2004 Chrysler Pacifica Base Sport Utility 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Stellantis wants to sell its Auburn Hills HQ and lease space in it

Ford Motor Company's global headquarters is the Henry Ford II World Center — or Ford World Headquarters, or Glass House — located in Dearborn, Michigan and completed in 1956. GM's global headquarters is 12 miles away in Detroit, Michigan, a set of seven connected towers completed between 1977 and 1981 and known as the Renaissance Center, or RenCen. Stellantis' global HQ is in a small town in The Netherlands called Hoofddorp. But home base for its U.S. outpost is about 30 miles north of the RenCen at the Chrysler World Headquarters and Technology Center, or CTC, in Auburn Hills, MI. The Detroit News reports that Stellantis might use the CTC like a giant Airbnb, selling the building and leasing back only the space it needs. This isn't a new consideration, Stellantis has been looking at options for the 500-acre campus and 15-story, 5.4-million-square-foot main building since at least early 2022, when the Detroit Free Press wrote about it. At that time, one of Covid's effects was to deepen the discussion about remote work as companies pushed to reopen offices and a fair number of employees made it clear they didn't want to resume their commutes. A company spokesperson told Freep, "As part of our companyÂ’s evolution to a more flexible work environment, called the New Era of Agility, we are currently evaluating how we work to enable our teams to be their most innovative, creative and efficient. That analysis includes potential adjustments to our real estate portfolio." As characterized by Freep based on information from an anonymous source, "The company is considering what the right 'footprint' will be going forward and whether it needs to maintain so much space." Before the Freep piece ran, the automaker had already ceded one leased building near HQ and moved those workers into the main complex. And agility might still be necessary since it's tough to tell where remote work trends are going to go. Fortune just reported that "Fewer than 26% of US households still have someone working remotely at least one day a week, a sharp decline from the early-2021 peak of 37%, according to the two latest Census Bureau Household Pulse Surveys.

Tier 1 suppliers call GM the worst OEM to work with

Among automakers with a big US presence, General Motors is the worst to work for, according to a new survey from Tier 1 automotive suppliers, conducted by Planning Perspectives, Inc.
The Detroit-based manufacturer, which has been under fire following the ignition switch recall and its accompanying scandal, finished behind six other automakers with big US manufacturing operations. Suppliers had issues with trust and communications, as well as intellectual property protection. GM was also the least likely to allow suppliers to raise their prices in the face of unexpected increases in material cost, all of which contributed to 55 percent of suppliers saying their relationship with GM was "poor to very poor."
GM's cross-town competitors didn't fare much better. Chrysler finished in fifth place, ahead of GM and behind Dearborn-based Ford, which was passed for third place this year by Nissan. Toyota took the top marks, while Honda captured second place.

Fiat Chrysler begins Magneti Marelli spinoff

MILAN — Fiat Chrysler has kicked off its planned spinoff of parts maker Magneti Marelli, which will be registered in the Netherlands and listed on the Milan stock exchange, a document outlining initial plans and seen by Reuters showed. The spinoff is part of a plan by FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne to "purify" the Italian-American carmaker's portfolio and to unlock value at Magneti Marelli similar to his earlier spinoff of Ferrari. Analysts say Magneti Marelli could be worth between 3.6 billion and 5 billion euros ($4.2 billion to $5.8 billion). It sits within FCA's components unit alongside robotics specialist Comau and castings firm Teksid. FCA has created a separate entity called MM Srl, the document showed, into which it will fold Magneti Marelli's electronics and electro-mechanical operations related to racing motorbikes and racing cars, as well as 14 other holdings in various companies around the world, including Germany, Slovakia, Mexico and South Africa. MM will be incorporated into a Dutch holding company via a cross-border merger, it added. FCA declined to comment. The move follows a similar procedure adopted by FCA for the spinoff and listing of Ferrari as well as of trucks and tractor maker CNH Industrial, both registered in the Netherlands and listed in Milan. The Dutch holding company would allow Marchionne, known for his success in extracting shareholder value through this strategy, to introduce a loyalty share scheme to reward long-term investors through multiple voting rights, as was the case with CNH and Ferrari. That would tighten the grip of FCA's controlling shareholder Exor, the Agnelli family's investment holding company, on the parts maker. Magneti Marelli, which employs around 43,000 people and operates in 19 countries, is a diversified components supplier specialized in lighting, powertrain and electronics. The Magneti Marelli separation is expected to be completed by the end of this year or early 2019, FCA has said. FCA's advisers initially looked at a possible initial public offering for the business to raise cash to cut FCA's debt, but the Agnelli family — FCA's main shareholder — was put off by low industry valuations and did not want its stake in Magneti Marelli to be diluted, three sources close to the matter told Reuters in March. Magneti Marelli has often been touted as a takeover target, and FCA has fielded interest from various rivals and private equity firms over the years.