Following a whirlwind 10-day courtship, Fiat Chrysler withdrew its marriage proposal to Groupe Renault on Wednesday night, citing irreconcilable differences.

FCA blames France.

The proposed 50:50 merger with the French automaker, floated on Memorial Day, was snatched off the table following an FCA board meeting, the automaker stated in a release, adding that it had “become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully.” (Read More…)

There’s drama in Auburn Hills tonight. And, by the sounds of it, for many days leading up to this point. Reid Bigland, Fiat Chrysler’s U.S. sales boss and the appropriately imposing head of the cash-cow Ram brand, has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against his employer.

Bigland, who joined Chrysler in 2006 and soon found himself heading up Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Dodge, plus serving as CEO of FCA Canada (a role he maintains), claims the company’s HQ is awash in bad blood. The exec says he’s being punished for not taking the fall in a federal investigation into FCA’s sales reporting. (Read More…)

Launched on Cadillac’s flagship CT6 sedan for 2018, the hands-off Super Cruise driver-assist system has apparently already taken passengers 2.5 million miles, General Motors claims. The feature works only on divided, carefully mapped highways, with a driver-monitoring camera ensuring motorists don’t pull any Tesla-inspired stunts.

With Super Cruise poised to migrate from the CT6 to other vehicles in the coming years, GM plans to add an extra 70,000 miles of “compatible” roadways to the feature’s network, including a key route missing from the previous version. (Read More…)

General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have reportedly reached an agreement to purchase federal greenhouse gas credits from Tesla. While it’s common knowledge that the electric carmaker has raked in revenue by selling credits for years, disclosures with the State of Delaware help paint a clearer picture.

Apparently, GM filed to buy credits from Tesla earlier this year while FCA bought them on several occasions in 2016, 2018, and again earlier this year. Considering FCA’s American lineup, we’re not exactly quivering with disbelief. CEO Mike Manley could show up at a press conference, light a pool of gasoline on fire, and suggest it was Dodge’s new corporate model before we’d raise an eyebrow.

As unsurprising as FCA’s inability to adhere to present-day pollution mandates happens to be, there is a story here. The rising demand for greenhouse gas credits is changing the industry in some rather interesting ways.  (Read More…)

Corporate missteps requiring an apology — an increasingly common phenomenon in our current outraged era — usually follow a well-worn path. The CEO will issue a statement to the media and public apologizing for dastardly malfeasance and skullduggery (or offending a Twitter user), following it up with a statement posted to the company’s webpage and social media accounts. There will be appeals for forgiveness, perhaps tearful ones, at tense shareholder meetings — especially if the company is Japanese.

Following that, a burst of newfound goodwill appears to repair a tarnished brand.

But what if serious misdeeds, even those resulting in arrests and billions of dollars in fines, could be used to market a new product? Volkswagen went there. (Read More…)

Thanks to its unique ability to keep old things fresh, Dodge has become the Tupperware of automotive brands. Instead of a patented burp that locks in freshness, the automaker fields an endless supply of special editions, and yet another entry has appeared for 2019.

While Dodge has spent time refining its aged LD platform vehicles by repeatedly sprucing up their powertrain and bodywork, its specialty seems to be appearance packages that add stripes, decals, and unique paint options. A gradually expanding roster of factory racing stripes greeted buyers in recent years. First available on SRT variants of the Charger and Challenger, Dodge eventually made them an option for R/T buyers, adding a broader choice of colors for good measure.

There have also been numerous black editions, one of which wandered over to Chrysler to help butch up the Pacifica, but it’s the Charger Hellcat that receives the latest injection of attitude — not that it needed the help.  (Read More…)

Pity the poor Buick Envision. As one of the few Chinese-built vehicles sold in America, it earned an unpatriotic stigma upon its arrival. There’s no word on how many UAW workers own one. Meanwhile, the compact crossover launched partway through the 2016 model year with only high-end trims in tow, saddling it with a steep starting price. The entry price has since declined to saner levels.

