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Stellantis lays off salaried workers, cites uncertainty in EV transition

DETROIT — Jeep maker Stellantis is laying off about 400 white-collar workers in the U.S. as it deals with the transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles. The company formed in the 2021 merger between PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler said the workers are mainly in engineering, technology and software at the headquarters and technical center in Auburn Hills, Michigan, north of Detroit. Affected workers were notified starting Friday morning. “As the auto industry continues to face unprecedented uncertainties and heightened competitive pressures around the world, Stellantis continues to make the appropriate structural decisions across the enterprise to improve efficiency and optimize our cost structure,” the company said in a prepared statement Friday. The cuts, effective March 31, amount to about 2% of Stellantis' U.S. workforce in engineering, technology and software, the statement said. Workers will get a separation package and transition help, the company said. “While we understand this is difficult news, these actions will better align resources while preserving the critical skills needed to protect our competitive advantage as we remain laser focused on implementing our EV product offensive,” the statement said. CEO Carlos Tavares repeatedly has said that electric vehicles cost 40% more to make than those that run on gasoline, and that the company will have to cut costs to make EVs affordable for the middle class. He has said the company is continually looking for ways to be more efficient. U.S. electric vehicle sales grew 47% last year to a record 1.19 million as EV market share rose from 5.8% in 2022 to 7.6%. But sales growth slowed toward the end of the year. In December, they rose 34%. Stellantis plans to launch 18 new electric vehicles this year, eight of those in North America, increasing its global EV offerings by 60%. But Tavares told reporters during earnings calls last month that “the job is not done” until prices on electric vehicles come down to the level of combustion engines — something that Chinese manufacturers are already able to achieve through lower labor costs. “The Chinese offensive is possibly the biggest risk that companies like Tesla and ourselves are facing right now,Â’Â’ Tavares told reporters. “We have to work very, very hard to make sure that we bring out consumers better offerings than the Chinese.

2019 Jeep Renegade, Fiat 500X fuel economy revealed, slightly improved

The 2019 Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X twins each get a new engine option, a turbocharged 1.3-liter four-cylinder. At 177 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque, it's substantially more potent than the 160-horsepower turbocharged 1.4-liter engine it replaces, and nearly matches the naturally aspirated 2.4-liter engine for power while beating its 175 pound-feet of torque. But we haven't known until now is how the new engine fares in terms of fuel economy. The numbers are a little tricky to parse, since both the Jeep and Fiat have changed what transmissions are available, as well as what combinations of engine and driveline are offered. We'll start with looking at the Jeep Renegade. It offers both the new turbo engine and the old 2.4-liter engine, but the manual transmission is gone, and the Renegade Trailhawk gets the turbo engine instead of the naturally aspirated one. All the numbers are below. Overall, the new turbo engine coupled with front-drive and the standard nine-speed auto returns better fuel economy than even the old manual-equipped combo. Both all-wheel-drive models do worse, though, with the automatic and the new engine than with the old engine with a manual. The new turbocharged Trailhawk also doesn't do as well on the highway as the old model, but does better in town. Fuel economy is unchanged for the 2.4-liter versions of the Renegade. 2019 Fiat 500X View 11 Photos The Fiat 500X range is simpler to follow, since only one variant is available now: the turbo 1.3-liter engine with all-wheel drive and an automatic. It's not quite as frugal as the fuel-sipping manual, front-drive turbo model from last year, but it does offer noticeable gains over the 2.4-liter versions. All the numbers are below.

Dodge, Ram, Jeep — Stellantis — dumped a ton of news: Here's a roundup

Stellantis hit us with an absolute deluge of information regarding its future electric vehicle plans Thursday, including a roadmap for each of its brands to reach a goal of making electrified vehicles 80% of the company's total global volume by 2030. We'll hit all of the highlights here, with an emphasis on those that matter most to the U.S. marketplace.  Stellantis previews 4 electric platforms: Here's how they'll be used This is the method behind the rest of Thursday's madness. Eventually, Stellantis will migrate its electrified vehicles onto one of these core platforms based around a new common EV powertrain architecture.    Dodge will launch the 'world's first electric muscle car' in 2024 It looks like Dodge will invoke its 60s heritage (peep the illuminated "Fratzog" on the nose) for a new, all-electric muscle car. Based on the STLA Large platform, it's projected to have a 0-to-60 time as low as 2 seconds and a range of up to 500 miles. The automaker also hinted at a maximum power output of as high as 886 horsepower courtesy of a pair of 330-kilowatt electric motors.   Jeep will have 4xe plug-in hybrid models across the lineup by 2025 The iconic 4x4 brand will have a plug-in hybrid variant of every model by 2025. The U.S.-market Compass 4xe is expected to debut this summer, and the Wagoneer 4xe has already been announced. The Grand Cherokee 4xe will be shown at the New York International Auto Show in August.    Fully electric Ram 1500 will begin production in 2024 You didn't think the Ford F-150 Lightning would get the space all to itself, did you? Ram says it will have an electrified Ram 1500 on the market soon. Will it be fast enough to beat GM?   Stellantis teases mystery electric Chrysler concept This one's a genuine puzzler. We've reached out to Chrysler for details, but for now, all we know is that this all-electric concept appears production-friendly and will ostensibly ride on the same STLA Large platform as the Dodge muscle car.    Opel Manta E will be the electric revival of the classic German coupe We'll forgive you if you'd forgotten that Opel was now part of Stellantis, and with new ownership comes new opportunity. The company revived the Manta nameplate as a high-riding coupe/hatchback concept.   Fiat says all Abarth models to be electric from 2024 This likely won't matter much in the U.S. market, where the 500X will soon be the only vehicle it sells, but Fiat's performance division is going all-electric.