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Chrysler Pacifica's Fam Cam is a great feature that needs to be on more cars

The CDC and various other official entities encourage or demand parents to place their children in a rear-facing child seat from birth until the ages of 2 to 4. That obviously means a driver or front passenger cannot see them, necessitating a mirror that you can see from the car's rearview mirror. As someone who constantly moved his son's rear-facing child seat between different cars every week, I can firmly recommend a mirror like this with a swivel base, as it is so much easier than others to mount and adjust.  But you know what's better than a mirror? The Chrysler Pacifica's "Fam Cam." In between the second and third rows, in the middle of the van, is a little glossy black disk in the ceiling that contains cameras that display images of second and third rows. There are daylight color and night time infrared camera views as well (although the daylight one makes certain darker colors look lilac purple). You can also enlarge one of the outboard second-row seats for a better view. Any of these above options allows you to see your children many times better than is possible with a mirror, especially at night. Just look at the difference below. Basically, you can't see your kid at all with the rearview mirror at night. Turning on the overhead map light helps, but my son wasn't too keen on having an interrogation lamp in his face, and it's certainly not ideal for sleeping, either. A given car's backseat position can also mean that the forward-facing child mirror is below the rearview mirror's line of sight, meaning you have to choose between seeing your kid or seeing what's going on behind your vehicle. Again, advantage Fam Cam. Here's another benefit. It's usually very difficult, if impossible, to mount both a forward-facing mirror and a tablet holder at the same time. I usually got around this by attaching the mirror to the middle seating position's head restraint, but that's obviously not an option in a vehicle with captain's chairs. Now, while I was literally able to mount both in the Pacifica for the purposes of illustrating my point, it was not easy and both mirror and tablet holder fit poorly. Using Fam Cam is obviously a better option. (Also a shout-out for Chrysler's positioning of the third-row USB port, which made it super-easy to keep the Galaxy charged).  Now, to be fair, the Kia Carnival and Honda Odyssey offer a similar rear seat spy camera feature, and we like those, too.

FCA close to paying off debt, outperforming Ford in earnings

FCA boosting output of SUVs, trucks in U.S. Marchionne says the company no longer needs a merger partner FCA expects to pay off all debt this year "There's a very strong likelihood that we will outperform Ford" MILAN/DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler's shift to sell more trucks and SUVs boosted margins yet again in its North American profit center, making Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne confident he can hit most of the final targets of his five-year turnaround plan. FCA has been retooling some U.S. factories to boost output of lucrative sport-utility vehicles and trucks while ending production of some unprofitable sedans. This put the world's seventh-largest carmaker on track to become debt-free by the end of the year, and allowed Marchionne to make good on his promise to close the gap on larger U.S. rivals General Motors (GM) and Ford. "There's a very strong likelihood that we will outperform Ford in terms of operating earnings in 2018," Marchionne told analysts on an earnings call Thursday. "That's something that if I told any of us in the room here that would've been doable five years ago, nobody would have believed it." As the 65-year-old executive prepares to hand over the reins to an internal successor next year, he said the improvements mean the company no longer needed a partner to survive. The carmaker has often been the subject of merger speculation, especially after its unsuccessful 2015 attempt to tie up with GM. "The necessity to find a partner, to try and guarantee our survival, going forward, is put to bed. I mean we're done," Marchionne told analysts on a post-results conference call. North America accounted for 71 percent of earnings last quarter, and profit margins in the region rose to 8 percent from 7.1 percent a year earlier, even as shipments fell 3 percent. Meanwhile Ford's automotive margin for North America slipped to 6.8 percent, down from 8.5 percent a year earlier.FCA trimmed its expectations for 2018 revenues and forecast adjusted operating profit of at least 8.7 billion euros, at the lower end of a previously given range. Analysts said FCA's margin improvement was impressive, and it could be on the cusp of a big boost from its new Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Cherokee models and its Ram 1500 truck. FCA ready to pay off its debt But the Italian-American carmaker expects to cancel all debt during 2018 — possibly by the end of June — and generate around 4 billion euros in net cash by the end of the year.

Nissan tells Renault it is 'not opposed' to Fiat Chrysler merger plan

TOKYO – Nissan on Wednesday told Renault it wasn't opposed to its partner's potential $35 billion merger with Fiat Chrysler, the Nikkei newspaper said, as the two met to hash out the future of their alliance amid a deal that could upend the auto industry. The leaders of Nissan Motor Co, France's Renault SA and junior partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp gathered at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama for a scheduled alliance meeting - one overshadowed by Fiat Chrysler's proposal this week for a merger-of-equals with Renault. The plan, which would create the world's third-largest automaker, raises difficult questions about how Nissan would fit into a radically changed alliance. Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard arrived in Japan on Tuesday to discuss the proposed tie-up with Nissan, 43.4% owned by the French automaker. "We are not opposed," the Nikkei quoted an unnamed Nissan source who had attended the meeting as saying. The person also said "many details need to be worked out" before the Japanese automaker solidifies its position on the issue, the Nikkei reported. In a statement, the alliance members confirmed that they had "an open and transparent discussion" on the proposal. The deal looks designed to tackle the costs of far-reaching technological and regulatory changes, including the drive toward electric vehicles. Nissan, which has rebuffed overtures by Renault for a merger of their own despite their 20-year alliance, was blindsided by the discussions, sources have told Reuters, stoking concerns that a deal with Fiat Chrysler could weaken Nissan's relations with Renault. The tie-up also poses an additional challenge for Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, already grappling with poor financial performance and an uneasy relationship with Renault after Nissan led the ousting last year of long-standing alliance chairman Carlos Ghosn. There have long been tensions between Nissan and Renault over the imbalance of power in their alliance. Nissan, the bigger company, holds a 15% non-voting stake in the French automaker, while Renault owns 43.4% of Nissan. Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, Japanese media quoted Saikawa as telling reporters that he would look at the potential opportunities afforded by a Renault-FCA merger. Credit ratings agency Moody's said it was vital for Nissan to stabilize its partnership with Renault to expand operational synergies and improve margins.