Just when Buick thought it had righted the Envision ship, the U.S. hiked tariffs on a slew of Chinese goods to 25 percent last July, suddenly making the Envision a less profitable endeavor for the doctor’s car brand. As we learned today, General Motors’ appeal for mercy apparently fell on deaf ears. (Read More…)

On the eve of D-Day, a British automaker and its German rival have teamed up to defeat a modern foe: spiraling development costs born of electrification. Europe’s going green these days, and the need to ditch diesel (and eventually gas) to satisfy the boys on Brussel, coupled with a general cooling off in Western demand, is placing strain on automaker budgets.

The cure, OEMs believe, is collaboration. In a world where BMW hopped into bed with its closest German rival on the mobility front, an electric powertrain partnership between Jaguar Land Rover and Bimmer doesn’t seem all that weird. (Read More…)

Mazda fans on this side of the Atlantic will have to wait patiently for their turn, as the innovative Skyactiv-X-powered Mazda 3 now available in Europe won’t show up here for some time.

On Wednesday, the company announced that continental buyers can begin placing orders for models equipped with a Spark Plug Controlled Compression Ignition (SPCCI) 2.0-liter four-cylinder, tossing out fuel economy and power figures along the way. (Read More…)

It’ll not have escaped your notice that neither the Dodge Charger nor the Challenger has made an appearance in this series. Why? Because we try (emphasis on try) to include models which we think have base trims that might very well be the best of the line. With 797-horsepower options on the table, it’s hard to make that argument for the Dodge.

But what about its Chrysler cousin? A well-timed and much appreciated email from a reader suggested the 300 Touring might make a good candidate, especially since deep discounts can be had just for asking. We don’t usually consider incentive spending in Ace of Base, but when that figure routinely touches 25 percent — or more — of sticker price, it’s difficult to ignore.

(Read More…)

Today’s Question of the Day is a continuation of the styling theme we’ve had of late. The discussion centers around cars of the 1990s that aged poorly. First, we accepted submissions from America, followed up last week by Europe.

Today, we head east and consider Asia.

(Read More…)

As perviously reported, Fiat Chrysler is currently hard at work, hoping to impress Renault to a point where it will pull the trigger on possible merger. FCA is now in talks with the French government, which owns 15 percent of Renault, hoping it will also find the 50/50 proposal agreeable.

Concessions are already being made. FCA has agreed to France’s request to give the government a seat on an prospective eleven-member board, which also holds four seats for Renault and one for Nissan. Rumors have also suggested that the automaker is considering moving its headquarters to Paris to appease the country.

While France appears to be somewhat receptive, Renault appears to be taking things to the next level. Following a week of discussions with FCA, the company announced it would be taking the rest of the day to give the matter serious consideration.  (Read More…)

Leaks of Kia’s new Seltos — a small crossover intended for global sale before 2020 — made their way around the web this week. However, we spent most of our time wondering how much of an accident they actually were. Seemingly on display for a promotional shoot, the Seltos was left uncovered on city streets with its name prominently displayed in large, capital letters. While we’re not accusing the company of encouraging viral marketing, it certainly could have been more careful about keeping the crossover under wraps.

Kia was also quick to issue a response to the leaks by officially announcing the model’s existence and ideology on Monday. This is a car for the masses, but dialed in to engage directly with “youthful, tech-savvy buyers” and named after one of Heracles’ children. Clearly, the Koreans have their finger on the pulse of today’s youth market — as most teens are dying to engage with one another over ancient Greek myths.  (Read More…)

General Motors and tiremaker Michelin no doubt hope a joint research agreement announced Tuesday bears riper fruit than Goodyear’s early-60s attempt to offer illuminated Neothane tires.

The two companies plan to develop and test an airless, puncture-resistant tire, aka the Unique Puncture-proof Tire System (Uptis), with the intent to introduce the product on GM vehicles by 2024. Is the era of the steel-belted radial drawing to a close? (Read More…)

Volkswagen has been flagrantly displaying new pickups at trade shows for a couple of years now, and with good reason. Domestic trucks have grown very large. In 1993, you could still purchase the Ford F-Series in a format where its maximum length did not exceed 197 inches. Today, the F-150 gets no smaller than 209 inches with a standard cab. Meanwhile, the now mid-sized Ranger, sold only in SuperCab and SuperCrew guise, grew from to 181 inches in overall length to a whopping 211 inches within the same timeframe.

The supersizing of the North American pickup created an interesting opportunity for manufacturers, and Volkswagen took notice.  (Read More…)