Chrysler News: Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot Agree to Merge

[Drew Dowdell]

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group have agreed to the terms of a merger just after it was announced they were talking just yesterday.  PSA's board has already agreed to the deal and is awaiting approval from FCA's board which is meeting later tonight.

The merger, if approved, would create the 4th largest automotive company in the world with nearly $50 billion in value. 

FCA Chairman John Elkann would retain his chairmanship of the new company while Peugeot CEO Carlos Tavares would stay on as CEO.  The board would be comprised of six appointees from Peugeot while FCA would get five.

Both companies would pay dividends to their shareholders, €3 billion from Peugeot and €5 billion from FCA plus an additional €250 million from the sale of its Comau unit.  Peugeot will sell its stake in auto parts make Faurecia.

Where the new company would be based has not yet been decided.  Both the French and U.S. governments have been briefed on the deal.

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[riviera74]

Once the merger is announced and then approved, I wonder how many names are sent to the slaughterhouse.  I doubt GM has been this big in 25 years.

[Robert Hall]

Will be interesting to see if this goes through or collapses.  

11 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Once the merger is announced and then approved, I wonder how many names are sent to the slaughterhouse.  I doubt GM has been this big in 25 years.

Yeah, GM globally had at least 12 brands (US, Europe and Australia) less than 20 years ago..

[Miradart]

Call me a pessimist, but I think this is bad.  This will give the combined company an excuse to kill the Dodge and Chrysler brand.  Both of these brands have been living on a near-starvation diet for a decade.  And they wonder why they have a shrinking list of buyers...... SMH.  

It has been a disgraceful way to treat the brands that wear the names of the founders, and of the PROFITABLE end of the company.  It's all a hot mess with poo sauce. 

[Drew Dowdell]

They'll keep Ram and Jeep. Peugeot may come over along with Opel.  They'll kill the rest of the non-premium brands. 

I would have liked to see Citroen here. 

[smk4565]

This is a great move for these 2 as they'll become the 4th largest auto company in the world, and they can streamline this beast brand wise, and engineering wise.  Basically their platform and engine development, EV and autonomous drive tech engineering gets split in 2, which is huge savings.

It lets them get some class leading product going by pooling resources and the previously mentioned R&D budget.

It opens a door to bring Peugeot to the USA, where FCA's brands outside of Jeep and Ram are sucking wind.

[smk4565]

18 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

They'll keep Ram and Jeep. Peugeot may come over along with Opel.  They'll kill the rest of the non-premium brands. 

I would have liked to see Citroen here. 

Citroen has a pretty funky line up, which would be nice to have something different, but Americans tend to buy boring mid-size sedans or boring compact crossovers or boring 3-row crossovers.  So I don't see Citroen making it here, just like Fiat, VW Beetle, Chevy SSR, Prowler, HHR, Scion brand, etc have not made it.

Some brands are definitely getting whacked.  Even with Alfa Romeo, I feel like a Maserati Guilia would have a better chance of selling than an Alfa Romeo Guilia.  The Maserati name has more cache I think, and maybe if you can get a Maserati for $45k people would buy it.

[Robert Hall]

I could see the Peugeot and Citroen crossovers appealing in the US,  what I'd like to see would be DS...their models have some interesting designs.  I can't see Opel coming here. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Robert Hall

[smk4565]

This would sell better than any car FCA has put out in the past 10 years in the USA.

[balthazar]

peugeot & citroen have as much of a chance in the US market as fiat has had.

[Robert Hall]

1 minute ago, smk4565 said:

This would sell better than any car FCA has put out in the past 10 years in the USA.

Maybe 5 years ago when sedans still sold well.   It is a sharp car though. 

[smk4565]

They can put this interior in an SUV though, and this sort of kills anything in the $30k range.  They have a 12 inch screen and a 10 inch screen, night vision available, all the driver nannies, etc

[daves87rs]

43 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

This would sell better than any car FCA has put out in the past 10 years in the USA.

Only if car sales were not on a death spiral....

 

That said- anyone ready for LE JEEP?

[riviera74]

10 hours ago, smk4565 said:

This would sell better than any car FCA has put out in the past 10 years in the USA.

THIS would have been a great Chrysler 200 and/or Dodge Avenger.  Too bad the only midsize sedan buyers want are Camry Accord and maybe Altimas.

[David]

Seems that Carlos Tavares who has turned around PSA from money loosing to money making might be the right guy to turn around Alfa to be a money maker than a money sucker. Per the following story, it seems Alfa sales have fallen 42% in Europe, 27% down in US and FCA head Mike Manley who succeeded Marchionne realized that Marchionne's 3rd and final attempt to grow and revitalize Alfa was not going to happen. At this point, Alfa will have 2 EVs by 2022 as 2023 models to bring Alfa to 4 models not the 7 that Marchionne had stated. Even then, it might not be enough to save Alfa.

https://www.autonews.com/blogs/alfa-romeo-could-be-tavares-toughest-turnaround

Tavares is a true Car Guy who races on weekends and has stated that some plateforms might be too expensive to continue, as such he is not afraid to make the hard decisions once reviews of all product lines are done. At this time, no product line will be discontinued at this time during the merge. Full reviews of all product lines will be done, assessed on value and profits before any changes will happen. Travares has said that Alfa has failed to challange the luxury brands of Germany and will have to be assessed on where it really belongs.