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Stellantis ready to kill brands and fix U.S. problems, CEO Tavares says

  MILAN — Stellantis is taking steps to fix weak margins and high inventory at its U.S. operations and will not hesitate to axe underperforming brands in its sprawling portfolio, its chief executive Carlos Tavares said on Thursday. The warning for lossmaking brands is a turnaround for Tavares, who has maintained since Stellantis was created in 2021 from the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA that all of its 14 brands including Maserati, Fiat, Peugeot and Jeep have a future. "If they don't make money, we'll shut them down," Carlos Tavares told reporters after the world's No. 4 automaker delivered worse-than-expected first-half results, sending its shares down as much as 10%. "We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money." The automaker now also considers China's Leapmotor as its 15th brand, after it agreed to a broad cooperation with the group. Stellantis does not release figures for individual brands, except for Maserati which reported an 82 million euro adjusted operating loss in the first half. Some analysts say Maserati could possibly be a target for a sale by Stellantis, while other brands such as Lancia or DS might be at risk of being scrapped given their marginal contribution to the group's overall sales. Stellantis' Milan-listed shares were down as much as 12.5% on Thursday, hitting their lowest since August 2023. That brings the loss for the year so far to 22%, making them the worst performer among the major European automakers. Few automotive brands have been killed off since General Motors ditched the unprofitable Saturn and Pontiac during a U.S. government-led bankruptcy in the global financial crisis in 2008. Tavares is under pressure to revive flagging margins and sales and cut inventory in the United States as Stellantis bets on the launch of 20 new models this year which it hopes will boost profitability. Recent poor results from global carmakers have heightened worries about a weakening outlook for sales across major markets such as the U.S., whilst they also juggle an expensive transition to electric vehicles and growing competition from cheaper Chinese rivals. Japan's Nissan Motor saw first-quarter profit almost completely wiped out on Thursday and slashed its annual outlook, as deep discounting in the United States shredded its margins. Tavares said he would be working through the summer with his U.S. team on how to improve performance and cut inventory.

VW Golf R, Ram Power Wagon and Subaru Forester | Autoblog Podcast #591

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and Road Test Editor Reese Counts. After some talk about sponges and other randomly received oddities, this episode is all about the cars we've been driving, including the new Subaru Forester, VW Golf R (which is going on hiatus), BMW M340i xDrive and Ram Power Wagon. Then, they take to the mailbag to help a listener pick a sporty new car in the "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #591 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Sponges, really? 2019 Subaru Forester Sport 2019 Volkswagen Golf R 2020 BMW M340i xDrive 2019 Ram 2500 Power Wagon Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:  

New Winnebago Solis Pocket is the brand's smallest camper van

Winnebago, the brand whose iconic boxy motorhomes with the big "W" logo were a fixture at campgrounds back in the '70s, has since branched out into other RVs including camper vans. The company has just introduced its latest, the Solis Pocket, which is both its smallest and most affordable offering, but one that still packs a lot of features. As surfaced by Motor1, the Winnebago Solis Pocket is based on the Ram ProMaster van with a 136-inch wheelbase and is 17 feet 10 inches long. That makes it almost two feet shorter than the next-larger Solis 59P, which is based on the 159-inch-wheelbase ProMaster. The camper van is powered by a 3.6-liter V6 hooked to a six-speed automatic. That gives it a 3,500-pound towing capacity, and the van comes standard with a trailer hitch. At 113 inches tall and with a 6-foot 3-inch interior height, the Solis Pocket packs a lot into its small space. The camper van sleeps three, two in the drop-down Murphy bed at the rear of the rig and one in a two-seat dinette/sofa that converts to a small single bed. A kitchenette with a two-burner cooktop, a sink with a 20-gallon freshwater tank, and a mini-fridge are arranged on the passenger side of the van. A 3.2-gallon cassette toilet tucks under one of the dinette seats. The two front seats also swivel to face the interior. The price for the Solis Pocket is $95,736. Clearly, "least expensive" does not mean cheap. For reference, the Solis 59P starts at $107,821. If the whole #vanlife is starting to sound unattainable, maybe consider #trailerlife instead. Winnebago's camping trailers start at $22,172, and that roughly $73k cost differential would buy a pretty sweet tow rig. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.