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Stellantis won't race to split electric vehicles from fossil fuel cars

MILAN - Stellantis is not considering splitting its electric vehicle (EV) business from its legacy combustion engine operation, its finance chief said on Thursday, as the carmaker presented above-expectation revenue data for the first quarter. Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer told analysts he did not see huge benefits in the kind of separations pursued by rivals such as France's Renault and U.S. Ford. "We need to manage the company and the assets we have through this transition," he said. "There are benefits to having the cash flow being generated by the internal combustion business for the investments we need to make." Palmer said the group, formed by a merger last year of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA, was not averse to considering adjusting its structure "but we aren't anticipating any big changes." Palmer's comments came after the world's fourth largest carmaker said its net revenue rose 12% to 41.5 billion euros ($44.1 billion) in the January-March period, as strong pricing and the type of vehicles sold helped offset the impact of the semiconductor shortage on volumes. That topped analyst expectations of 36.9 billion euros, according to a Reuters poll. Milan-listed shares were up 0.5% by 1415 GMT, in line with Italy's blue-chip index. The impact of the chip crunch was evident in the decline in shipment figures which fell 12% in the quarter to 1.374 million vehicles. It was a similar story for Germany's BMW which posted higher revenues on Thursday and a decline in car sales. Riding the Recovery Stellantis, whose brands also include Citroen, Jeep and Maserati, confirmed its 2022 forecasts for a double-digit adjusted operating income margin, after 11.8% last year, and a positive cash-flow despite supply and inflationary headwinds. Morgan Stanley analysts said after the results that Stellantis had better management than many peers and benefited from its significant exposure to a stronger U.S. economy and a European recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. They also said it was less affected by a slowing Chinese economy. Palmer said it was important for the group to maintain double-digit margins and keep delivering positive cash flows. "A 12% increase in revenue with a 12% decrease in volumes indicates a very strong performance on price and mix, which augurs well for our margin performance," he said. He said semiconductor supply problems were expected to ease this year with continued improvements in 2023.

Junkyard Gem: 1993 Plymouth Voyager SE AWD

Under Lee Iacocca's leadership, Chrysler printed bales of money by designing a small, front-wheel-drive van based on the versatile K platform. Chrysler didn't invent the minivan, of course, but those first 1984 Dodge Caravans and Plymouth Voyagers instantly put small vans square in the middle of the American vehicle mainstream (and began the long downward spiral of the station wagon here). For the 1991 model year, the second generation of Chrysler minivans hit our roads, and they were bigger, better-appointed and available with all-wheel-drive. Here's one of those early second-gen vans, found in a Denver-area boneyard a few months back. The 1984 Voyager was a genuine minivan, scaling in at a mere 2,984 pounds (about the same as the current Toyota Corolla). The wheelbases of the second-generation Voyager and Grand Voyager grew just a fraction of an inch longer, but the vans themselves got longer and heavier anyway. The curb weight of today's Junkyard Gem was 4,008 pounds. By 1993, minivans were under sales assault by a new crop of SUVs, particularly the Ford Explorer (which debuted for the 1991 model year) and Chrysler's own Jeep Grand Cherokee (which first appeared as a 1993 model). Chrysler's XJ Cherokee had been siphoning away minivan sales since Day One, having first hit Jeep showrooms at the same time as the first Voyagers and Caravans went on sale. Still, the 1993 Caravan/Grand Caravan, Voyager/Grand Voyager and Town & Country obliterated those trucks when it came to usable interior space, safety, ride comfort and fuel economy. Plymouth used the Voyager name on rebadged Dodge Sportsman full-size vans from the 1974 through 1983 model years, during which time Chrysler attempted to sell their big fuel-swilling passenger vans as sensible station wagons. The Grand Voyager had a wheelbase stretch of just over seven inches versus that of the regular Voyager; the SE was the lower of the two trim levels available for the AWD-equipped version in 1993. In 1993, base-grade front-wheel-drive Voyagers had 2.5-liter Chrysler four-cylinder engines as standard equipment, while front-wheel-drive Grand Voyagers got Mitsubishi 6G72 V6 engines. If you bought a new all-wheel-drive Grand Voyager that year, your van had this Chrysler 3.3-liter pushrod V6, rated at 150 horsepower and 180 pound-feet. Sadly, Chrysler stopped installing turbocharged 2.2 engines in their minivans after 1990.

Queens man knows how to party, disrupts Mets game with van

A New Yorker and all-around true American hero took his weekend festivities a little too far and landed himself in front of a judge last week. According to NBC New York, Nelson Hidalgo drove his unassuming Sprinter to Citi Field on Saturday, June 18, around 10:45 p.m. While the Mets were getting thrashed by the Braves, Hidalgo pulled up to the intersection of 127th street and 35th avenue. Hiding within the van's cargo area were 80 speakers driven by powerful amps, around $20,000 worth of car audio. Hidalgo opened the Sprinter's rear doors, deployed his amazing speaker system, cracked a cold Coors Light, and unleashed hell. Noise complaints immediately started flooding in to the police, including one from the Mets' bullpen. Soon, Hidalgo amassed a sizable crowd who had come to rock out and marvel at the lunacy of the Sprinter's sound system. The NYPD showed up eventually and, undaunted by noise and the crowd, clapped the irons on poor Nelson. The Sprinter was impounded and Hildago was charged with second-degree criminal nuisance, general noise prohibition, disorderly conduct, and obstructing the driver's view. "I know it's illegal, but it's the weekend," he explained to the cops as they hauled him away. Once they had him in custody, the NYPD realized that Hidalgo was the person they had been looking for in connection with absurdly loud music coming from various city junkyards in the dead of night. Hidalgo, who has no prior record, spent the night in the slammer but was released the next morning with no bail on the promise that he return for his court date on August 1. Related Video: