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DETROIT – Stellantis said Friday that it plans to indefinitely idle a Jeep plant in Illinois, starting early next year, to cut costs as it invests in electric vehicles. The transatlantic automaker, formerly known as Fiat Chrysler, said the plant will cease production as of Feb. 28. The more than 1,200 workers at the facility, which produces Jeep Cherokee SUVs, will be placed on indefinite layoffs, the company said. “Our industry has been adversely affected by a multitude of factors like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the global microchip shortage, but the most impactful challenge is the increasing cost related...

Based on either the Charger or Challenger, the last of seven limited editions was planned for the SEMA show in November, but supply-chain problems pushed that date back. ==================================================================== ** Dodge has revealed six out of the seven "Last Call" send-offs for the Charger and Challenger, but has now announced the final debut has been pushed back. ** Dodge cited "product and supply challenges" and said the reveal will be rescheduled. ** We’re not sure what form this Last Call model will take, but we can be fairly certain that it will be powered by a V-8 with at least...

Sean Nemeth, the owner of a plug-in hybrid Chrysler Pacifica, was perplexed when earlier this year he received a rather surprising recall notice, advising him to park his vehicle outside and away from structures. The notice informed him that his particular model is at risk of catching fire—even while stationary and turned off—and the cause is still unknown. “What am I supposed to do with it then?” said Mr. Nemeth, recalling his reaction at the time. He eventually decided to park it across the street from his house in a low-traffic cul-de-sac. His predicament has become more commonplace in recent...

The Dodge Grand Caravan’s journey is finally ending this spring. The minivan is scheduled to end production on May 22, the automaker has confirmed. The Caravan was introduced alongside the Plymouth Voyager in 1984 as a “garageable” van that helped kick off the minivan craze that continued through the 1990s, until family car buyers started making the shift to SUVs. The stretched Grand Caravan was added to the lineup in 1987 and eventually became the only version offered. The Caravan lived through five generations, with the current one dating back to 2008. U.S. sales topped 300,000 in 1996 and 1997,...

Union auto workers voted, by a large majority, to authorize strikes while the United Auto Workers (UAW) union negotiates contracts with General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Fiat Chrysler. UAW members voted about 96 percent to allow union workers to strike while UAW leaders negotiate contracts with GM, Ford, and Chrysler — a vote that merely authorizes strikes and does not indicate that strikes will be held. UAW President Gary Jones said in a statement:

Marie Davis wants better medical insurance coverage. Jimmie Pleasant has been out of work for six months. Both are among the thousands of people who are looking for jobs with Fiat Chrysler under a city program that gives Detroit’s residents first crack at the application process. It’s part of a $108 million land development deal between an automaker that’s building a massive new plant and a city where the unemployment rate is more than twice the national average. Detroit officials hope the deal with Fiat Chrysler will mean residents have a better shot at good-paying jobs with the automaker, although...

We knew pretty early in our 14-month relationship with this Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio that we weren't going to be able to make a clean break from it. This was not that kind of relationship. And it is not that kind of car. No, instead we would continue coming back to the Giulia, no matter how it betrayed us. Mostly that's because we were obligated to finish this 40,000-mile test. But we also just couldn't give up on it. Rarely have we hoped for a car in our possession to succeed more than we did for this Alfa. And rarely...

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.

In a statement Saturday, he said, "I am profoundly saddened to learn of Sergio’s state of health. It is a situation that was unthinkable until a few hours ago, and one that leaves us all with a real sense of injustice. ..At his side, the reports said, were his two sons and his partner of several years, Manuela Battezzato, who works in FCA communications.

Sergio Marchionne, longtime CEO and chief for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, stepped down Saturday due to serious complications after surgery, the company announced. Mike Manley, head of Jeep and Ram brands, replaced him. John Elkann, grandson of Gianni Agnelli and chairman of the company that controls FCA, said his family was shocked by Marchionne's failing health. "I am profoundly saddened to learn of Sergio’s state of health. It is a situation that was unthinkable until a few hours ago, and one that leaves us all with a real sense of injustice," Elkann said in a statement. Elkann will fill Marchionne's chairman...

