Free Republic

Agree with his proposed policies or not, it's difficult to argue that Trump is delivering on his promises to the autoworkers of the Midwest who single-handedly voted him into the White House. Before even taking office, the mere threat of import tariffs has caused Ford to cancel the construction of a $1.6 billion new facility in Mexico, and has automotive CEO's from Toyota to Chrysler walking on eggshells as they carefully try to flaunt all of the capital investments they're making in U.S.-based facilities. While likely secretly hoping for the status quo, Fiat Chrysler's U.S. CEO, Sergio Marchionne, admitted earlier...

DETROIT (AP) -- Fiat Chrysler will add three new Jeeps to its lineup including a pickup truck as it invests $1 billion in two U.S. factories, furthering its effort to increase production of hot-selling SUVs and pickup trucks and get out of producing small and midsize cars. The expansion will create 2,000 new jobs. The Italian-American automaker said Sunday it will modernize a factory in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan, to make the new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large SUVs. A factory complex just south of there in Toledo, Ohio, also will get new equipment to make the...

CASSINO, Nov 25 — President-elect Donald Trump’s critical stance toward free trade could affect Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s business in North America, according to the Italian automaker’s chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne. Trump’s election “certainly is a game changer, mainly because I think that there are a number of conditions in the US which are not yet spelled out,” Marchionne told Bloomberg Television at an Alfa Romeo plant in Cassino, Italy. Statements Trump has made about trade are “a big issue” because of the North American Free Trade Agreement’s impact on Fiat’s operations in the US, Mexico and Canada. Trump...

New Word: “Trumpenstroke“. – The act of eliminating dictatorial fiat with the counter stroke of a President Trump pen. It is actually easier to write about the simplicity of eliminating almost all of President Obama’s accomplishments specifically because of the way Team Obama went about constructing them, dictatorial fiat.

The German government has accused Fiat-Chrysler of building emissions cheating technology into some vehicles... Affected vehicles deactivated their storage catalytic converters and exhaust recuperation systems after six test cycles or a 22-minute delay -- two minutes longer than the standard length of an emissions test -- resulting in NOx emissions "9 to 15 times higher than the legal limit", it said... Under EU law, each manufacturer earns approval from its national regulator, allowing it to sell vehicles Europe-wide. But critics say the system means that regulators can go easy on their own country's auto-makers. Berlin has been under pressure from...

The gear shifters in Anton Yelchin’s SUV are being looked at as the possible culprit in the accident that killed the 27-year-old actor on Sunday. Most 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee are part of a global recall that was announced by Fiat Chrysler, who makes Jeeps, in April due to a confusing electronic shift lever. “FCA US extends its most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Yelchin,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “The company is in contact with the authorities and is conducting a thorough investigation. It is premature to speculate on the cause of this tragedy.”...

Despite the tone of America's current presidential campaigns, it is, in fact, 2016. In theory, companies should understand the kinds of actions that might be interpreted as racist or sexist. Unless, of course, those companies make laundry detergent in Italy or China. Or unless they're Fiat. Alas, Fiat has learned that the hard way, after facing serious backlash over an owner's manual distributed to customers in Argentina. Most startlingly, the manual assumed that cars would always be driven by men, with women only riding as "co-pilots" in the passenger's seat or back seat. It also assumed that women don't know...

Shares of Fiat Chrysler are down more than 4% in pre-market trading today as investors react to a possible emission scandal relating to the company's vehicles in Germany... in over the counter markets in the US following a report from a German Newspaper that the company could be banned from vehicles in the country if it is found disregarding strict emission standards. German paper Bild said in a story on Saturday that multiple tests from the German motor transport authority KBA have shown that several Fiat Chrysler's models had exhaust treatment systems that were switching off automatically after running for...

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...

