2014 Ram 2500 Tradesman on 2040-cars

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Ram adds 875,000 pickups to tailgate recall now totaling 2.4 million

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler is adding more than 875,000 Ram pickup trucks worldwide to a series of recalls to fix tailgates that can open while the trucks are being driven. The expansion covers certain Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickups from the 2013 through 2018 model years that have power locking tailgates. Affected 2015 through 2017 trucks have 8-foot beds, and the affected 2013, 2014 and 2018 trucks have beds of other sizes and were built before April 1, 2018. Fiat Chrysler says it's not aware of any injuries or accidents caused by the problem. The company recalled about 1.1 million trucks in the U.S. in 2018 for the same problem, and added 410,000 in May of 2019, for a total of more than 2.4 million. Most of the recalled trucks are in the U.S. and Canada. A tailgate tab can fracture and cause the tailgates to unlatch, increasing the risk of cargo spilling onto the road. Dealers will repair the tailgate latch. Owners of the latest batch of recalled trucks will get letters starting around Oct. 18 notifying them to take their trucks to a dealer for service. Fiat Chrysler says the recall expansions came because of reviews of customer data as it monitors vehicles in the field. The company says that all loose cargo in the bed should be secured before driving.

Germany threatens to ban FCA vehicles over diesel emissions dispute

Germany is threatening to ban sales of FCA products over diesel emissions. According to the newspaper Bild Am Sonntag, Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority found evidence of a so-called defeat device that shuts down certain emissions controls after running for 22 minutes. A standard diesel emissions test in the European Union reportedly takes 20 minutes to complete. FCA denies the allegations. "We believe all our vehicles respect EU emissions standards and we believe Italian regulators are the competent authority to evaluate this," the company said in a statement. The latter part of that statement drew ire from German authorities, especially after FCA declined to meet with German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt to discuss the issue. Graziano Delrio, the Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, vowed to work with German authorities on behalf of FCA. According to EU law, FCA is required to homologate its vehicles in Italy because that's where its regional operations are based. When will the diesel-scented soap opera end? We wish we knew, but our Magic 8 Ball is covered in soot. Related Video: News Source: Financial TimesImage Credit: Giuseppe Aresu/Bloomberg via Getty Government/Legal Green Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Emissions Diesel Vehicles FCA

China-FCA merger could be a win-win for everyone but politicians

NEW YORK — Fiat Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne has said the car industry needs to come together, cut costs and stop incinerating capital. So far, his words have mostly fallen on deaf ears among competitors in Europe and North America. But it appears Marchionne has finally found a receptive audience — in China. FCA shares soared Monday after trade publication Automotive News reported the $18 billion Italian-American conglomerate controlled by the Agnelli family rebuffed a takeover from an unidentified carmaker from the Chinese mainland. As ugly as the politics of such a combination may appear at first blush, a transaction could stack up industrially, and perhaps even financially. A Sino-U.S.-European merger would create the first truly global auto group. That could push consolidation to the next level elsewhere. Moreover, China is the world's top market for the SUVs that Jeep effectively invented, so it might benefit FCA financially. A combo would certainly help upgrade the domestic manufacturer; Chinese carmakers have gotten better at making cars, but struggle to build global brands, and they need to develop export markets. Though frivolous overseas shopping excursions by Chinese enterprises are being reined in by Beijing, acquisitions that support the modernization and transformation of strategic industries still receive support, and the government considers the automotive industry to be strategic. A purchase of FCA by Guangzhou Automobile, Great Wall or Dongfeng Motors would probably get the same stamp of approval ChemChina was given for its $43 billion takeover of Syngenta. What's standing in the way? Apart from price (Automotive News said FCA's board deemed the offer insufficient) there's the not-insignificant matter of politics. Even as FCA shares soared, President Donald Trump interrupted his vacation to instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to look into whether to investigate China's trade policies on intellectual property. Seeing storied Detroit brands like Jeep, Chrysler, Ram and Dodge handed off to a Chinese company would provoke howls among Trump's economic-nationalist supporters. It might not play well in Italy, either, to see Alfa Romeo and Maserati answering to Wuhan instead of Turin — though Automotive News said they might be spun off separately. Yet, as Morgan Stanley observes, "cars don't ship across oceans easily," and political considerations increasingly demand local manufacture of valuable products.