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Junkyard Gem: 2012 Fiat 500 Pop

FCA just announced that the Fiat 500 hatchback and convertible get the US-market axe after this year, not even a decade after the car reintroduced us to the Fiat marque. I've been seeing crashed 500s in big American wrecking yards for years now, but now some non-crunched examples are showing up on my junkyard journeys. I decided that I'd commemorate the rise and fall of the 500 by photographing this giallo 2012 500 Pop, found in Denver. According to an industry person who wishes to remain anonymous, Fiat was short on automatic-equipped 500s for 2012 (the first model year of North American sales), so a few hundred of the early Pop-trim-level cars got yellow or red paint and these black stripes and badging to help them move off the showroom floors despite their sales-killing third pedals. Soon after, the Fiat 500 Stinger appeared. I don't know why anyone wouldn't have preferred this car with the manual transmission, but reality dictates that little economy cars with three pedals can be virtually unsellable once they get some miles on the clock. This 500 has some body damage (that might have happened after it got to the junkyard) but looks pretty clean overall. Sold new in Colorado, will be crushed in Colorado seven years later. The Multi-Air four-banger in the '12 500 generated 101 horsepower, which wasn't much for a 2,500-pound car (by 21st-century standards). For commuting purposes, though, it was fine, and the 5-speed made it reasonably fun. Pop was the cheapest trim level for the 2012 500, so the interior didn't offer much snazz beyond the body-colored dash panels. Now that these cars have become so cheap, it's time to consider the most crazy-per-dollar junkyard engine swaps for them. Think a narrow-angle turbocharged V6 would fit in a 500? This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The next wave of Italians has come to America … and they've come to party.

Weekly Recap: FCA hit with record fine as NHTSA crackdown continues

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration slapped Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with a record fine this week that could reach $105 million. The punishment comes after NHTSA found problems with the automaker's execution of 23 recalls that affect more than 11 million vehicles. The consent agreement, announced Sunday, calls for FCA to pay a $70-million cash fine and requires the company to spend at least $20 million over a three-year period on industry outreach programs and to beef up old recall campaigns. Failure to comply will result in another $15-million fine. FCA also agreed to federal oversight, which includes an independent monitor to oversee the company's recalls. The $70-million cash fine equals a penalty NHTSA levied on Honda in January. "Fiat Chrysler's pattern of poor performance put millions of its customers and the driving public at risk," NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind said in a statement. "This action will provide relief to owners of defective vehicles, will help improve recall performance throughout the auto industry, and gives Fiat Chrysler the opportunity to embrace a proactive safety culture." FCA called the deal a "consensual resolution," but admitted that it "failed to timely provide an effective remedy" during certain recalls. "We are intent on rebuilding our relationship with NHTSA and we embrace the role of public safety advocate," the company said in a statement. The announcement kicked off a busy week for the automaker. NHTSA agreed FCA did not need to recall 4.7 million vehicles after an investigation failed to find defects with a power module used in some Jeep, Dodge, and Ram vehicles. A Georgia judge also reduced a civil verdict involving a death in a Jeep Grand Cherokee crash. Amid all of that, the company reported net profit of about 333 million euros, or $364 million in the second quarter on Thursday. OTHER NEWS & NOTES FCA ramps up Hellcat production Despite a decidedly legal and financial week for FCA, there was still time for the performance side of the business to briefly grab the spotlight. The automaker is more than doubling its production of the Dodge Challenger and Charger SRT Hellcats in response to strong demand. The order bank opens the second week of August and production begins in September. FCA will finish up its scheduled 2015 model-year Hellcat builds, and cancel any "unscheduled" versions, though customers will get discounted pricing for 2016.

Share price falls on skepticism of Chrysler-Fiat five-year plan

Following this week's Fiat Chrysler extravaganza, where the Italian-American manufacturer announced its plans for the next five years, the Autoblog staff was cautiously optimistic of the company's future. Investors? Not so much.
Fiat saw its shares tumble 12 percent in Wednesday's trading, falling from 8.67 euros ($12.06 at today's rates) to 7.44 euros ($10.35) as of this writing, with blame partly going to the Italian half of the FCA marriage, which recorded a pretty significant drop in profits during the first quarter of this year.
The plan, which will cost around $77 billion over the next several years, is facing criticism from investors thanks in part to a 1.4-percent drop in Fiat's first-quarter profits, to 622 million euros ($862 million). That figure is also short of Bloomberg analysts' projections, which predicted $1.18 billion in profits before taxes, interest and one-time items.