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FCA goes big on little Fiat 500 EV, plans to build 80,000

TURIN, Italy — Fiat Chrysler plans to invest 700 million euros ($787 million) in an electric makeover of its iconic Fiat 500, a top executive said on Thursday, as the automaker seeks to move on from its failed bid to merge with France's Renault. FCA's chief operating officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Pietro Gorlier, announced the investment — the Italian-American company's biggest single bet on an electric vehicle — at its Mirafiori plan in Turin, northern Italy. "The plan is confirmed," Gorlier told reporters, when asked if FCA's investment in electric vehicle technology would remain unchanged after its $35 billion plan to merge with Renault, an electric car pioneer, collapsed last month. He said FCA would invest the 700 million euros to build a new production line at Mirafiori to turn out 80,000 of the new 500 BEV, its first battery electric vehicle to be marketed in Europe after a smaller, initial foray in the United States. Production will start in the second quarter of 2020, with capacity to be expanded later, Gorlier said. The 500 compact car is one of the group's most famous models, launched by Fiat in the late 1950s and quickly becoming a symbol of Italian urban design. The 700 million euros investment is part of a plan announced last year to invest 5 billion euros in Italy up to 2021. In abandoning its merger offer for Renault, FCA blamed French politics for scuttling what would have been a landmark deal to create the world's third-biggest automaker. Featured Gallery Fiat 500e Green Chrysler Fiat Electric

FCA cuts powertrain warranties to 60k miles

FCA US is cutting back the mileage of its powertrain warranty on some 2016 model year vehicles. Rather than the current five years/100,000 miles of coverage, the new amount is five years/60,000 miles for gasoline-fueled models from Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram. In March 2015, General Motors made a similar switch to five-years/60,000-miles of coverage for Chevrolet and GMC, and FCA US seems to be citing this as part of the reason for the shift. "Following changes already made by competitors, FCA US is adjusting powertrain warranty coverage for 2016 model year vehicles to be more consistent with industry practices," the automaker said in a portion of its statement. The bumper-to-bumper warranty for these vehicles is unchanged at three years/36,000 miles. According to Automotive News, Fiat's warranty is remaining at four years/50,000 miles. When it changed the mileage limit, GM also halved the number of free service visits for Chevy, GMC, and Buick to two from the previous four. The automaker claimed that the reason for the adjustments to its coverage was that a long warranty was seldom a reason for customers to buy a vehicle. Related Video: Response to Query: 2016MY Powertrain Warranty Adjustment Following changes already made by competitors, FCA US is adjusting powertrain warranty coverage for 2016 model year vehicles to be more consistent with industry practices. For 2016MY, Chrysler, Jeep®, Dodge and Ram Truck vehicles with gasoline engines will be covered by a 5 year/60,000 mile powertrain warranty. The basic coverage, also known as "bumper to bumper," remains at 3 years/36,000 miles. # # # News Source: FCA US, Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Car Buying Maintenance Ownership FCA warranty fca us powertrain

Chrysler banks $507 million in Q2, trims 2013 earnings forecast

Chrysler has some good news and some bad news. First, profits were up 16 percent over the second quarter of 2012, bringing the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based manufacturer $507 million on the back of strong demand for trucks and SUVs (a recurring theme this quarter, particularly in the US). Q2 revenue was up as well, from $16.8 billion in 2012 to $18 billion in 2013. The bad news is that the Pentastar's overall earnings forecast for net income in 2013 has been trimmed from $2.2 billion to between $1.7 and $2.2 billion, according to Automotive News.
In addition to the adjusted net income forecast, Chrysler tweaked its operating profit from $3.8 billion to between $3.3 and $3.8 billion. This has gone largely unexplained by Chrysler, perhaps hoping the news of a three-percent increase in its transaction prices for Q2 will allow it to sweep this adjustment under the rug.
The star of the show for Chrysler has been its US sales, which saw a 10-percent jump, both bettering the industry average of eight percent and improving over the same stretch of 2012. As with the increase in transaction prices, Chrysler has the new Ram pickup and Jeep Grand Cherokee to thank. Perhaps most worrying from this report, though, is that every brand in the automaker's stable saw an increase in sales... except for the Chrysler brand itself.