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Fiat Chrysler’s Sergio Marchionne throws more cold water on Tesla, EVs

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has once again sounded off on industry upstart Tesla and its wunderkind boss, Elon Musk. In the process, he doubled down on FCA's reluctance to follow its competitors headlong into electrifying its vehicle fleet, saying "we're not betting the bank on going fully electric in the next decade. It won't happen." Marchionne made his comments on Monday during remarks at the New York Stock Exchange, where he was marking the 70th anniversary of Ferrari. They come as Tesla struggles to ramp up production of its Model 3 sedan, its first mass-market offering, and the company continues to hemorrhage money. Here's what he said: "We still don't have a viable model for delivering an electric car. As much as I like Elon Musk, and he's a good friend, and actually he's done a phenomenal job of marketing Telsa, I remain unconvinced of a new economic viability of the model that he's pitching. So I think we need to be careful, because when we embrace electrification, and I made comments on the fact that we lose money on every Fiat 500, the electric that we sell in the U.S. Now that's reflective of the 2011-2010 costs in terms of components. Those costs have come down. If I were to do it again, I would certainly reduce the amount of the loss, but I would not make any money. And you can't run economic entities on losses. It doesn't happen. "So how do we find a convergence of technology bringing prices of components down and allows us to price accordingly — or we need to navigate through this process in a combined way between combustion and electrification to yield at least a minimum of economic returns that allows for our continuity? The last thing you want is me to be successful selling cars for 24 months and then go bust. That's not a good story. Especially in a place like this which rewards economic success. Let's not sit here and design our own future in the tank. Let's try and do it properly. We will do all the right things. We are investing without making a lot of noise on electrification. We will combine it with combustion to yield the right level of CO2. But we're not betting the bank on going fully electric in the next decade. It won't happen." It's not the first time Marchionne has publicly expressed doubts about Tesla's business plan.

2015 Chrysler 200 production gets underway [w/videos]

Chrysler announced recently that it has added some 800 new jobs at its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) to support the production of its all-new 2015 Chrysler 200 sedan. Total employment at the Sterling Heights, MI plant grows to almost 2,800 with the hires, an impressive figure for a plant that was slated for closure in 2010.
Speaking to a crowd of employees and community leaders, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne was on hand to celebrate the kick-off of 200 production last week. "We're making a big bet on its success," said Marchionne of the sedan, "we've invested nearly a billion dollars in this facility."
That billion-dollar bill has been used to construct a spanking new paint shop, install a new body shop and install "machinery, tooling and material-handling equipment" according to the Chrysler press release. The company says that SHAP now runs to nearly five million square feet of manufacturing space - loads of room for all the new employees to do their thing - and that the facility can handle multiple vehicles on two unique architectures.

Fiat Chrysler U.S. sales chief Reid Bigland steps down after suing company

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler's head of U.S. sales is leaving the company after a bumpy career that saw him file a whistleblower lawsuit over a scheme to pay dealers to report fake sales numbers. The company says in a statement that Reid Bigland will leave Fiat Chrysler April 3 after 22 years with the company. He'll pursue other interests. Bigland also headed the Ram brand and Fiat Chrysler Canada. During his tenure the company saw big U.S. sales growth, mainly with the Jeep and Ram brands. But his career was marred by the sales scandal, which forced Fiat Chrysler to restate numbers and pay $40 million to settle a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Terms of BiglandÂ’s departure werenÂ’t announced, but the company said all legal matters with Bigland “have been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved.” FCA CEO Mike Manley thanked Bigland for his service in a company statement. “We all wish him every success in his future endeavors,” Manley said. Bigland said in the same statement that that itÂ’s been a privilege to work at FCA and with the companyÂ’s dealers. Last June, Bigland sued Fiat Chrysler alleging that it withheld 90% of his pay package because he testified in the SEC inquiry of sales reporting practices. He alleged that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles violated Michigan's Whistleblower Protection Act, retaliating against him because he testified in the probe of whether the company inflated sales and deceived stockholders. The company withheld Bigland's 2018 long-term incentive stock payout, special dividends and an annual bonus in retaliation for his testimony and because he sold some stock, according to the lawsuit. Documents say the dividends alone are worth about $1.8 million. In September Fiat Chrysler agreed to pay $40 million to settle an SEC complaint alleging that the company misled investors by overstating its monthly sales numbers over a five-year period. The company inflated sales by paying dealers to report fake numbers from 2012 to 2016, the SEC alleged in a complaint. Fiat Chrysler agreed to pay the civil penalty and to stop violating anti-fraud, reporting and internal accounting control regulations, the SEC said. The automaker did not admit or deny the agency's allegations. Fiat Chrysler said it has reviewed and refined its sales reporting procedures. The SEC said the automaker boasted about a streak of year-over-year sales increases into 2016, when the streak actually was broken in September of 2013.