1965 Chrysler Imperial Crown Convertible on 2040-cars

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Trump tells Detroit 3 CEOs he wants more US jobs, calls environmentalists 'out of control'

As expected, President Donald J. Trump met with top executives from FCA, Ford, and General Motors this morning as part of a larger push to generate jobs in America. "I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!", Trump said in a tweet ahead of the meeting. Not everything said in the meeting was made public, but the President later tweeted that he had a "Great meeting with automobile industry leaders." FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne, Ford chief Mark Fields, and GM's Mary Barra all echoed the positive vibes after the meeting. In a statement, Barra called the discussion "very constructive and wide-ranging," adding that it focused on "policies that support a strong and competitive economy and auto industry," and "that supports the environment and safety." That's noteworthy, because Trump is reported to have said "I am to a large extent an environmentalist. I believe in it, but it's out of control." Fields, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said, "We're excited about working together with the president and his administration on tax policies, on regulation and on trade to really create a renaissance in American manufacturing." The Ford CEO was specifically talking about Trump's withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "We've repeatedly said that the mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation, and TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that, and we appreciate the president's courage to walk away from a bad trade deal," he said. Marchionne focused on American manufacturing in his statement after the meeting. "I appreciate the President's focus on making the US a great place to do business. We look forward to working with President Trump and members of Congress to strengthen American manufacturing." Perhaps equally as interesting as what was said and who was invited are what wasn't said and who wasn't invited. Trump has been very vocal about his distaste for US automakers' plants in Mexico, but no mention was made of the North American Free Trade Agreement by Trump or any of the Detroit CEOs after the meeting. We also have to wonder if Trump plans to meet with representatives from German, Japanese, and Korean automakers that have made massive investments into American plants and produce a large number of cars in this country. Related Video: News Source: Reuters, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automotive, Donald J.

Marchionne may stay with FCA until 2020

We might get to see Sergio Marchionne and his vast array of sweaters in the auto industry for even longer than expected. The FCA CEO suggested last year that he would retire from the automaker when its current five-year plan was complete in 2018. Now, he has tentatively extended that point out to at least 2020. "I can do this for another five years if you push me, right? Beyond that, I ain't gonna do it, and I don't want to," he said to Automotive News. That would give Marchionne a 16-year career at the top from joining Fiat in 2004 to possibly leaving FCA in 2020. Although, take the CEO's statement with a grain of salt because he has made multiple statements about the timing for his retirement. In 2012, Marchionne said he would only remain in charge until 2015, which is, well, now. Those five years might also go quite quickly because Marchionne is a busy guy with the Ferrari IPO, the attempted merger with General Motors, implementing FCA's five-year plan, and many other projects. He's already considering the next CEO, though. "My purpose in life is to find the Kuniskises of the world, the Manleys, the Biglands, the Palmers," Marchionne said to Automotive News, referencing the heads at Dodge, Jeep, FCA North America, and the company's chief financial officer, respectively. "I told them, 'One of you is going to do what I do one day. I don't know who that is, but one of you is going to do it.'" News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Paul Sancya / AP Photo Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep Sergio Marchionne FCA fca us Mike Manley reid bigland tim kuniskis

Chrysler Pacifica's Fam Cam is a great feature that needs to be on more cars

The CDC and various other official entities encourage or demand parents to place their children in a rear-facing child seat from birth until the ages of 2 to 4. That obviously means a driver or front passenger cannot see them, necessitating a mirror that you can see from the car's rearview mirror. As someone who constantly moved his son's rear-facing child seat between different cars every week, I can firmly recommend a mirror like this with a swivel base, as it is so much easier than others to mount and adjust.  But you know what's better than a mirror? The Chrysler Pacifica's "Fam Cam." In between the second and third rows, in the middle of the van, is a little glossy black disk in the ceiling that contains cameras that display images of second and third rows. There are daylight color and night time infrared camera views as well (although the daylight one makes certain darker colors look lilac purple). You can also enlarge one of the outboard second-row seats for a better view. Any of these above options allows you to see your children many times better than is possible with a mirror, especially at night. Just look at the difference below. Basically, you can't see your kid at all with the rearview mirror at night. Turning on the overhead map light helps, but my son wasn't too keen on having an interrogation lamp in his face, and it's certainly not ideal for sleeping, either. A given car's backseat position can also mean that the forward-facing child mirror is below the rearview mirror's line of sight, meaning you have to choose between seeing your kid or seeing what's going on behind your vehicle. Again, advantage Fam Cam. Here's another benefit. It's usually very difficult, if impossible, to mount both a forward-facing mirror and a tablet holder at the same time. I usually got around this by attaching the mirror to the middle seating position's head restraint, but that's obviously not an option in a vehicle with captain's chairs. Now, while I was literally able to mount both in the Pacifica for the purposes of illustrating my point, it was not easy and both mirror and tablet holder fit poorly. Using Fam Cam is obviously a better option. (Also a shout-out for Chrysler's positioning of the third-row USB port, which made it super-easy to keep the Galaxy charged).  Now, to be fair, the Kia Carnival and Honda Odyssey offer a similar rear seat spy camera feature, and we like those, too.