Germany wants the European Union’s executive branch to question Italy over software that regulates emissions in Fiat Chrysler diesel cars. A Transport Ministry spokeswoman says German authorities believe the software constitutes an unauthorized “defeat device.” […] Transport Ministry spokeswoman Svenja Friedrich noted that Fiat Chrysler had refused to meet German authorities, and Italy had canceled a “mediation” meeting with the European Commission scheduled for the end of the month. …

The number of Fiat Chrysler factory workers in North America will increase as the company reduces production of passenger cars and shifts toward trucks and SUVs, the company’s chief executive said Tuesday. […] He (Sergio Marchionne) said new Ram pickup truck will come out at the beginning of 2018. It will be built at two U.S. factories in suburban Detroit, so it won’t cost the company any production of the current model. A factory in Sterling Heights, Michigan, that now makes the Chrysler 200 sedan will be retooled to make pickups, he said. The company also plans to build a...

Tumbling sales of Fiat Chrysler’s main midsize car have driven the company to indefinitely lay off 1,300 employees at a Detroit-area factory. Workers on the second shift at Fiat Chrysler’s assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, will be furloughed starting July 5 as the slow-selling Chrysler 200 has started to stack up on dealer lots. Sales of the cars were down 61 percent through March, and inventory grew to a 150-day supply, according to Ward’s Automotive. Automakers consider 60 days to be optimal to give dealers enough of a selection for customers. Fiat Chrysler sold only 7,500 of the cars...

Why would Chrysler take the two most bulletproof engines known to man (the 318 truck block and the Jeep 258 six) and replace them with a fragile as glass 4.7 psychadellic SPAGETTI infected, non adjustible, Windows based, software nightmare??? Then, they put on an EGR system that is completely unnecessary and the EGR valve is in the worst possible place to service or test!! Rant off ... That is all

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles U.S., formerly Chrysler Group, posted a $2.58 billion first-quarter net profit that was boosted by a one-time change in its tax status. The company, now part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., gained $2.3 billion from the tax change. It lost $690 million a year ago due largely to payment of debts to a union health care trust. …

General Motors CEO Mary Barra is dismissing any talk of a possible merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. […] Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne recently floated the idea of merging with GM or another global automaker. He is a proponent of industry consolidation and says only the biggest automakers will survive. …

Chrysler Group LLC has changed its name to FCA US LLC. The change will be largely unnoticed by consumers, affecting mostly corporate and financial communications. Chrysler-branded cars will continue to bear the Chrysler badge, as those branded Fiat will bear the Fiat badge. …

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced Wednesday it will spin off sports car maker Ferrari into a separate company, a move to unlock the luxury brand’s value and distinguish it from its mass-market parent. The spinoff aims to raise money to support the newly-merged carmaker’s plans to invest €48 billion ($61 billion) over five years to compete with global giants Toyota and Volkswagen. Shares in Fiat Chrysler soared on the news. “I think we are doing the right thing by giving Ferrari a proper, unique place in the capital markets to be evaluated and valued as a luxury automaker,” Marchionne told an...

Fiat SpA’s deal to complete its purchase of Chrysler helped widen first-quarter losses, the Italian car maker reported Tuesday following a day-long presentation in Detroit of its new five-year business plan for the combined automakers. The Italian carmaker, based in the northern city of Turin, saw first-quarter losses widen to €334 million ($465 million) from €83 million last year, due to expenses related to the Chrysler deal logged in the first quarter. …

I'm liking what Fiat is doing with Chrysler more and more, even their choice of ad agency and marketing campaigns. This is a startling, hilarious and cool ad commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Dodge and announcing the 2015 Challenger.