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NHTSA questions FCA's reaction to recalls, will hold public hearing

The US Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are holding a public hearing on July 2 to investigate whether FCA US is failing to fix safety problems and issue necessary notices. The agencies also want detailed accounts of the handling of 20 recalls by June 1 as part of a special order. If the Feds determine that the automaker isn't living up to its legal requirements, the result could go as far as a "buy-back or replacement of affected vehicles." "Significant questions have been raised as to whether this company is meeting its obligations to protect the drivers from safety defects, and today we are launching a process to ensure that those obligations are met," NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind said in the announcement of the hearing. The 20 recalls that the agencies are investigating date from between 2013 and 2015. Just some of these include the action to make the fuel tanks safer on the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty; FCA US' Takata inflator repairs; inadvertently deploying airbags in the Liberty, Grand Cherokee and Dodge Viper; and the company's ignition switch fix for the Chrysler Town & Country, Grand Caravan and Journey. Failure to submit reports about all of these on time could result in a $7,000 per day fine. You can read the whole list in the PDF for the special order. In a statement to Autoblog, FCA US said, "The average completion rate for FCA US LLC recalls exceeds the industry average and all FCA US campaigns are conducted in consultation with NHTSA. The Company will cooperate fully." The government agencies claim that they have received complaints from customers alleging that they weren't notified of recalls; parts not being available; difficulty getting an appointment, and misinformation from dealers. During the hearing witnesses from FCA US, NHTSA and the public have the opportunity to present evidence on each campaign. U.S. DOT Announces Fiat Chrysler Public Hearing and Issues Special Order NHTSA has concerns about 20 recalls and sets public hearing date for July 2 WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that the Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will hold a public hearing to determine whether automaker Fiat Chrysler has failed to remedy safety defects and issue required notices in 20 recalls.

Move over Audi, now Chrysler has a beef with Tesla's claims

In the same week that Audi said "not so fast" to some claims from Tesla, Chrysler has responded to a new press release from the California-based EV-maker by saying "not exactly, Tesla." The statement, released through the company's blog, comes in response to Tesla claiming it was "the only American car company to have fully repaid the government." Chrysler notes that it, too, recently paid back Uncle Sam from its 2008 bailout. Similar to Audi's recent press release, which was eventually and mysteriously deleted from the German automaker's site, Chrysler is both right and wrong in its statement.
Tesla specifically said that it had paid back the Department of Energy loans that many automakers received - including Fisker and VPG Autos - while Chrysler's retort argues Tesla is "unmistakably incorrect" since it repaid the government in 2011 a full six years early. Technically, the statements from both automakers are correct, but Tesla's startup loan originated from the DoE, while Chrysler's loan came in bailout form from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Further, as The Detroit News notes, Chrysler's loan still cost taxpayers well over a billion dollars after all was said and done - those negative assets tied to "old Chrysler" in the bankruptcy did not require repayment.

Fiat Chrysler target 850k sales in China by 2018

Behind the vanguard of numerous Jeep models, two Chryslers, a smattering of Fiats and Alfa Romeos and local production through a joint venture with Guangzhou Automotive Group (GAG), Fiat Chrysler wants to increase sales in China more than six-fold by 2018. The group sold 130,000 cars in China in 2013, the aim for 2018 being 850,000 cars.
Ultimately it's expected that the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, Wrangler, Renegade, the coming Grand Wagoneer and a sub-Renegade-sized crossover will either be built in or exported to the People's Republic. The Chrysler Town & Country and 300 will join the export list in 2016 and 2018 respectively, according to a report in Automotive News.
With a number of those vehicles not in production or perhaps even envisaged yet, and others not due on the local market until 2018, it will be interesting to see how Fiat Chrysler plans to achieve the target in the specified timeframe. The joint venture with GAG builds two products now, the Dodge Dart-based Fiat Viaggio launched two years ago - supposedly designed just for China - and the just-launched Fiat Ottimo, a hatchback version of the Viaggio. Fiat projected 300,000 Viagio sales in its first two years, that number has been adjusted downward to 94,000 and there doesn't appear to be an analyst alive that sees a good future for Fiat in China's overrun mainstream market. Still, last year's 130,000 group sales in China is a huge jump from 2012 sales of 66,000 units, but less than half the 300,000 units it projected.