Limited 4x4 Grill Guard Leather Alpine Mp3 Sirius Xm Navigation Uconnect Camera on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Fiat Chrysler's Q3 profit boosted by strong North American earnings

MILAN, Italy — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) reported a 17 percent jump in third-quarter adjusted operating profit on Tuesday, helped by a strong performance in its key North American market and improving operations in Europe and Latin America. The world's seventh-largest carmaker still makes the lion's share of its profits in North America, so improving, or at least maintaining, its margins there is a key focus. The carmaker reported an 8 percent adjusted operating profit margin in the region, up from 7.6 percent a year ago, despite a drop in sales and shipments. "FCA's profitability in North America remained strong in the quarter despite a weakening market there," a Milan-based analyst said. FCA's profitability compares with an 8.3 percent North America margin reached in the quarter by bigger U.S. rival GM , showing CEO Sergio Marchionne making progress towards his goal of closing the margin gap with GM and the company's other U.S. rival, Ford, by 2018. The company's confirmation of its full-year outlook also pushed shares higher, a trader added. The stock was up 2.8 percent by 1129 GMT, outperforming a 1 percent rise in the European auto index. FCA has been retooling some U.S. factories to boost output of sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks while ending production of some unprofitable sedans to strengthen profitability as the U.S. car market comes off its peak. The company said a drop in North America shipments due to lower fleet sales and discontinued models was partially offset by higher deliveries of Ram trucks and two models from the Alfa Romeo stable: the Stelvio sport utility vehicle and Giulia sedan. Profitability also improved in Europe, helped by sales of the Stelvio and the new Jeep Compass, and Latin America, while margins at Maserati remained strong at 13.8 percent due to strong demand for its first SUV, the Levante. In a later conference call, investors are looking for hints on the new strategy to 2022 which the company promised to unveil early next year. Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said earlier this year that FCA would streamline its portfolio and that components businesses, including Magneti Marelli, would be separated from the group, possibly via a spin-off. While FCA confirmed its targets this year, doubts remain about its exposure to a weakening U.S. market, recall costs and potential fines over emissions after it was targeted by European and U.S.

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.

Chrysler recalling 280k Dodge Ram 1500 pickups over axle seizures

Following a June investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will be recalling 280,000 Dodge Ram pickups from model year 2005. The issue, NHTSA told The Detroit News, centered on a loose pinion nut, which could cause the rear axle to seize and, potentially, the driveshaft to detach. The affected vehicles were built between January of 2004 and August of 2005, while of the 280,000 trucks, only 257,000 were sold in the US market. According to The News, the recall will begin on February 13, and will see owners report to dealerships to have "a retention feature" added to the pinion nut.