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Fiat Chrysler CEO Marchionne's health crisis forced succession scramble

Former Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne for more than a year assured investors that he and the automaker's board were working on an orderly succession plan ahead of his expected departure in 2019. But a health crisis that left 66-year-old Marchionne incapacitated in a Swiss hospital set off a transition last week that was sudden and rushed, banking and industry sources said. The company announced on Wednesday that Marchionne had died, succumbing to complications from surgery. It emerged that Marchionne's successor was far from settled. Indeed before last week's crisis, many company executives remained in the dark, four banking sources who spoke to Fiat Chrysler executives told Reuters. The scramble to replace Marchionne led to the resignation of a senior executive who was passed over for the top job, the sources said, and exposed fissures between the Italian and North American sides of the world's seventh-largest automaker. Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann named Michael Manley, head of the company's Jeep and Ram truck divisions, to replace Marchionne at an emergency meeting in Turin, Italy on Saturday. In doing so, Elkann followed Marchionne's wishes to appoint Manley his successor, two sources said. The company has portrayed Manley's appointment as the product of lengthy deliberation. "Sergio and John have always been totally aligned on the choice of Mike Manley," Fiat Chrysler's main spokesman Mike Keegan said on Tuesday, when asked whether there were differences over the succession. Elkann's office declined to comment. Manley could not immediately be reached for comment. This description diverges from what Marchionne himself told investors on June 1 during a day-long strategy presentation in Balocco, Italy. Marchionne said that he and Elkann "from time to time have these chats" about succession, but the issue would not be decided until next year. "It's a 2019 issue," Marchionne said. "So it's not going to happen until we close '18. It just won't happen." He went on to say that the company's board would not engage in a "rubber stamp process." Some analysts have also expressed skepticism that a final decision had been made. "My view is Marchionne and Elkann were still arguing about succession and had different views on the right candidate," Sanford Bernstein analyst Max Warburton said in a note on Monday, referring to the June 1 presentation.

UAW chooses FCA as lead bargaining company

The United Auto Workers has chosen Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as its lead bargaining company as it seeks to finalize new contracts with the 140,000 or so workers represented by the union. That doesn't mean the UAW won't continue to talk with Ford and General Motors. "All three companies have been working with UAW bargaining teams toward a collective bargaining agreement and continue to do so," UAW President Dennis Williams said in a statement. It does mean, however, that any deal the UAW strikes with FCA will form the basis of bargaining talks with the other two American automakers. Contracts between the UAW and the Detroit Three automakers are set to expire tonight at midnight. If no deal is made, both parties may vote to extend the previous contract. Industry analysts polled by The Detroit News suggest that a deal with FCA might be the most difficult to reach, since it is the smallest and least profitable of the three US car companies, and because of its high percentage of second-tier workers. There's a super short statement on the matter from the UAW, and there's an equally concise confirmation from FCA. Feel free to read them below. Detroit – The UAW this afternoon announced that FCA US LLC will be the lead target in Big Three auto talks. "All three companies are working hard toward a collective bargaining agreement. At this time, the UAW has selected FCA US LLC to be the lead bargaining company," said Dennis Williams, President of the UAW. "All three companies have been working with UAW bargaining teams toward a collective bargaining agreement and continue to do so." -------- Statement regarding the Status of Contract Talks between FCA US LLC and the UAW FCA US LLC confirms that it has been selected as the company to set pattern on a collective bargaining agreement with the UAW. As negotiations are ongoing, the Company can offer no further comment at this time.

MotorWeek retro review revisits the Chrysler PT Cruiser

I have a long history with the Chrysler PT Cruiser. My mom was working at Automobile magazine when it launched, and she brought home their long-term tester all the time. My buddy Adam's mom bought one in the early 2000s, and I drove it on many an occasion. When I left Winding Road in early 2010 and joined Autoblog, the car I got on Day 1 was... well, I think you can guess. I will never forget driving that 2010 PT Cruiser to a rest stop outside of Toledo, Ohio, to meet then editor-in-chief John Neff and buy his old camera. I will also never forget the look on Neff's face when he pulled into the parking lot in his 1991 Ford Taurus SHO, saw the PT, and started laughing. I have always hated this car. But when it launched around the turn of the millennium, it was a huge deal – not just for Chrysler, but for the industry. Retro styling was all the rage, and the PT had it in spades. On top of that, it was seriously functional – one of the first widely accepted tall hatchbacks in an era where Americans wanted sedans. MotorWeek has now dug up its original PT Cruiser review for its latest retro review offering. Watch the video above to see what the ever-charismatic John Davis and his crew thought of the PT way back when it was actually relevant.