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Stellantis continues trimming its workforce as it focuses on electric vehicle production in the US Stellantis, the parent company of several auto brands, including Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, confirmed on Friday that it will be laying off hundreds more U.S. workers as it continues to trim its workforce amid its transition to electric vehicle production. The Wall Street Journal reported that the automaker had instructed several white collar employees working in software, engineering and technology to work from home on Friday morning, and then held meetings where the workers were informed that they were losing their jobs. Around 400 people...

A missing Texas woman was found alive last week in a Jeep that plunged into a lake and was almost entirely submerged, police said. The unidentified woman had been missing from Longview when she was found inside the black vehicle in Lake o’ the Pines on Friday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said. Pictures from the scene show the hood of the Jeep just barely visible above the water about 40 feet from the shore. The sheriff’s office’s statement said that a fisherman alerted authorities to the vehicle in the morning. Police arrived at the scene about 18 minutes later,...

Stellantis is closing its assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, in February 2023. The Illinois plant employs about 1,350 workers, who are expected to be laid off. Stellantis cited the rising costs of electric vehicle production for the closure. The company said the replacement of the Jeep Cherokee SUV, along with other vehicles on a new electrified platform, will be produced in Toluca, Mexico. Stellantis has said it will invest over $31.6 billion through 2025 on electrifying its vehicle lineup. It also has said it expects EVs to make up 100 percent of its sales in Europe and 50 percent in...

Multinational automaker Stellantis is indefinitely closing an assembly plant in Illinois in February and laying off hundreds of workers, in large part due to the high cost of making electric vehicles. Stellantis noted in a statement emailed to FOX Business on Friday that the industry had been adversely affected by factors including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the global microchip shortage and the increasing cost related to the electrification of the automotive market, which it said was the most impactful. There are about 1,350 workers at the Belvedere plant, which produces the Jeep Cherokee. Stellantis reportedly told The Associated Press that...

Total new vehicle sales in September dropped to 1.01 million vehicles, down 37% from 1.6 million vehicles in March, when there were still enough new vehicles to sell. The industry-standard Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales – which adjusts for the number of selling days per month and for seasonal factors, and converts the monthly sales into what sales would be for an entire year – plunged for the fifth month in a row, by 29% year-over-year, to 12.2 million units SAAR, the lowest, outside of the two lockdown months, since June 2011 ,according to data from the Bureau...

President Biden's top national security and economic advisers are trying to address a critical supply crunch that is slowing U.S. automobile manufacturing and threatens other sectors, including national security, according to experts. National security adviser Jake Sullivan, National Economic Council director Brian Deese, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimodo will meet with executives from 19 companies to discuss growing shortage of semiconductors, a key component of many computerized electronics. The shortage touches nearly every industry, but U.S. auto makers have been especially hit hard. General Motors, Ford and Stellantis (formed by a merger involving Fiat Chrysler) have all temporarily closed down...

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...

Almost 20,000 2017-18 models are being recalled following several fires. Chrysler's parent company, Stellantis, is recalling 19,808 Pacifica Hybrid minivans due to a potential fire risk. Only 2017-18 models are affected, with the recall coming after an internal investigation found 12 fires occurred with Pacifica Hybrids in those model years. All of those 12 fires happened when the vehicles were parked and turned off, with 8 of them charging as well. Fortunately Stellantis is not aware of any injuries or accidents as a result of the fires, but they are urging all owners not to charge their Pacificas and to...

Stellantis’ mysterious concept EV now has a name, and it’s called the Airflow. Revealed during the brand’s EV Day earlier this summer, the Chrysler crossover concept looks to be sized relative to the Tesla Model Y and Ford Mustang Mach-E, with familiar nods to late Chrysler-branded products. Digital rendering of the Chrysler Airflow EV concept on display.Photo: Stellantis ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This EV concept is part of Stellantis’ roadmap it plans to reveal at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 5 in Las Vegas, what Stellantis is calling it’s “transformation to clean mobility and seamlessly connected customer experiences.” The Airflow...

WASHINGTON—Roughly half of all cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. by 2030 would be electric, hydrogen-fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles under voluntary targets set to be announced Thursday by the Biden administration and backed by auto makers, contingent on government support. In a joint statement, General Motors Co. , Ford Motor Co. , and Chrysler maker Stellantis NV said their commitment hinges on federal funding for manufacturing and supply-chain research and development, purchase incentives and an EV-charging network. The auto makers said the voluntary targets for EV sales “can be achieved only with the timely deployment of...

