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Peugeot's American future looks dead, but Stellantis intends to keep all brands alive

The years-old promise of a Peugeot return in the U.S. is looking bleaker by the second. Peugeot said the French brand would come back to sell cars in the U.S. five years ago, but now that FCA and PSA have transitioned to one Stellantis, that promise is looking a lot shakier. This news comes via a report from Car and Driver. When queried about Peugeot, Carlos Tavares, Stellantic CEO, offered this in response: “For the time being, I don't think that is part of the things that we want to prioritize for the next time window," Tavares said. "I think it's better that we funnel the talent, the capital, and the engineering capability of our Stellantis company to the existing brands to improve what needs to be improved and to accelerate where we need to accelerate, because we already have a very strong presence in this market." Tavares hasnÂ’t ruled it out entirely, but any kind of a Peugeot American renaissance is being pushed onto the backburner.  In good news for American brands, though, Tavares expressed great interest in keeping them all. Chrysler was the most worrisome of the bunch, as it only sells the aging 300 sedan and Pacifica minivan variants. Nevertheless, Tavares sees Chrysler as one of the “three historical pillars of Stellantis” and is eager “to give this brand a future.” Specifically, Tavares sees a high-tech future for the once-great American car company. Motor Trend reported on what Tavares spoke about in a call with the media. "It needs to rebound,” Tavares said. “We could think about what could be the next technologies in the automotive industry.” The obvious hint here is electrification and greater autonomy. Chrysler could theoretically become StellantisÂ’ electric showcase brand. ItÂ’s partway there with the Pacifica Hybrid PHEV minivan, but thereÂ’s still a long way to go for it to become the conglomerate's tech pillar. And then thereÂ’s Dodge and its powerful but emissions-heavy lineup. "We have the technology to deliver the torque, dynamics, and acceleration feeling, while also dramatically reducing the emissions," Tavares said. The Hellcat canÂ’t have a window-shattering 6.2-liter supercharged V8 forever, but it looks like Stellantis is at least committed to keeping the performance of DodgeÂ’s current lineup. Related video:

Chrysler Airflow EV crossover concept headed to production in 2024

At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the Airflow Vision Concept took the starring role on the Chrysler stand. More than a year later, Stellantis used its EV Day to show what looked like a running, rolling evolution of the Airflow Vision Concept, but the automaker didn't reference any names for the product. Finally, at one point during the company's Software Day this week, the company brought the production-looking battery-electric crossover out once again, only this time it has a name: Chrysler Airflow. The Stellantis roadmap contains blank spots in the 2022 and 2023 new reveal columns for the Chrysler brand. Car and Driver believes the Airflow could be one of Chrysler's new debuts in 2024. The automaker hasn't offered any details, so the most that can be done with the Airflow is to examine the pieces that Stellantis had already spoken of and see which ones fit. The OEM filed a trademark application for the Airflow name in 2019 and 2021. C/D thinks the five-seat production vehicle will ride on STLA Medium platform and be about the size of the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Volkswagen ID.4. The STLA Medium architecture will serve premium offerings for the C and D segments, will fit battery backs between 87 kWh and 104 kWh and two sizes of e-motors — a smaller motor producing from 168 to 242 horsepower, and a bigger motor putting out anywhere from 201 to 443 hp. Maximum range could be as much as 440 miles, depending on battery and motor combination. The platform slots between the STLA Small and STLA Large, a fourth STLA Frame platform serving trucks and vans.  Just before a four-minute video segment that showed Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares driving the Airflow, the automaker's head of software said, "It's closer than you think and more than a pure concept." The video shows a range of screens lining the instrument panel, plus a couple more in the back, as well as what look like plush materials and the obligatory panoramic sunroof. With the company aiming to hit 20 billion euros ($22.7B U.S.) in revenue from software by 2030, it said, "The Chrysler Airflow Concept shown in the Stellantis Software Day presentation represents the future of connected vehicles." The first we'll see of that could be the three new software platforms planned to roll out in 2024, all of them powered by AI. CES 2022 isn't far off, and Stellantis has told us there's a big announcement for 2022.

FCA under investigation for fraud by FBI, SEC, and DOJ

The US Justice Department is currently in the initial stages of investigating Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for fraud, according to two anonymous sources that spoke with Bloomberg. According to the unnamed sources, prosecutors are examining whether FCA violated US securities laws. As part of a coordinated investigation into FCA's sales reporting practices, investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission visited the automaker's field staff in their offices and homes earlier this month, reports Automotive News. According to an anonymous source that spoke to Automotive News, federal staff attorneys visited FCA's US headquarters in Auburn Hills, MI on July 11. The unnamed source told the outlet that employees were advised to seek counsel before speaking with investigators. Investigators also visited the automaker's offices in Dallas, California, and Orlando, the unnamed source told Automotive News. The investigation comes after FCA claimed it had recorded the best month of sales in the US in the automaker's history in December with a total of 217,527 vehicles sold, reports Bloomberg. The claim now seems untrustworthy. According to a previous report from Automotive News, a Chicago-based dealership group filed a lawsuit against FCA earlier this year. The suit accused the automaker of paying dealers to fake new-vehicle sales. At the time, the automaker claimed the allegations were baseless and had no merit. After the lawsuit, FCA started to add an extended disclaimed at the end of its monthly sales reports, according to Automotive News. In a statement, FCA claimed that the automaker is cooperating with the SEC investigation and pointed out that it records "revenues based on shipments to dealers and customers, not on reported vehicle unit sales to end customers." We'll have more on the investigation as it unfolds. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News-sub.req., Automotive News-sub.req, Bloomberg, GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images Government/Legal Chrysler Fiat FCA USDOJ investigation