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France tries to dodge blame for blowing up FCA-Renault merger deal

PARIS — France sought to fend off a hail of criticism on Thursday after it was blamed for scuppering a $35 billion-plus merger between carmakers Fiat-Chrysler and Renault only 10 days after it was officially announced. Shares in Italian-American FCA and France's Renault fell sharply in early trading after FCA pulled out of talks, saying "the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully." French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said the government, which has a 15% stake in Renault, had engaged constructively, but had not been prepared to back a deal without the endorsement of Renault's current alliance partner Nissan. Nissan had said it would abstain at a Renault board meeting to vote on the merger proposal. However, a source close to FCA played down the significance of Nissan's stance in the discussions, believing French President Emmanuel Macron was looking for a way out of the deal after coming under pressure at home. Context The FCA-Renault talks were conducted against the backdrop of a French public outcry over 1,044 layoffs at a General Electric factory. The U.S. company had promised to safeguard jobs there when it acquired France's Alstom in 2015. The collapse of the deal, which would have created the world's third-biggest carmaker behind Japan's Toyota and Germany's Volkswagen, revives questions about how both FCA and Renault will meet the challenges of costly investments in electric and self-driving cars on their own. The merger had aimed to achieve 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in annual synergies, with FCA gaining access to Renault's and Nissan's superior electric drive technology and the French firm getting a share of FCA's lucrative Jeep and Ram brands. FCA has long been looking for a merger partner, and some analysts say its search for a deal is becoming more urgent as it is ill-prepared for tougher new regulations on emissions. It previously held unsuccessful talks with Peugeot maker PSA Group, in which the French state also owns a stake. French budget minister Gerald Darmanin said the door should not be closed on the possibility of a deal with Renault, adding Paris would be happy to re-examine any new proposal from FCA. "Talks could resume at some time in the future," he told FranceInfo radio.

2022 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid loses base Touring trim, starts at $48,255

The Chrysler Voyager is going fleet-only for 2022 while the standard 2022 Pacifica picked up some price hikes and some gains and losses in the equipment department. Time to dish on the 2022 Pacifica Hybrid, which, unsurprisingly, follows the majority of the non-hybrid Pacifica template. Mopar Insiders got info on pricing for the revisions Chrysler made to the lineup. The most important change to the overall Pacifica range, according to MI, is that model and option rationalization leaves just 53 combinations instead of the previous 3,550. That's way more than the Honda Odyssey at just seven permutations, but well behind the Toyota Sienna that has 206. The 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 and its eFlite variable transmission don't change, nor does the inability to spec all-wheel drive. What does get added are the new rear-seat reminder and Clean Air Filtration system that Stellantis is sprinkling throughout all its models. That filtration unit captures 95% of particulates in the air including bacteria, allergens, and pollen. The color palette goes the same way as on the non-hybrid Pacifica, dropping from 10 free colors to seven with just three free. Only Bright White, Brilliant Black, and Ceramic Grey will be no charge. Granite Crystal and the new Silver Mist, which replaces Billet Silver, will cost $95. Fathom Blue and Velvet Red will cost $395.   Product planners pulled the AWD option on the non-hybrid Pacifica Touring. For the hybrid, the Touring trim gets pulled completely, and in fact, it's already happened for the end of 2021. That makes the Touring L the new base model, and it makes this year's optional $995 Safety Sphere Group standard equipment for next year. That installs features like ParkSense for front, parallel, and perpendicular parking, and a 360-degree surround view camera. Conversely, the roof rack and side sunshades won't come as standard equipment anymore. MI says next year's MSRP will be $48,255 after the $1,495 destination charge. Comparing that price to the MSRP on Chrysler's 2021 configurator, next year's van will bring a $1,840 increase over 2021.  Next year's Limited trim will add the $1,895 Premium and Safety Sphere Group as standard equipment. The package adds the parking aids from above as well as a 19-speaker Harman Kardon audio system with a 760-watt amplifier. There's a change up top, though, this trim giving up its three-pane sunroof for a dual-pane sunroof, as well as shedding the side sunshades.

FCA seeks partner to keep building Dodge Dart, Chrysler 200

Mere weeks after FCA announced it was shutting down production of the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200, new hope emerges to give the sedans a stay of execution. Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show last week, Sergio Marchionne said that the company was looking for a partner "who is better at it than we are and who has got capacity available" in order to continue building the models on its behalf. "There are discussions going on now," said Marchionne, according to Motor Trend. "I think we will find a solution. We continue to talk. It's both a technical solution and an economic one. We need to find a solution that works economically." Contracting vehicles to be manufactured offsite is more common practice among European automakers than it is with American ones. Chrysler's former patron Mercedes, for example, has the G-Class built for it by Magna Steyr in Austria, the A-Class by Valmet in Finland, and the R-Class by AM General in Indiana (even though it's no longer sold in the US). This arrangement would, on the surface at least, appear more similar to the deal that Toyota struck with Mazda to build the Scion iA, drawing on the contractor's expertise and capacity to build the small sedan on the client company's behalf. Only rather than basing a new model on one of the partner's existing ones, this deal would ostensibly continue building FCA models on FCA platforms using FCA components. We'll have to wait to find out with whom FCA strikes up the manufacturing deal, but we wouldn't be surprised to see Marchionne turn to a partner he already knows. The company is, after all, at the center of an intricate web of joint ventures and manufacturing contracts. The Fiat 124 Spider, for example, is built by Mazda. The Fiat Sedici that preceded the 500X was built by Suzuki. Models like the Dodge Stealth and Eagle Talon were built in Illinois at the Diamond-Star Motors joint venture before Mitsubishi took it over altogether. And Dodge continued selling the Mercedes-made Sprinter long after DaimlerChrysler split. The Ram ProMaster, though built by FCA in Mexico for the North American market, stems from a partnership in France with PSA Peugeot Citroen. And the ProMaster City is built in a joint-venture plant in Turkey, from which it's also sold by GM as an Opel in Europe and a Vauxhall in the UK. With all those deals coming and going, after all, what would one more add to the complexity?