2014 Chrysler Town & Country Touring on 2040-cars

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Why a Renault-FCA merger could be good news for Nissan, Mitsubishi

TOKYO — Nissan's advanced technologies including platforms and electric powertrains could give it leverage in a merger involving Renault and Fiat Chrysler, thanks to a royalty system it has with the former, two people with knowledge of the matter said. A merged Renault-Fiat Chrysler could face an extra hurdle each time it uses technology developed by Nissan or Mitsubishi Motors, while the two Japanese automakers stand to gain a client in Fiat Chrysler (FCA), one of the people said. Both sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Nissan's technology, particularly in electrification and emissions reduction, could give it some sway in the $35 billion potential tie-up between Renault and FCA, even as its stake in the newly formed company would be diluted. Currently Renault SA pays less for technology developed by Nissan than the Japanese automaker pays for French technology, a third person said. This has long been a sticking point for Nissan, and an area where Nissan could seek more favorable terms. "Whenever Nissan transfers platform, powertrain or other technology to Renault, there is a margin or royalty which Renault has to pay for use of that tech," one of the people said. "In that sense, FCA, if everything went well, would become another 'client' of ours and that's good. More business for us." A Nissan spokesman declined to comment on its royalty system. The potential Renault-FCA deal has complicated the Japanese automaker's already uneasy alliance with Renault. A further deal with Fiat Chrysler looks likely at least in the near term to weaken Nissan's influence in the 20-year-old partnership. Renault owns a 43.4% stake in Nissan and is its top shareholder. Nissan holds a 15% non-voting stake in Renault and would see that diluted to 7.5% after the FCA deal, albeit with voting rights. The imbalance between the two has long rankled Nissan, which is by far the larger company. Alliance imbalance Renault had previously angled for a merger with Nissan but has been rebuffed by CEO Hiroto Saikawa. Securing benefits from the merger deal will be important for Saikawa, who is grappling with poor financial performance while he struggles to right the company after the ouster of former chairman Carlos Ghosn last year.

Driving the 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe and Ford Explorer | Autoblog Podcast #844

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Electric, John Beltz Snyder. John recently attended the launch of both the 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe and the 2025 Ford Explorer. In the fleet, we've been driving the Jeep Gladiator, BMW 5 Series and Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid. In the news, Nissan has updated the Frontier for 2025, while the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla gets an available automatic transmission. Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast #844     Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe 2025 Ford Explorer 2024 Jeep Gladiator 2024 BMW 530i xDrive 2024 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid 2025 Nissan Frontier gets a suite of meaningful upgrades 2025 Toyota GR Corolla gets available automatic transmission Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video:  2025 Explorer SUV interior review This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Chrysler Airflow EV concept gets new duds for New York

Chrysler's Airflow electric crossover returned to the stage in New York Wednesday in a new exterior finish as Chrysler's development engineers creep closer and closer to their goal of taking the brand all-electric by 2028. The brand's first electric vehicle is due by 2025, and some variant of this definitely-not-a-revived-Celine-Dion-era-Pacifica-crossover thing is likely to be it.  This version of the Airflow is dubbed "Graphite" and is the iteration Chrysler teased ahead of the show, but as we expected, not much of substance has really changed. Perhaps that's because this concept isn't yet particularly substantial. That's the beauty of an EV; once you have the basic design nailed down, the rest is really just an elaborate Lego project. Chrysler's builders are evidently still hard at work putting together a final product that lives up to the initial hype and range target of 400 miles on a charge.  In the meantime, the design team has been tweaking the looks. As we saw in the teaser, the updated Airflow gets a new grille design with a thin light bar at the Airflow's nose and acute beneath flanking the headlights forming a symmetrical pair of lightning bolts (gee, d'ya suppose it's electric?) aimed at the car's nose. The lower fascia appears a bit more sharply defined too, but it could just be the lighting.  The updates to the exterior are repeated inside on the wheel and dash, which have also had their colors inverted from the concept we saw at CES. Some of the interior details have also been tightened up from what we can see here. The selector dial on the center console appears to be more compact, as does the primary infotainment screen (though again, that could be a trick of the "photography"). The secondary display beneath the main infotainment screen has also been eliminated. We're guessing those controls have either been integrated into the main screen or as touch-sensitive elements hidden in the glossy plastic where the screen once was. The same was done to the steering wheel controls, it seems.