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Stellantis lays off salaried workers, cites uncertainty in EV transition

DETROIT — Jeep maker Stellantis is laying off about 400 white-collar workers in the U.S. as it deals with the transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles. The company formed in the 2021 merger between PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler said the workers are mainly in engineering, technology and software at the headquarters and technical center in Auburn Hills, Michigan, north of Detroit. Affected workers were notified starting Friday morning. “As the auto industry continues to face unprecedented uncertainties and heightened competitive pressures around the world, Stellantis continues to make the appropriate structural decisions across the enterprise to improve efficiency and optimize our cost structure,” the company said in a prepared statement Friday. The cuts, effective March 31, amount to about 2% of Stellantis' U.S. workforce in engineering, technology and software, the statement said. Workers will get a separation package and transition help, the company said. “While we understand this is difficult news, these actions will better align resources while preserving the critical skills needed to protect our competitive advantage as we remain laser focused on implementing our EV product offensive,” the statement said. CEO Carlos Tavares repeatedly has said that electric vehicles cost 40% more to make than those that run on gasoline, and that the company will have to cut costs to make EVs affordable for the middle class. He has said the company is continually looking for ways to be more efficient. U.S. electric vehicle sales grew 47% last year to a record 1.19 million as EV market share rose from 5.8% in 2022 to 7.6%. But sales growth slowed toward the end of the year. In December, they rose 34%. Stellantis plans to launch 18 new electric vehicles this year, eight of those in North America, increasing its global EV offerings by 60%. But Tavares told reporters during earnings calls last month that “the job is not done” until prices on electric vehicles come down to the level of combustion engines — something that Chinese manufacturers are already able to achieve through lower labor costs. “The Chinese offensive is possibly the biggest risk that companies like Tesla and ourselves are facing right now,Â’Â’ Tavares told reporters. “We have to work very, very hard to make sure that we bring out consumers better offerings than the Chinese.

Chrysler CEO's brand vision: More products, tech, care and quality

The debut of the Chrysler Airflow battery-electric crossover at the Consumer Electronics Show was meant to be the harbinger of Chrysler's arrival as a 21st-century brand. After four months on the job as brand CEO, former Ford and Honeywell executive Christine Feuell opened up on her vision for the Pentastar in interviews with Automotive News and The Detroit News. When Stellantis asked each of its 14 brand chiefs for one word to describe their intentions, Feuell's word was "transformation," that overhaul seeing Chrysler become the mothership's "startup brand." The obvious sum of those two intentions is more technology, the good news about them is that there will be more product, the best news about them is that there will be more quality. The Airflow is said to arrive by 2025. Chrysler's two current products, the Pacifica/Voyager minivan and 300 sedan, will be replaced by new offerings that serve those same two segments but that are "a vast departure from what's in the market today." Beyond these three nameplates, visitors to Chrysler dealer lots will be able to choose from "a number of brand-new products that don't exist today." We'll guess there'll be one or two more crossovers in addition to whatever else comes, since that form factor hasn't begun to run out of steam. A couple more family conveyances after the Airflow would cement the Auburn Hills automaker as the people-hauler arm of Stellantis' U.S. quartet. We're told to expect something "in the largest segment," in TDN's words, but we're not certain if "largest" refers to the segment size or vehicle size.   Naturally, these transports will be electric, Chrysler aiming to be all-EV by 2028. Feuell said the Pacifica Hybrid has been able to poke its nose into a demographic of tech-friendly buyers, specifically, diverse millennial females with higher incomes. She wants to expand on that success, becoming an attractive option to families with a fair bit of disposable income — you know, Tesla buyers. Assuming she can translate her vision into good product, those shoppers will find in Chrysler "clean mobility, seamless technology," and unexpectedly rewarding ownership experiences.

California to stop buying GM, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler vehicles over emissions fight

WASHINGTON — California said on Monday it will halt all purchases of new vehicles for state government fleets from GM, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler and other automakers backing President Donald Trump in a battle to strip the state of authority to regulate tailpipe emissions. Between 2016 and 2018, California purchased $58.6 million in vehicles from General Motors, $55.8 million from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, $10.6 million from Toyota Motor and $9 million from Nissan. Last month, GM, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and members of the Global Automakers trade association backed the Trump administration's effort to bar California from setting tailpipe standards, which are more rigid than Washington's proposed national standards. The automakers declined or did not immediately comment on California's announced ban on purchases of their vehicles. Starting in January, the state will only buy from automakers that recognize California's legal authority to set emissions standards. Those automakers include Ford, Honda, BMW AG and Volkswagen AG, which struck a deal with California in July to follow revised state vehicle emissions standards. "Car makers that have chosen to be on the wrong side of history will be on the losing end of CaliforniaÂ’s buying power," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. California purchased $69.2 million in vehicles from Ford over the three-year-period, $565,000 from Honda and none from the German automakers. The state also disclosed it will immediately no longer allow state agencies to buy sedans powered by an internal combustion engine, with exemptions for certain public safety vehicles. California's vehicle rules have been adopted by 13 other states. On Friday, California and 22 other U.S. states challenged the Trump administration's decision to revoke California's legal authority to set vehicle tailpipe emissions rules and require a rising number of zero emission vehicles (ZEV). The move follows a separate lawsuit filed in September by the states against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seeking to undo a parallel determination. In August 2018, the Trump administration proposed freezing fuel efficiency requirements at 2020 levels through 2026, reversing planned 5% annual increases. The Trump administrationÂ’s final requirements are expected in the coming months and are set to modestly boost fuel efficiency versus the initial proposal, with several automakers anticipating annual increases of about 1.5%.