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Stellantis and LG announce Canadian EV battery joint venture

SEOUL — South Korean battery giant LG Energy Solution (LGES) said on Wednesday it plans to invest $1.5 billion to set up a joint venture with Stellantis in Canada. LGES owns 51% of the joint venture, tentatively named "LGES-STLA JV" and Stellantis owns 49%, LGES said in a regulatory filing. In October, LGES and Stellantis NV struck an electric vehicle (EV) battery production joint venture, targeting to start production by the first quarter of 2024 and aiming to have an annual production capacity of 40 gigawatt hours of batteries. In a separate regulatory filing, LGES said it plans to acquire a stake worth $542 million in ES America to respond to demand from EV startups in the United States. LGES is considering building a factory in Arizona to meet demand in the United States, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the plant is expected to primarily produce cylindrical battery cells. LGES has its own factory in Michigan and two battery joint ventures with General Motors in Ohio and Tennessee. "We are considering a new production site, but nothing has been decided yet," said a spokesperson at LGES. LGES, which counts Tesla, GM and Volkswagen among its customers, currently has battery production sites in the United States, China, Poland, Indonesia and South Korea. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Green Plants/Manufacturing Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Electric

How Dodge is making sure dealers don't gouge Demon buyers

The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is a ridiculous 840-horsepower, limited-production machine that we're sure many are eager to purchase. But, they're probably not excited at the prospect of the massive dealer markups that accompany rare, high-performance cars. Fortunately, Dodge is taking steps to make sure buyers aren't paying thousands of dollars extra to get a car early, and its main method is production priority. Dodge announced that cars purchased at or below the MSRP of $86,090 will be the first ones the company builds and delivers. If a dealer sells an allocated car for more than the sticker price, that car won't be built until the high-priority vehicles have been. Dodge will also ensure fair distribution of the 3,000 Demons it will build by limiting the number of orders a dealer can submit. Dealers will be allocated a certain number of cars, and the amount will be based on how many Challenger and Charger Hellcats the dealer has sold. This should also help prevent dealers from hoarding cars and slapping sky-high prices on them. Also, the fact that every Demon comes with a number plate with the buyers' name on it should help prevent dealers from buying cars for the lot to mark up. In addition to revealing these measures, Dodge announced that buyers will be able to submit an order for a Demon at an eligible dealer tomorrow, June 21. The only dealers eligible for Demon ordering are those that have sold more than one Hellcat in the past 12 months. Cars will begin production this summer, and deliveries will begin in the fall. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon: New York 2017 View 48 Photos Image Credit: Drew Phillips Dodge Car Buying Car Dealers Coupe Performance dodge demon

Stellantis is official: FCA and PSA merger finally sealed

MILAN — Fiat Chrysler and PSA sealed their long-awaited merger on Saturday to create Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest auto group with deep enough pockets to fund the shift to electric driving and take on bigger rivals Toyota and Volkswagen. It took over a year for the Italian-American and French automakers to finalize the $52 billion deal, during which the global economy was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. They first announced plans to merge in October 2019, to create a group with annual sales of around 8.1 million vehicles. "The merger between Peugeot S.A. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. that will lead the path to the creation of Stellantis N.V. became effective today," the two automakers said in a statement. Shares in Stellantis, which will be headed by current PSA Chief Executive Carlos Tavares, will start trading in Milan and Paris on Monday, and in New York on Tuesday. Now analysts and investors are turning their focus to how Tavares plans to address the huge challenges facing the group – from excess production capacity to a woeful performance in China. Tavares will hold his first press conference as Stellantis CEO on Tuesday, after ringing NYSE's bell with Chairman John Elkann. FCA and PSA have said Stellantis can cut annual costs by over 5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) without plant closures, and investors will be keen for more details on how it will do this. Marco Santino, a partner at consultants Oliver Wyman, said he expected Tavares to disclose the outlines of his action plan soon, but without divulging too many details at first. "He has proven to be the kind of person who prefers action to words, so I don't think he will make loud statements or try to over-sell targets," he said. Like all global automakers, Stellantis needs to invest billions in the years ahead to transform its vehicle range for the electric era. But other pressing tasks loom, including reviving the group's lagging fortunes in China, rationalizing its huge global empire and addressing massive overcapacity. "It will be a step by step process, also to allow the market to better appreciate every single move. I don't think we will have all the details before one year," Santino said.