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Mike Manley and Louis Camilleri appointments confirmed after shareholder votes

AMSTERDAM – Fiat Chrysler shareholders held a meeting yesterday to officially vote on the appointments of Mike Manley as CEO of FCA and Louis Camilleri as the CEO of Ferrari. Manley and Camilleri were announced as the replacements for Sergio Marchionne following the former chief's sudden death. At the same time, FCA announced that it would place John Elkann in the role of Chairman. A minute-long moment of silence was held at the start of the meeting in honor of Marchionne. According to reports, 99 percent of shareholder votes were in favor of Manley's appointment at FCA, and 98 percent were in favor of Camilleri taking the CEO role at Ferrari. Manley said at the shareholder's meeting that he will announce his organizational plans for the automaker by the end of September. "When we learned Sergio Marchionne could not return to work the board decided to appoint Mike Manley, who was the only candidate," Chairman John Elkann said. The chairman added the decision was based on succession plans the board was working on with Marchionne for his planned departure in 2019. Of Camilleri's direction at Ferrari, Elkann said, "Sergio Marchionne strengthened the foundations of Ferrari, now we can build on that for the future, which will be a bright future."Reuters contributed to this report.Related Video: Image Credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Chrysler Fiat Sergio Marchionne FCA Mike Manley

Bob Dylan to star in Chrysler Super Bowl spot [w/videos]

Billboard reports that Bob Dylan will be working with Chrysler again, this time starring in a Super Bowl ad expected to showcase the company's new 200 sedan. The rock icon first tied up with the Chrysler Group late last year when a commercial for the new 2014 Jeep Cherokee used Dylan's unreleased cover of Blind Willie Johnson's "Motherless Children" for its soundtrack.
The last big-game commercial for the 200 used Eminem in 2011 to introduce us to the outgoing 200 and the tagline-turned-mini-movement, "Imported from Detroit." Since then, Clint Eastwood, Berry Gordy, Jr., and America's farmers have taken turns impressing us with Chrysler Group's wares. It isn't yet known what song will be used for the spot. Speaking of the coming ad, company CEO Sergio Marchionne said, "Someone made the comment to me that I had the right commercial in 2011 and the wrong car. I think we now have hopefully the right commercial and the right car."
It's not Dylan's first outing with a carmaker, having starred in a spot to promote the Cadillac Escalade in 2007. Nor will it be the only Dylan music we get during the Super Bowl, the singer having licensed a track that's used in a one-minute commercial for Chobani Greek yogurt.

Chrysler Recalls Over 566,000 Trucks, SUVs

Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 566,000 trucks and SUVs in two recalls for malfunctioning fuel heaters that can cause fires and a software glitch can disable the electronic stability control. The recalls bring the newly merged company's total for the year to 6.4 million vehicles worldwide and 5.1 million in the U.S. as it continues to struggle with reliability problems. It was not immediately clear whether those totals were annual records. On Tuesday, its longtime quality chief abruptly left after Fiat Chrysler performed poorly in Consumer Reports magazine's annual reliability rankings. The largest of two recalls announced Wednesday covers almost 382,000 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups and Ram 4500 and 5500 chassis cabs from 2010 through 2014. In trucks with 6.7-Liter Cummins diesel engines, corrosion on a fuel heater terminal could cause overheating, fuel leaks and fires. Chrysler is not aware of any fires or injuries. Owners could be warned by an odor of diesel fuel. Customers will be notified by letters starting in December. Dealers will install upgraded terminals and fuel heater housings could be replaced. The second recall covers more than 184,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs from 2014. A debris cover over a circuit board in the steering column control module can disrupt communications and disable the stability control. The problem was discovered when dealers started getting reports from customers that electronic stability control warning lights were coming on. Fiat Chrysler says it knows of no crashes or injuries caused by the problem. Technicians will upgrade software to fix the SUVs, and customers will be notified in December. Fiat Chrysler has issued 33 global recalls and 27 in the U.S. so far this year. Doug Betts, its longtime quality chief, left the company to pursue other options after Consumer Reports' survey-based rankings this year showed four FiatChrysler brands at the bottom of its list. Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Fiat performed worst of 28 brands ranked by the magazine. Company spokesman Eric Mayne said Fiat Chrysler's recalls average fewer than 200,000 vehicles each, below the industry average of 301,000. That means the company is responding quickly to problems, he said, adding that eight of its 27 U.S. recalls were announced before the company received any consumer complaints. Chrysler is not alone with a high number of recalls so far this year.