By Chris Haak
Last week, about two years after exiting bankruptcy protection, Chrysler Group LLC has repaid its outstanding government loans. Between a $5.9 billion USD repayment to the US government (principal plus interest) and a $1.7 billion USD repayment to the Canadian government, the company repaid $7.6 billion USD of its obligations to the two countries’ taxpayers. Today, Fiat announced that it has purchased the 6 percent of Chrysler owned by the US government for $500 million USD.
By Kevin Miller
“Comfy Throne, Cushy Ride.” Those are my first logbook phrases written about the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and they summed up my experience with the latest generation of Jeep’s flagship SUV. Entirely new for 2011, the Grand Cherokee benefits from Chrysler’s improved interior materials and design, lending the big truck a luxurious feel. That luxury is backed up by heated leather seats, infotainment system with navigation system and awesome sound, and an air suspension which gives a velvety ride as well as increasing ground clearance for off-roading.
By Chris Haak
It’s not easy being number one. And, if you listened to GM executives after their company lost the global sales crown in 2008, being the biggest doesn’t matter, but being the best does.
And now, in a curious twist of fate, GM is poised to re-take the global sales crown from Toyota for 2011. GM held that title for three quarters of a century, and Toyota stands to hold it for just three years (2008, 2009, and 2010). So what’s behind this shift?
By Chris Haak
None of these announcements are necessarily earth-shattering, but in a meeting with analysts and media yesterday in Detroit, Chrysler executives outlined several interesting items of note on the product front. According to Inside Line, fresh off the company’s first profitable quarter since 2006 (!), the company finally seems to be on the verge of breaking out of its long product slump. Each of the company’s three divisions is getting something good.
By Chris Haak
Probably due to its much larger size, GM’s bailout and repayment of some government loans has drawn far more attention than the assistance provided to Chrysler has for the past several years. Chrysler doesn’t even get the perk of a derogatory nickname like “Government Motors” has.
Former “Car Czar” Steven Rattner’s book described how the Obama administration was split nearly 50-50 on whether Chrysler was even worth rescuing, and not everyone is certain of the viability of the now Italian-American automaker in the coming years.
By Chris Haak
The business case for EVs and hybrids has been on less-than-solid footing for years, both from the consumer’s point of view and the manufacturer’s vantage point. For instance, the payback period of the price premium that hybrids cost (in terms of savings at the gas pump) often extends beyond the typical ownership duration of a new car. And we know that it costs GM about $40,000 to build a $41,000 Chevy Volt, and that’s probably excluding considerable promotional and advertising expenses.
Now, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchonne, who has a reptuation for speaking his mind, had this to say about the economics of EVs while on the sidelines of Fiat S.p.A.’s general meeting earlier this week:
By Chris Haak
Italian automaker Fiat, which of course has a large ownership stake in Chrysler Group, and which is in the process of planting its Fiat flag on US soil again in the near term, may actually move its global headquarters from its historical base in Turin, Italy to Detroit. Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said at a conference last Friday that the company would likely merge Fiat and Chrysler operations within the next two to three years.
Once the operations have been merged, then there is the question of where to headquarter the future merged company. Chrysler obviously has a large presence in the US, and Chrysler sales will make up a sizable portion of Fiat’s global sales, particularly if Marchionne’s aggressive volume and market share targets for Chrysler are met over that timeframe. Based on 2009 numbers, Chrysler’s [depressed] sales would represent about 28 percent of combined Fiat-Chrysler sales, so it’s reasonable. But there’s probably more to it than just headquartering where the sales are.
By Charles Krome
Here in the Detroit area, the most exciting part of last night’s football game had little to do with the final score; instead, most of the buzz focused on the sight of Eminem driving around the city in a new Chrysler 200. But while it turned out to be a nice commercial for Detroit itself, I’m not so sure how effective it was for the automaker.
Certainly, with the 200 and Motown each being much improved this year, an ad celebrating the rebirth of both made sense. And going with the local boy made good as the co-star—especially when said local boy is an edgy, internationally famous rapper with numerous current Grammy noms—was a bold yet ideal strategy, perhaps even representing a nod to when Snoop Dogg came a-calling to DaimlerChrysler for a new 300 back in the day.
By Charles Krome
The EPA fuel efficiency ratings for the 2012 Fiat 500 have now been announced, with the Chrysler Group’s much-hyped hatchback achieving 30 mpg city/38 mpg highway/33 mpg combined when kitted out with a five-speed manual and a line of 27/34/30 with a six-speed automatic. But as high as those numbers are, they represent somewhat of a disappointment given the competition.
Now, the natural choice of rivals here is the MINI hardtop, since both vehicles are small niche products that will claim a lot of their sales based on style, so here is how they match up against each other in some of the more relevant measures.
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