Loaded Fiat 500 Lounge 2012 Red Leather Interior- Rare, Low Miles, Extd Warranty on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Fiat Chrysler's Marchionne being treated in Zurich

ZURICH — Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne was being treated in a Zurich hospital on Sunday with a serious illness after suffering complications following shoulder surgery. A Fiat Chrysler spokesman confirmed Marchionne was in Zurich's University Hospital, one of Switzerland's largest medical centers. The FCA spokesman did not give the 66-year-old Italian-Canadian executive's condition or say in which of the hospital's 43 divisions he was being treated. Italian news outlets said he has been in a coma since Friday, is breathing with the help of a ventilator, and that attempts to have him breath on his own were unsuccessful. Fiat Chrysler named its Jeep division boss Mike Manley on Saturday to take over immediately from Marchionne, who had been due to step down next April. SGS, the Swiss logistics services company, also announced on Sunday that it had named a new acting chairman to take over for Marchionne, since his illness prevented him from fulfilling the role's obligations. SGS said in a statement it was "deeply saddened" by the news, as did Lausanne, Switzerland-based Philip Morris International, where Marchionne is also on the board. Marchionne was credited with rescuing Fiat and Chrysler from bankruptcy after taking the Italian carmaker's wheel in 2004. On Saturday he was also replaced as chairman and CEO of Ferrari and chairman of tractor maker CNH Industrial — both spun off from FCA in recent years. In additional management changes linked to Marchionne's illness, Ferrari named FCA Chairman and Agnelli family scion John Elkann as new chairman and Louis Camilleri becomes chief executive. Reporting by John Miller in ZurichRelated Video: Image Credit: Reuters Chrysler Ferrari Fiat US

Zombie cars: Discontinued vehicles that aren't dead yet

Car models come and go, but as revealed by monthly sales data, once a car is discontinued, it doesn't just disappear instantly. And in the case of some models, vanishing into obscurity can be a slow, tedious process. That's the case with the 12 cars we have here. All of them have been discontinued, but car companies keep racking up "new" sales with them. There are actually more discontinued cars that are still registering new sales than what we decided to include here. We kept this list to the oldest or otherwise most interesting vehicles still being sold as new, including a supercar. We'll run the list in alphabetical order, starting with *drumroll* ... BMW 6 Series: 55 total sales BMW quietly removed the 6 Series from the U.S. market during the 2019 model year. It had been available in three configurations, a hardtop coupe, a convertible and a sleek four-door coupe-like shape.   BMW i8: 18 total sales We've always had a soft spot for the BMW i8, despite the fact that it never quite fit into a particular category. It was sporty, but nowhere near as fast as similarly-priced competitors. It looked very high-tech and boasted a unique carbon fiber chassis design and a plug-in hybrid powertrain, but wasn't really designed for maximum efficiency or maximum performance. Still, the in-betweener was very cool to look at and drive, and 18 buyers took one home over the course of 2021.   Chevy Impala: 750 total sales The Impala represented classic American tastes at a time when American tastes were shifting away from soft-riding sedans with big interior room and trunk space and into higher-riding crossovers. A total of 750 sales were inked last year.   Chrysler 200: 15 total sales The Chrysler 200 was actually a pretty nice sedan, with good looks and decent driving dynamics let down by a lack of roominess, particularly in the back seat. Of course, as we said regarding the Chevy Impala, the number of Americans in the market for sedans is rapidly winding down, and other automakers are following Chrysler's footsteps in canceling their slow-selling four-doors. Even if Chrysler never really found its footing in the ultra-competitive midsize sedan segment, apparently dealerships have a few leftover 2017 200s floating around. And for some reason, 15 buyers decided to sign the dotted line to take one of these aging sedans home last year.

Fiat Chrysler seeks $6.8 billion state-backed loan in Italy

MILAN — Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Saturday that Fiat Chrysler was entitled to apply for Italy's state-backed loans because the automaker employs thousands of people in the country, even though its legal base is located abroad. The Italian-American group confirmed on Saturday its Italian unit was working with Rome to obtain state guarantees on a 6.3-billion-euro ($6.8 billion) loan facility designed to help Italy's automotive industry, comprised of approximately 10,000 small and medium-size businesses. The coronavirus outbreak, which has hit Italy especially hard, slammed the brakes on demand for new vehicles and forced automakers to halt most production, burning cash. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said in a statement that talks were ongoing with lender Intesa Sanpaolo for a three-year credit facility exclusively dedicated to the group's activities in Italy. Asked whether FCA, which has its legal headquarters in the Netherlands, could get a loan guaranteed by the Italian government, Conte said the group qualified. "We're not talking about the parent company, we're talking about the group's companies in Italy, which employ thousands of people," the prime minister said. FCA runs several plants and research and development centers in Italy, directly employing around 55,000 people. In addition, over 200,000 people work in Italy's 5,500 parts suppliers and 120,000 people in car dealers and service companies, with the automotive industry accounting for 6.2% of Italy's domestic product, FCA said. News that FCA was asking the Italian government for liquidity support had raised criticism. The ruling party PD's deputy president, Andrea Orlando, earlier on Saturday said on Twitter that if a company asked the Italian government for sizable financing, it had to bring back its legal base to Italy. The scheme is part of emergency measures the Italian government is making available to the country's businesses. It offers more than 400 billion euros' worth of liquidity and bank loans to companies hit by the pandemic. FCA said the state-backed credit facility it is seeking will have "the sole purpose of providing operational support for payments to Italian suppliers to support their liquidity and, at the same, supporting the restart of production and investment at Italian plants." The group has gradually restarted operations in Italy since the end of April. Related Video: Earnings/Financials Government/Legal Chrysler Fiat coronavirus