Electronic gear shifters on some newer Fiat Chrysler SUVs and cars are so confusing that drivers have exited the vehicles with the engines running and while they are still in gear, causing crashes and serious injuries, U.S. safety investigators have determined. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in documents posted during the weekend, has doubled the number of vehicles involved in an investigation of the problem, but it stopped short of seeking a recall. The agency found more than 100 crashes and over a dozen injuries, mostly in Jeep Grand Cherokees. Agency tests found that operating the centre console shift...

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Do you remember Lewis "Scooter" Libby? In 2003, the Department of Justice appointed a special counsel to investigate allegations that Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, unlawfully disclosed the covert status of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Yet Plame may not have been a covert undercover agent, based on the formal government definition of that role. And even if she were, it was widely known at the time that Secretary of State Colin Powell's subordinate, Richard Armitage, had most likely disclosed her status earlier. In other words, Libby was in an Orwellian position of being accused of a crime...

I read decades ago that the average life expectancy of a fiat economy is about 40 years. I searched and quickly found this article titled "Gold and Fiat Currency: 40 Years Later," a four-year old article dealing with the ill-advised decision to have the world's reserve currency dump the gold standard.The US economy and those of the world in general is at or is fast approaching that life span of about 40 years. These economies are moving at different speeds and thus are of differing maturities but one thing is common. Too many of them rely on some form of...

DETROIT -- Fiat Chrysler must offer to buy back from customers hundreds of thousands of Ram pickup trucks and other vehicles -- the biggest such action in U.S. history -- as part of a costly deal with safety regulators to settle legal problems in about two dozen recalls. The Italian-American automaker also faces a record civil fine of up to $105 million. In addition, owners of more than a million older Jeeps with vulnerable rear-mounted gas tanks will be able to trade them in or be paid by Chrysler to have the vehicles repaired. ~SNIP~ Vehicles eligible for buy-back offer...

Hackers took control of a car and crashed it into a ditch by remotely breaking into its systems from 10 miles away whilst sitting on their sofa. In the first such breach of its kind security experts cut out the engine and applied the brakes on the Jeep Cherokee, sending it into a spin. The US hackers said they used just a laptop and mobile phone to access the Jeep’s on-board systems via its wireless Internet connection. They claim that more than 470,000 cars made by Fiat Chrysler could be at risk of being attacked by similar means - including...

Someone has to step up once the Prancing Horse is spun off.Sergio Marchionne has done a great job reviving Chrysler, Fiat and with the FCA group as a whole, but if his latest gambit works he will go down as legend in the auto industry. Last year we reported that FCA was planning to spin off Ferrari to grab some cash. The majority of the company (80 percent) would be owned by FCA shareholders so the company would still wield a lot of power over Ferrari. That being said Marchionne needs a new brand to fill the Prancing Horse’s shoes,...

It was a milestone month for FCA. For the first time ever, Chrysler has outsold Ford in US retail sales, reports Reuters. Retail sales refers to only cars sold directly to consumers, not counting sales of fleet vehicles to corporate customers. Including fleet sales, Ford moved 223,666 cars and Fiat Chrysler group sold 186,864. General Motors, meanwhile, saw sales slip slightly year over year and sold 265,825 cars. For the industry as a whole, it was another good month as car sales continue to go up. 2015 is expected to see even more growth in car sales, as the market...

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. …

State and local officials in Ohio are proposing to fund a new factory for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV in Toledo, an unusual incentive that would require hundreds of millions in financing, according to people familiar with the plans. The proposed plan is the latest attempt by public officials in the state to secure production of the iconic Jeep Wrangler, which has been built in Toledo for decades. Negotiations on the plan are continuing between officials and the auto maker, and other financing proposals are on the table, the people said. Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne has said the next...

~snip~ Germany was able to sell $3.72 billion of five-year bonds at a negative interest rate of .08%. In essence those who lent Germany this money were willing to pay the German government for the privilege of the government holding the investor’s funds for 5 years. The move reflects, in reality, that investors are more concerned about the return of principle than the return on principle. ~snip~ The disastrous consequences of the current economic policies allow negative interest rates to occur. Negative interest rates are a clear sign of an impending deflationary spiral. ~snip~ Just as the housing market and...