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Fiat Chrysler chief Mike Manley to head European auto lobby group ACEA

MILAN — The European carmakers' association (ACEA) has appointed Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Mike Manley as its new president from January 2020, it said on Thursday. Manley will take over the role from PSA Chief Executive Carlos Tavares, who has served two one-year terms as ACEA President, the Brussels-based lobby group said in a statement. Manley is helping Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann — the head of Italy's Agnelli family, which controls FCA — in talks with Tavares to finalize a merger agreement between the two groups, which would create the world's fourth-largest automaker. FCA and PSA, the maker of Peugeot and Citroen, are expected to sign a binding agreement by the end of the year.. ACEA said its priorities for next year included setting a plan on how to manage the transition to carbon-neutral road transport while ensuring the economic sustainability of the European auto sector. The ACEA president is elected for one year, with the option for a further one year term, by the CEOs of the group's associates – the 15 largest Europe-based car, van, truck and bus manufacturers. Government/Legal Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Chrysler Fiat

Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot unveil burgeoning Stellantis supergroup's new logo

Stellantis, the entity formed by the merger between Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and PSA Group, has revealed its logo. It's as anonymous as the name of what will become the world's fourth-largest carmaker. Executives explained the logo symbolizes the rich heritage of the group's founding companies, and the unique combined strengths of the new conglomerate's 14-brand portfolio. While that's certainly one way to look at it, finding an iota of heritage in the Stellantis logo requires an unusually vivid imagination. It consists of the company's name in a sans serif font on a blue background. Designers removed the horizontal bar from the letter A, and they surrounded it by four rows of increasingly small dots vaguely arranged like stars in a galaxy. Chrysler helped NASA develop and build the Mercury-Redstone rocket, but we doubt that's what the galaxy-shaped logo is trying to remind us of. Nothing about it suggests Stellantis bundles some of the oldest and best-known car manufacturers in the world. It wouldn't look out of place in an ad for a credit card company, in a brochure for a frequent flier program, or on an over-the-counter pain reliever box, and that was likely intentional. It's a corporate logo that's going to appear on pens, name tags, coffee mugs, and a wide variety of paperwork, so it doesn't need to be eye-catching or ignite excitement — it'll never show up on a car. Stellantis Charger Hellcat? Nope. Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Stellantis Edition? Not happening, either. Chrysler, Peugeot, Dodge, Opel, Vauxhall, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Ram, Citroen, Fiat, Maserati, and the other odds and ends that will be dumped in the Stellantis melting pot will carry on with their respective identities and naming systems. Stellantis it is, then. Expect the new logo to appear on employee payrolls and other official letterheads after the $38 billion 50:50 merger is finalized. Both sides said they plan to complete the merger in the first half of 2021.

Question Of The Day: Most overlooked heroic engine?

All of us know that the small-block Chevrolet V8 was a masterpiece of engineering that made the high-performance overhead-valve V8 affordable to the masses, and that the Mercedes-Benz OM617 diesel is basically immortal, and that the Toyota R engine defined what it means for a vehicle to be considered Warlord Grade. The AMC straight-six. The Model T engine. The Volvo Redblock. Those engines get the respect they deserve. But what about the engines that we don't think much about, the ones that worked hard in their millions and somehow missed attaining legend status? The list of engines beloved by their aficionados but not thought of often by the rest of us goes on and on: the Renault Ventoux, Mitsubishi 4G1, MeMZ-968, and so on. But my vote goes to the Chrysler flathead straight-six. This engine was produced starting in 1929 and was still being made for stationary industrial use in the early 1970s. It powered just about every type of Chrysler vehicle made for decades, hauled supplies for all the major Allied armies in World War II, and was even developed into a five-bank, 30-cylinder tank engine. It was simple and reliable and outlived most of its competition, and you rarely hear much about it these days. What's your choice?