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Ferrari, Fiat, McLaren, Nissan join coronavirus ventilator efforts

Siare Engineering, Italy's largest manufacturer of hospital ventilators, has turned to Italian automakers Ferrari and Fiat to investigate the possibility that the automakers might help produce more of the live-saving machines that are urgently needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The Italian government has asked Siare to increase ventilator production from 160 per month to 500 as the country's death toll has surpassed 3,400 and is climbing rapidly.  "We're talking to Fiat Chrysler, Ferrari and Marelli to try to understand if they can lend us a hand in this process for the electronics part," Gianluca Preziosa, Siare's chief executive said in an interview quoted by Reuters, adding that the car companies' expertise in electronics and pneumatics could make them ideal partners. Preziosa said that another advantage of partnering with carmakers was their purchasing power, making them more likely to obtain parts that his small firm was struggling to secure amid coronavirus-related disruption to global supply chains. A spokesman for Exor, parent of both FCA and Ferrari, said that meetings with Siare had taken place on Thursday to study the feasibility of the idea and that a decision was expected in the coming hours. Two main options were being considered: either to help Siare engineer a capacity increase at its plant, with the support of technicians provided by FCA and Ferrari, or outsource production of ventilator parts to the carmakers' facilities. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Ferrari would be ready to start manufacturing ventilator parts in its famous Maranello headquarters, which lies close to the Siare factory, but that the luxury carmaker had yet to make a final decision. Automakers worldwide are being drafted for ventilator duty. In addition to Ford and GM making plans with the U.S. government; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reaching out to Ford, Honda and Rolls-Royce; and an Elon Musk tweeted offer to build ventilators "if there is a shortage," other automakers and aerospace companies are joining in. In Europe, three groups have formed. Meggitt, which builds components including oxygen systems for civil aerospace and military fighter programs, is leading one consortium alongside engineers GKN, Thales and Renishaw. The other two teams are being led by carmakers McLaren, which is looking at how to design a simple version of a ventilator, and Nissan, which is working with others to support existing ventilator producers.

Stellantis invests more than $100 million in California lithium project

Stellantis said it would invest more than $100 million in California's Controlled Thermal Resources, its latest bet on the direct lithium extraction (DLE) sector amid the global hunt for new sources of the electric vehicle battery metal. The investment by the Chrysler and Jeep parent announced on Thursday comes as the green energy transition and U.S. Inflation Reduction Act have fueled concerns that supplies of lithium and other materials may fall short of strong demand forecasts. DLE technologies vary, but each aims to mechanically filter lithium from salty brine deposits and thus avoid the need for open pit mines or large evaporation ponds, the two most common but environmentally challenging ways to extract the battery metal. Stellantis, which has said half of its fleet will be electric by 2030, also agreed to nearly triple the amount of lithium it will buy from Controlled Thermal, boosting a previous order to 65,000 metric tons annually for at least 10 years, starting in 2027. "This is a significant investment and goes a long way toward developing this key project," Controlled Thermal CEO Rod Colwell said in an interview. The company plans to spend more than $1 billion to separate lithium from superhot geothermal brines extracted from beneath California's Salton Sea after flashing steam off those brines to spin turbines that will produce electricity starting next year. That renewable power is expected to cut the amount of carbon emitted during lithium production. Rival Berkshire Hathaway has struggled to produce lithium from the same area given large concentrations of silica in the brine that can form glass when cooled, clogging pipes. Colwell said a $65 million facility recently installed by Controlled Thermal can remove that silica and other unwanted metals. DLE equipment licensed from Koch Industries would then remove the lithium. "We're very happy with the equipment," he said. "We're going to deliver. There's just no doubt about it." Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares called the Controlled Thermal partnership "an important step in our care for our customers and our planet as we work to provide clean, safe and affordable mobility." Both companies declined to provide the specific investment amount. Controlled Thermal aims to obtain final permits by October and start construction of a commercial lithium plant soon thereafter, Colwell said. Goldman Sachs is leading the search for additional debt and equity financing, he added.

The company formerly known as Chrysler is now Stellantis

Introducing Stellantis. Talk to your doctor before using Stellantis as side effects may include model redundancy, the overwhelming urge to apply Dodge badges to Peugeot crossovers, and weak stream. Honestly, how can you not poke just a little fun at the name chosen for the new multi-national corporation that will result once the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Peugeot S.A. (Groupe PSA) is completed in the first quarter of 2021. According to the press release, "Stellantis is rooted in the Latin verb 'stello' meaning 'to brighten with stars' ... The name's Latin origins pay tribute to the rich history of its founding companies while the evocation of astronomy captures the true spirt of optimism, energy and renewal driving this industry-changing merger." The "Latin origins" of the French company Peugeot and the Italian Fiat are obvious. Chrysler, on the other hand, was founded by a man born in Kansas whose father was a Canadian-American of German and Dutch ancestry (thanks Wikipedia). His mother was also of German ancestry. So yeah, the name Stellantis is really only related to the Peugeot and Fiat bits. The Americans are just along for the ride with their Jeeps and Hellcats.  And it should be noted that we will henceforth never write "Stellantis" in ALL CAPS as the corporation does because it's silly and we don't do it for Hummer, Mini, etc. Admittedly, Fiat could go either way since it's literally an acronym, but Fiat doesn't even bother doing that any more.   The name Stellantis will only be applied at the corporate level, so effectively in place where you previously would've said Fiat-Chrysler or FCA. There won't be a Stellantis Challenger.  We produced a list last year of all the cars that are currently made by the brands within Stellantis. Here's also a list of all the names that the company we generically know as "Chrysler" has gone through over the years. Chrysler Corporation (1925-1998) DaimlerChrysler (1998-2007) Chrysler LLC (2007-2009) Chrysler Group (2009-2014) Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (2014-2021) Stellantis  There have also been secondary corporate entities. There was Diamond Star Motors from 1985 to 2015, a manufacturing joint venture between Mitsubishi and whatever Chrysler was called at the time. It resulted in the Plymouth Laser, a randomly selected example pictured above, amongst other automotive diamonds.