Tesla has relied on selling emissions credits to boost its revenue, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has been one of its biggest clients. But now that FCA has merged with the PSA Group to form Stellantis, it won't need Tesla emissions credits anymore, the Financial Times (subscription required) reported this week, based on executive comments.Automakers are allowed to purchase credits to make up for not meeting emissions targets. Because it sells only electric cars, Tesla has always had plenty of credits to sell, creating a major revenue stream for the automaker. Stellantis' decision to stop buying emissions credits from Tesla...

Multinational automaker Stellantis, which formed last year in a merger between Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group, is shuttering a plant in Illinois that produces the Jeep Cherokee. The company dropped a statement for local media: 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 to the electrification of the automotive market. Stellantis has taken a number of actions to stabilize production and improve efficiency at its North American facilities to preserve affordability and...

Five cars rented by President Joe Biden’s Secret Service detail for his Thanksgiving weekend trip to Nantucket mysteriously burst into flames a day after he left, according to reports. Footage of the burned out rental vehicles in a car park at Nantucket Memorial Airport was obtained by the Nantucket Current. The local news site reported that the cause of the fire was under investigation. No one was injured in the blaze. Footage showed firefighters dampening down the smouldering remains of several vehicles including a Chevy Suburban, a Ford Explorer, an Infiniti QX80, a Ford Expedition, and a Jeep Gladiator. In...

Three people were killed during an off-roading tour of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains when their Jeep plunged over a cliff on Monday... Arizona tourists Diana Robles, 28, Ofelia Figueroa-Perez, 60, and hired driver Don Fehd, 72, were all killed when their 2022 Jeep Gladiator drifted off the edge of Ouray County Road 361 and landed hundreds of feet below... The vehicle first fell 100 feet to the bottom of a cliff... It then rolled about 140 feet down a rocky embankment, ejecting Fehd... ... Before the crash, Robles, a Yuma nurse, had reportedly just snapped a picture of the iconic...

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The carmaker is implementing an “asset-light” strategy in the country because of concerns that rising political tensions could lead to sanctions in a conflict between China and the rest of the world... The CEO’s candid comments offer an explanation for Stellantis’s announcement last week it’s leaving a 12-year manufacturing partnership with state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group. The exit raises uncomfortable questions about what the future may hold for foreign manufacturers in China. The war in Ukraine has disrupted supply chains in Europe, and the lengthening list of sanctions targeting Russia is a grim reminder of what could happen if China were...

A Texas man who raps about robbing ATMs lived out his own lyrics when he was busted for stealing from a cash machine in Tennessee earlier this week. Ladesion Riley, 30, was one of four people charged for allegedly holding up an ATM technician at a Bank of America in Nashville as he serviced the machine on Monday, according to the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department. The other suspects are Darius Dugas, 27, Sashondre Dugas, 32, and Christopher Alton, 27. All four alleged thieves hail from Houston. According to police, two members of the group approached the technician from behind around...

A Michigan man who left his car at a dealership for an oil change and tire rotation is being sued after his vehicle was involved in the death of one of the dealership's employees. Sergio Enrique Diaz-Navarro took his red 2019 Wrangler to a Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership on March 13, 2020, and 19-year-old lube technician Daniel Thompson worked on the car. After the service was complete, the vehicle "lurched forward" as the young employee attempted to operate it, crushing 42-year-old mechanic Jeffrey Hawkins against a cabinet, court records show.

The owner of a Jeep became embroiled in a legal nightmare after he handed the keys of his vehicle to a Michigan dealership where a mechanic died while working on his car. The family of Jeffrey Hawkins, 42, is suing the Jeep owner, who has not been named, for $15million over the death of the veteran mechanic. Hawkins, a married father-of-four, was killed on March 13, 2020, while changing the Jeep's oil at Rochester Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership in Michigan. A 19-year-old fellow mechanic, who didn't know how to drive a shift stick and did not have a driver's...

A Jeep Wrangler with a manual transmission was taken to a Michigan car dealership for an oil change and tire rotation, but after the work was complete, court records say the vehicle “lurched forward” as a lube technician tried operating it. Jeep Wrangler with a manual transmission was taken to a Michigan car dealership for an oil change and tire rotation, but after the work was complete, court records say the vehicle “lurched forward” as a lube technician tried operating it. The red 2019 Wrangler then crushed mechanic Jeffrey Hawkins against a cabinet on March 13, 2020, records say. He...