2005 Chrysler Pt Cruiser .88,600 Miles on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Fiat shareholders green-light Chrysler merger, end of an Italian era

Fiat has just taken a major step away from its Italian heritage, as shareholders officially approved the company's merger with Chrysler. That move will lead to the formation of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, a Dutch company based in Great Britain and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, according to Automotive News Europe.
The company captured the two-thirds majority at a special shareholders meeting, although there are still a few situations that could defeat the movement. According to ANE, roughly eight percent of shareholders opposed the merger, which is a group large enough to defeat the plan, should they all exercise their exit rights outlined in the merger conditions.
Meanwhile, Fiat Chairman John Elkann (pictured above, right, with CEO Sergio Marchionne and Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo), the great-great-grandson of Fiat founder Giovanni Agnelli, reaffirmed his family's commitment to the company beyond the merger. Exor, the Agnelli family's holding company, still maintains a 30-percent stake in Fiat.

Michigan ponders its automotive future in the connected age

Few people take cars more seriously than Michiganders. I've been to the home of BMW in Germany. I've been to Kia's HQ in Korea. I've seen Honda's goods in Japan. No one, from the factory worker to the executive in her pinstriped suit, is more obsessed with cars than Michigan Inc. That's why it was interesting this week to see the state have a moment of introspection four hours north of the Motor City on a scenic island called Mackinac. Ironically, cars are not allowed here. Normally a tourist trap, it played placed host to the Mackinac Public Policy conference this week. While politics took center stage ( I may be the only person here not considering a run for governor) the evolution of the industry through connectivity and data was a theme of the conference. If you're reading this in New York, Silicon Valley, or one of the automotive heartlands listed above, you do care about this. If Michigan rethinks its approach to the car business – and makes moves to become more competitive – that affects you the consumer and enthusiast. It's jobs. It's technology, and it's a competition to see who's going to be the leader. More than a century after Henry Ford made mass production a thing, more than 70 years after Detroit's Arsenal of Democracy helped win World War II, and nearly a decade after the historic bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler, the car business is on solid footing again and looking to the future. What's next? Michigan is still home to thousands of auto workers, tech centers (including gleaming facilities built by Toyota and Hyundai), and the headquarters of the three American carmakers. Just because the economy is good doesn't mean it's a given connected cars and mobility advancements are going to come from this state. A lot of it's not. Tesla, Uber, Lyft, Faraday Future, and other transportation mediums have spouted up other places. Michigan leaders and Detroit's carmakers understand this reality. Reflecting on the past means admitting the future is not a given, a key undertone this week in Mackinac. It's about using existing resources, like skilled labor, to move forward. "We do have the number of technicians and technical expertise here in this state," says Stephen Polk," conference chair and former CEO of auto data firm R.L. Polk & Co. To that end, Ford is placing increased emphasis on a division called Smart Mobility, which is an in-house unit focusing on autonomy, connectivity, and forward-looking ideas.

Junkyard Gem: 1987 Chrysler Conquest TSi

If you feel like stumping your friends with a very trivial car-trivia question, try this one: What car model was sold in the United States with badging from Plymouth, Dodge, and Chrysler? They'll tell you it's the Neon, which was badged as a Chrysler outside of the USA, and you'll point out the "in the United States" qualification and feel smug in your superior automotive knowledge. The correct answer is, of course, the Conquest, which was a rebadged Mitsubishi Starion. Here's a Chrysler Conquest TSi, found in a Denver-area self-service wrecking yard. The TSi was the factory-hot-rod version of the Conquest, with intercooling for its 2.6-liter Mitsubishi Astron four-cylinder engine and 176 horsepower— pretty serious for 1987. For 1984 through 1986, the Conquest could be had with either Dodge or Plymouth branding; the 1987-1989 Conquests are all Chryslers. This one is rough, though the odometer shows that it never even reached 150,000 miles. Here's a Grateful Dead sticker, presumably bought on Shakedown Street at some point before Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. TURBO was a powerful word during the 1980s, so much so that the Starion/Conquest came with seat belts emblazoned with the sacred word. I still see the occasional Starion or Conquest during my junkyard travels, but the Chrysler Conquest is the rarest version these days. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.