2001 Chrysler Pt Cruiser Limited Wagon 4-door 2.4l Mechanic's Special-needs Work on 2040-cars

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France tries to dodge blame for blowing up FCA-Renault merger deal

PARIS — France sought to fend off a hail of criticism on Thursday after it was blamed for scuppering a $35 billion-plus merger between carmakers Fiat-Chrysler and Renault only 10 days after it was officially announced. Shares in Italian-American FCA and France's Renault fell sharply in early trading after FCA pulled out of talks, saying "the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully." French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said the government, which has a 15% stake in Renault, had engaged constructively, but had not been prepared to back a deal without the endorsement of Renault's current alliance partner Nissan. Nissan had said it would abstain at a Renault board meeting to vote on the merger proposal. However, a source close to FCA played down the significance of Nissan's stance in the discussions, believing French President Emmanuel Macron was looking for a way out of the deal after coming under pressure at home. Context The FCA-Renault talks were conducted against the backdrop of a French public outcry over 1,044 layoffs at a General Electric factory. The U.S. company had promised to safeguard jobs there when it acquired France's Alstom in 2015. The collapse of the deal, which would have created the world's third-biggest carmaker behind Japan's Toyota and Germany's Volkswagen, revives questions about how both FCA and Renault will meet the challenges of costly investments in electric and self-driving cars on their own. The merger had aimed to achieve 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in annual synergies, with FCA gaining access to Renault's and Nissan's superior electric drive technology and the French firm getting a share of FCA's lucrative Jeep and Ram brands. FCA has long been looking for a merger partner, and some analysts say its search for a deal is becoming more urgent as it is ill-prepared for tougher new regulations on emissions. It previously held unsuccessful talks with Peugeot maker PSA Group, in which the French state also owns a stake. French budget minister Gerald Darmanin said the door should not be closed on the possibility of a deal with Renault, adding Paris would be happy to re-examine any new proposal from FCA. "Talks could resume at some time in the future," he told FranceInfo radio.

For some, getting a Fiat 500e last week was almost free

Auto-racing clubs know a thing or two about moving fast. And a couple of them out in California appeared to do just that when a bunch of incentives for the Fiat 500e electric vehicle added up to a pretty sweet deal. Actually, a borderline free one. Green Car Reports was kind enough to do the math on the calculation of an $83-a-month, three-year lease deal on that included a $2,100 perk and required an $11,000 downpayment on the $32,000 car. California and federal government incentives for EVs cut that downpayment down to $1,000 out of pocket once the incentives ($7,500 from the feds, $2,500 from the state) were factored in by the leasing company. Then, Fiat-Chrysler was throwing in another $1,000 for folks who were leasing a car from another car company, hence the freebie. That means some lucky people, at least temporarily, were able to work basically a zero-downpayment agreement for a three-year lease on a car whose monthly payment is the equivalent of about two full tanks of gas. Once word of those perks got around to some California racing clubs, about 100 500e vehicles to be moved off of California lots during the past week or so. Plugged in, indeed. Related Videos: Featured Gallery 2013 Fiat 500e: Review View 40 Photos News Source: Green Car Reports Green Chrysler Fiat incentives fiat 500e

Chrysler 300 performance model teased for Detroit Auto Show reveal

The Chrysler 300 will not go out quietly, both literally and figuratively. A new teaser from Chrysler blasted across the company website’s homepage tells the story of whatÂ’s going on here. ItÂ’s a photo of what we have to assume is the wheel and brake caliper of what Chrysler plans on revealing September 13. The car this wheel and caliper are attached to? A Chrysler 300. Yes, it appears as though Chrysler is going to reveal a performance model of the 300 next week, and weÂ’re excited about it. Chrysler doesnÂ’t divulge much about the car, but the description attached to the photo tells us a few things. WeÂ’ll re-paste the text from the teaser below for easy reading. “Tune in September 13th at 6:00 p.m. ET to get a front-row seat for the reveal of one of the most powerful and luxurious special edition vehicles in Chrysler Brand history. WeÂ’ll also share details on how you can reserve a vehicle of your own from this limited production run. Limited Quantities available. Vehicle availability in Spring 2023. Visit your dealer for vehicle availability.” What could this be? For starters, thereÂ’s precedent for a Chrysler 300 SRT8 re-creation. Chrysler discontinued this muscle sedan after the 2014 model year, and in the end it had a 6.4-liter V8 under its hood that made 470 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque. Today, that 6.4-liter V8 can be found under the hood of the 300Â’s sibling car, the Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack where it makes 485 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque. It seems reasonable that Chrysler could bring the big 6.4-liter back to the 300 as a sendoff — after all, the Charger and Challenger in their current forms are being discontinued after the 2023 model year. The caliper design looks like that found on the current Scat Pack cars, but itÂ’s only a glimpse of the wheel and brakes, so we canÂ’t be 100% sure about anything. As much as weÂ’d love to see Chrysler stick a Hellcat engine inside the 300 as its final hurrah, that theory is definitely the longshot at this point. Chrysler says this model will be “one of the most powerful” special edition vehicles in its history, but it didnÂ’t explicitly call it the most powerful car its ever made. If that was ChryslerÂ’s wording, weÂ’d have to assume it would be a Hellcat, but thatÂ’s not the case here. Regardless of what performance level 300 comes at us on Tuesday next week, weÂ’re hyped. Make sure to tune back in here to see what Chrysler has in store for us.