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PSA figured out how to make money on small cars, mid-size sedans and small crossovers. The stuff most people lose money on, so I think given the combined pool of R&D budget and overhead cost savings, they will be able to keep a lot of brands profitable. Some of these brands they don't need, I think a survival of the fittest may come into play.

Saw a Fiat 500L driving today. Has to be one of the ugliest cars on the road right now! The NHTSA crash test is horrible too. Couldn't pay me to drive one.

peugeot is dead before hitting the ports here, just as fiat was. Alfa can't be making a profit, no WAY it is in the U.S., so an alfa platform under a Dodge makes no sense either financially or from the standpoint of appealing to Dodge buyers. No; fiat will see a casket, Lancia is already decomposing, peugeot is a Euro brand and needs to stay there. These OEM heads need to learn & understand how local markets work; and how most are already oversaturated with brands.

Lancia, Vauxhall pretty quickly. VH could be replaced by opel directly. Lancia could be replaced with Fiat.

Right, this is the truth, get the merge done, then start by looking at what needs to be cut to stop blood loss or kill off non-profit generating products. Dell Technologies like any other mega merging company did this with keeping everything till the merge was done, then reviewing everything and spinning the marketing story on how we can serve you better with this selection of products and that the few features missing are on the road map to be added to the new focused product line. I say in 2 to 3 years after the merger is finished, we will see the Guillotine start happening to the product line.

Appeasing all the share holders. Changes have to be made and the guillotine has to drop eventually.

I think there is a happy medium between 6 years and 72 years.

PSA CEO Carlos Tavares said on the BFM Business radio station none of the brands would be let go after the merger of PSA and FCA is complete. He said it will be a challenge to manage all of the brands to cover the market, but that he sees "that all these brands, without exception, have one thing in common: they have a fabulous history." While acknowledging that the combined companies would have a significant number of brands, it would still be lower than the number Volkswagen manages. The combined companies would field Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Fiat, Opel, Vauxhall, Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Alfa-Romeo, Maserati, and Lancia. Both companies will aim for efficiencies of scale and are are willing to make concessions to the European Union in order to get the okay to merge. View full article

I understand that PSA makes money on small cars. I also LOVED that @smk4565 pointed that out to us. But small cars sell in Europe. Small cars dont sell too well in North America. I said it before and Ill say it again, for most North Americans, French cars means nothing to them. Peugeot or Citroen dont have a chance in North America. But what may end up happening, what SHOULD be happening is Chrysler could use those platforms and French panache so Chrysler could sell cars here. And/or Dodge. SMK has another thing right. Survival of the fittest is absolutely correct. Balthy is correct too. Fiat and Lancia WILL die. Here and in Europe. Maybe Fiat survives in Europe. Alfa Romeo does not though. It aint selling here. It aint selling in Europe. Alfa is gone. Chrysler and Dodge. It will come down to marketing and having the right products to sell with that marketing... Muscle cars. Is that a dying breed? Many say that Dodge cannot keep these up... Who knows? I say muscle cars will NEVER die. There is still a helluva lot of North Americans that love their muscle cars. And Dodge seems to KNOW how the build them and sell them. I say Dodge stays BY building muscle cars. As long as Dodge stays true to itself, Dodge is good! Chrysler is a toughie. What does Chrysler do to have a loyal clientele that is different from all the other ho-hum brands out there in North America? Chevrolet is one of those ho-hum brands at the moment. So is Buick. Toyota. Nissan. Acura. Hell, even BMW... Chrysler does have a chance to survive here as the North American car market is BORING. Chrysler ALWAYS seems to give us products that move us emotionally. THAT is what they need again. And the French could compliment Auburn Hills together to give us that certain Je ne sais quoi that the North American car market so desperately needs right about now... And like I said, that would NOT be for Peugeot or Citroen, but for Chrysler.

May as well bring in the Caterpillars now to knock down the building.

Misaligned belt moldings and general crappy workmanship catch my eye in a negative way (Tesla hallmarks).

If only they raised a billion dollars first . . . . . .

