Drew Dowdell

The Renault Master and Ram ProMaster could be merged into a single product. The Kangoo could become a ProMaster City. Fiat the brand could be saved by platform sharing with some of Renault's small cars. Dodge and Chrysler could be saved with Renault's mid-range vehicles. The issue will be Nissan's reaction. But Renault owns 45% of Nissan, so they might not have much say. I wonder if this would also give FCA a controlling interest in Nissan or if Renault would divest themselves first. New name.... FCAR?

It's not by accident that the savings FCA says will come from the deal are almost exactly equal to the savings Renault gets from the alliance.

"stable" ones at that

FCA has sent a merger proposal to Renault in what would start as an operational tie-up leading to a full merger. The proposal is a 50/50 deal that will not involve Nissan or Mitsubishi and it estimated to be worth around $33 billion. Few details have been revealed, however, Renault's board said it would issue a press release after the meeting. Rumor has it that Renault is negotiating with FCA without the approval from Nissan or Mitsubishi. If the merger does go through, it would happen over the next 12 months and the combined companies would rank 3rd in the world in terms of production, just behind Toyota and Volkswagen. One complication to the deal is the French government's 15% stake in Renault. FCA has offered a guarantee to keep existing production locations but left the door open for white-collar job cuts. This comes after FCA turned down a merger proposal from PSA back in March of this year. View full article

I like Uber/Lyft for going out and not needing a designated driver.

Car Cruise in Irwin PA yesterday.