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Chrysler CEO's brand vision: More products, tech, care and quality

The debut of the Chrysler Airflow battery-electric crossover at the Consumer Electronics Show was meant to be the harbinger of Chrysler's arrival as a 21st-century brand. After four months on the job as brand CEO, former Ford and Honeywell executive Christine Feuell opened up on her vision for the Pentastar in interviews with Automotive News and The Detroit News. When Stellantis asked each of its 14 brand chiefs for one word to describe their intentions, Feuell's word was "transformation," that overhaul seeing Chrysler become the mothership's "startup brand." The obvious sum of those two intentions is more technology, the good news about them is that there will be more product, the best news about them is that there will be more quality. The Airflow is said to arrive by 2025. Chrysler's two current products, the Pacifica/Voyager minivan and 300 sedan, will be replaced by new offerings that serve those same two segments but that are "a vast departure from what's in the market today." Beyond these three nameplates, visitors to Chrysler dealer lots will be able to choose from "a number of brand-new products that don't exist today." We'll guess there'll be one or two more crossovers in addition to whatever else comes, since that form factor hasn't begun to run out of steam. A couple more family conveyances after the Airflow would cement the Auburn Hills automaker as the people-hauler arm of Stellantis' U.S. quartet. We're told to expect something "in the largest segment," in TDN's words, but we're not certain if "largest" refers to the segment size or vehicle size.   Naturally, these transports will be electric, Chrysler aiming to be all-EV by 2028. Feuell said the Pacifica Hybrid has been able to poke its nose into a demographic of tech-friendly buyers, specifically, diverse millennial females with higher incomes. She wants to expand on that success, becoming an attractive option to families with a fair bit of disposable income — you know, Tesla buyers. Assuming she can translate her vision into good product, those shoppers will find in Chrysler "clean mobility, seamless technology," and unexpectedly rewarding ownership experiences.

Former Treasury boss unaware auto task force fired GM's Wagoner

We dig a good political tell-all every once in a while (how else will we get our political fix while waiting for House of Cards' third season?). Today, we get just that from former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's new book, "Stress Test," which details, among other parts of the 2009 financial catastrophe, the structured bankruptcy that allowed Chrysler and General Motors to emerge as competitive players in the auto industry.
In the book, which is nicely recapped by The Detroit News, Geithner discusses the firing of GM CEO Rick Wagoner while explaining how much trust he had in the auto industry task force that executed the move without his knowledge.
Auto Czar Steve Rattner "didn't even consult me before he fired General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner; if anything, that move increased my confidence in Team Auto," Geithner wrote.

Fiat Chrysler to open $30M autonomous driving test facility in Michigan

Fiat Chrysler said Wednesday it's invested more than $30 million in a new facility to develop and test autonomous vehicle and advanced safety technologies at its Chelsea Proving Grounds in southeast Michigan. The facility is the first of its kind for the automaker, which has mostly relied on partnerships with the likes of Uber and Google subsidiary Waymo to develop the hardware and software used in self-driving vehicles and avoided making large investments itself under former CEO Sergio Marchionne. The company this spring announced plans to deliver as many as 62,000 additional Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans to Waymo and make Waymo's tech available in customer vehicles via a licensing deal. The new facility features a dedicated highway-speed track for testing self-driving cars with obstacles, tunnels and other features, a 35-acre safety feature testing area and a high-tech, 6,500-square-foot command center equipped with computers that can track GPS coordinates and test vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. It will allow FCA to test for different levels of automated driving, automatic electronic braking and automated parking simulations, and test protocols from third parties such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, U.S. New Car Assessment Program and European New Car Assessment Program. Testing starts later this month. "The all-new facility at Chelsea Proving Grounds will help support and enable the successful rollout of the company's five-year plan laid out earlier this year," Mike Manley, FCA's new CEO and chief operating officer for the NAFTA region, said in a statement. "Our ability to test for autonomous and advanced safety technologies enables FCA to offer our customers the features they want across our brand portfolio." The Chelsea Proving Grounds, near Ann Arbor, opened in 1954 and now cover about 4,000 acres. About 900 people work there, the company says. Related Video: Image Credit: Getty Chrysler Fiat Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles Uber Waymo testing