Depends if they can snag that post office contract or not.

One thing I've noticed is that I see more Model-X and S in the wild than I see S-Class... and I like the S-Class, so they catch my eye.

Sounds like they don't plan to kill any of the brands. Good news for Dodge and Chrysler I guess.

And yet people complain when a perfectly good platform like the LX is still around, being competitive.

Yep. Even 10 years ago it wasn't as bad as it is now. In 2009 you could still buy a brand new loaded Silverado LTZ, 6.2L, Leather, Sunroof, 4x4, Crew that was stickered at $50k for $45k, now to get the same with leather it's stickered at $55k+ and with HC trim it's $60k - 68k. It definitely will not sustain at this rate, it's going to place many people out of the market and already has for some. I think all the fullsize truck manf's. know their pricing is ridiculously high and that they also know they are going to slap $10k+ on the hood right off the bat to make it look better to buyers as well as the banks financing them and in the end they're still raking in huge profits. It's all about Sales and like Balth stated it's a Marketing ploy as well.

And it all goes back to marketing; “MORE, NEW, BETTERER!!!” More models, more trims, faster turnover. It’s spiraled to the edge of sustainability. The pendulum has to swing back at some point.

candid snapshot of Andy Granatelli's '60 Chrysler 300-F GT Special. Supercharged, it hit 189 MPH at Daytona.

Happy 57th, Drew! Hopefully you had a good day so far!

I used to think this way too. I guess reading too many car magazines back in the day made me adapt to their idiotic biases. I know now why they critically devalued an older model versus a newer model in their head to head comparisons...all because of fake automotive journalistic bias to sell more magazines... to idiots like me. I never understood why a certain model that was very good 2 years prior was now criticized and more importantly, FROWNED upon just because a new competitor had a new model out. But these magazines sure had me hook, line and sinker. And that kind of idiocy arose in the car forums that I posted in later on in life and I got to see more idiots, including myself, where a Mustang guy would diss a Camaro guy and vice versa and the come backs for each idiot was: "yeah, but the new Mustang will come out next year..." or "Yeah, but the Camaro is already 2 years old...of course the Mustang beat it..." Such lunacy... Which brings me to this post here. Yes. Of course! I understand why companies spend billions to create new platforms every 6-8 years or so...to be on the cutting edge of technology to one-up the competition. But that too is lunacy. Take the fullsized pick-up truck wars. Every new gen platform and the Big 3 boast towing capacities and we are in a world where these pick-up trucks can practically haul shyte on par with 18 wheelers. Exaggeration of course. OK...I guess that kind of competition is good for the consumer, but when does a regular Joe Blow need to haul shyte like an 18 wheeler on with his Chevy Silverado? Keep in mind, I AM talking about a regular Joe Blow here.... And all that these brings to the car manufacturer is enormous amounts of R&D money that they do not necessarlity need to spend... And the negative talk in car mags? Is a 2 generations ago Silverado THAT much of a loser vehicle as compared to a brand new 2020 F-150? Because, of all the R&D money spent on each and every generation of the Silverado, I personally do not think that a 2 generations ago Silverado is that much behind a new generation Silverado, or Ram or F-150... Corvette just proves it... The C4 and the C5 and the C6 and the C7 are not really brand new new platforms from the generations before... Improved upon...yes, but not brand new like the C8 is... and THAT would be smart R&D money. Toyoter too. This is why Toyoter has a huge war chest of money... PS: Ive changed my mind set on this issue and returned to how I used to think. Like you!

Seems the reports of only early this year and late last year that battery price per kW would be $187 per kW by 2025 are way off after massive advancements have the battery industry heading to $87 per kW battery pack cost by 2025. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/new-report-cost-and-performance-of-batteries-improving-much-faster-than-forecast/

So we get a spicy looking WRX with lack luster Camry performance. Sounds like a Snooze Fest. ?

Better bundle up for the freezing Pacific North"Wet" Fall and Winter weather. ? Drizzle?! Is that what you guys call steady rain now just to feel better about it? ?