Ford Motor, Peugeot and Hyundai Motor especially mistimed recent expansions, opening new plants just as the seemingly unstoppable growth of China's auto market went into reverse.

DETROIT (AFP) - French automaker PSA confirmed Thursday its plan for a gradual return to the US market even if Washington follows through on a threat to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on auto imports. PSA, which manufactures the Citroen, Peugeot and Opel brands, "confirms the implementation of its 10-years progressive return project in North America," as announced in April 2016, the company told AFP in a statement. The automaker, which it left the US in 1991, started its return in 2016 with the introduction of its Free2Move app "that provides access to all car-sharing providers." The second...

French carmaker Renault will maintain its presence in Iran while taking measures to avoid the risk of penalties for breaching renewed US sanctions, CEO Carlos Ghosn said Friday. “We will not abandon it, even if we have to downsize very strongly,” he said at the annual shareholders’ meeting in Paris. “When the market reopens, the fact of having stayed will certainly give us an advantage,” he predicted. […] Renault’s rival PSA, which produces the Peugeot and Citroën brands, has also announced it will quit Iran to abide by the US sanctions. But Ghosn signaled that Renault, which counted 160,000 cars...

The future of France, and of Europe in general, can be glimpsed in this episode. “The Aulnay site closed because Muslim employees were constantly taking unscheduled prayer breaks and had become unproductive. It’s the truth. A Peugeot official told me that it was one – but obviously not the only – of the reasons the plant was shut down.” They may have considered it their due to receive payment from unbelievers even while not working. In Islamic law, non-Muslims have the duty to provide for the upkeep of Muslims. British jihadist Anjem Choudary said in February 2013: “We are on...

Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said he wanted “more cooperation with foreign companies,” including French manufacturers Peugeot and Renault, both of which have had a long history of doing business with Iran. Nematzadeh said he hoped for the lifting of sanctions on the car industry “by the end of December.”

•Peugeot Citroen invents technology for air car ready for the market by 2016 •'Hybrid Air' engine system runs on petrol and air, instead of electricity •Company predicts 'Hybrid Air' to achieve 117 miles per gallon by 2020 French car giant PSA Peugeot Citroen believes it can put an air- powered vehicle on the road by 2016. Its scientists say it will knock 45 per cent off fuel bills for an average motorist. And when driving in towns and cities costs could be slashed by as much as 80 per cent because the car will be running on air for four-fifths...

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson sat down for an interview with Fortune Magazine’s Adam Lashinsky and admitted that the Detroit automaker might close some of its European plants. “In the U.S., GM was able, through an extraordinary set of circumstances, to take some drastic action: you closed whole factories, you closed whole historic brands in the United States. Can you take, and will you take, drastic action like that in Europe?” Lashinsky asked. Well, just so you understand, prior to their kind of crisis of confidence, if you will, Europeans must, uh, we in America hear about it every day,...

Attention U.S. taxpayers: You now own a piece of a French car company that is drowning in red ink. That’s right. In a move little noticed outside of the business pages, General Motors last week bought more than $400 million in shares of PSA Peugeot Citroen – a 7 percent stake in the company. Because U.S. taxpayers still own roughly one-quarter of GM, they now own a piece of Peugeot. Peugeot can undoubtedly use the cash. Last year, Peugeot’s auto making division lost $123 million. And on March 1 – just a day after the deal with GM was announced...

A PSA Peugeot Citroen employee killed himself on Friday at his workplace, the carmaker said, adding to a spate of suicides at some of France's top companies. A Peugeot spokesman said on Saturday that the worker was a married man aged around 40 who had a job at a Peugeot site just outside Paris. The company has begun an inquiry into the event. France Telecom has come under scrutiny over 25 suicides at the company since the start of 2008, while an employee of car maker Renault committed suicide earlier this month.

It may not give you 'The Drive of Your Life', as its makers Peugeot may try to claim, but the latest micro electric car is creating huge excitement in the automotive industry. The Peugeot BB1, a cross between a scooter and a car, is powered by two electric motors which are mounted in the rear wheels. Inspired by Peugeot’s electric VLV from the 1940s, the new all-electric BB1 represents the car firm’s view for the future of electrical-based urban mobility. The Peugeot BB1, a cross between a scooter and a car, is powered by two electric motors which are mounted...