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Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot unveil burgeoning Stellantis supergroup's new logo

Stellantis, the entity formed by the merger between Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and PSA Group, has revealed its logo. It's as anonymous as the name of what will become the world's fourth-largest carmaker. Executives explained the logo symbolizes the rich heritage of the group's founding companies, and the unique combined strengths of the new conglomerate's 14-brand portfolio. While that's certainly one way to look at it, finding an iota of heritage in the Stellantis logo requires an unusually vivid imagination. It consists of the company's name in a sans serif font on a blue background. Designers removed the horizontal bar from the letter A, and they surrounded it by four rows of increasingly small dots vaguely arranged like stars in a galaxy. Chrysler helped NASA develop and build the Mercury-Redstone rocket, but we doubt that's what the galaxy-shaped logo is trying to remind us of. Nothing about it suggests Stellantis bundles some of the oldest and best-known car manufacturers in the world. It wouldn't look out of place in an ad for a credit card company, in a brochure for a frequent flier program, or on an over-the-counter pain reliever box, and that was likely intentional. It's a corporate logo that's going to appear on pens, name tags, coffee mugs, and a wide variety of paperwork, so it doesn't need to be eye-catching or ignite excitement — it'll never show up on a car. Stellantis Charger Hellcat? Nope. Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Stellantis Edition? Not happening, either. Chrysler, Peugeot, Dodge, Opel, Vauxhall, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Ram, Citroen, Fiat, Maserati, and the other odds and ends that will be dumped in the Stellantis melting pot will carry on with their respective identities and naming systems. Stellantis it is, then. Expect the new logo to appear on employee payrolls and other official letterheads after the $38 billion 50:50 merger is finalized. Both sides said they plan to complete the merger in the first half of 2021.

Stellantis axed the SRT engineer team, but performance isn't going away

Stellantis has broken up the Street & Racing Technology (SRT) engineering team that created over a dozen high-performance vehicles, including the Dodge Charger Hellcat, but the situation isn't as dire as it sounds. The newly-formed company assigned SRT's former engineers to different positions, where they'll continue to make hot rods. "All of the core elements of the SRT performance engineering team have been integrated into our company's global engineering organization," a spokeswoman told enthusiast website Mopar Insiders. She added that integrating SRT's personnel into other brands in the Stellantis portfolio will ensure that the lessons learned from decades of peddling speed will permeate other products. Previously, SRT operated with a high degree of independence. Don't get too excited. Her statement does not necessarily mean that Citroen will begin building cars powered by the Hellcat engine, though a C3 Chat D'enfer sounds absolutely epic. Technology transfer will likely be limited to fields like aerodynamics and thermal management, and the design department might learn a couple of neat new tricks. Dodge will still move forward with the development of its next SRT-branded cars; the decision to dissolve the SRT team will not affect future models, according to the spokeswoman. Whether they'll be powered by a V8 is up in the air, because company boss Tim Kuniskis warned that regulations are killing the eight-cylinder engine. Similarly, Jeep will continue designing high-performance models, like the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. What changes is that the model will be developed and designed by a group of engineers and designers from Jeep, not from SRT. SRT is dead, but performance isn't going away. SRT's demise nonetheless marks the end of an era for Chrysler. The division traces its roots to 1989, when some of the company's brightest minds were brought together to develop the first-generation Dodge Viper. It merged with Team Prowler to form the Specialty Vehicle Engineering (SVE) group, which was renamed Performance Vehicle Operations (PVO) in 2002 and finally dubbed SRT in 2004. SRT has operated as the carmaker's in-house tuner since, its resume includes a diverse selection of cars ranging from the Neon SRT-4 to the 1500 TRX, and it was promoted to a standalone brand led by designer Ralph Gilles in 2011. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) axed the SRT brand in 2014 but kept the name and the development team. Related video:

Fiat Chrysler says it did not know about Marchionne's illness

ZURICH/MILAN — Fiat Chrysler said it knew nothing about the medical condition of Sergio Marchionne after a Swiss hospital said on Thursday it had been treating the deceased chief executive for more than a year. "Due to medical privacy, the company had no knowledge of the facts relating to Mr. Marchionne's health," a Fiat Chrysler spokesman said. Questions have been raised about how long Marchionne, who died on Wednesday, was ill and how much the company knew before it made the situation public. Marchionne rescued Fiat and Chrysler from bankruptcy after taking the wheel of the Italian carmaker in 2004 and he multiplied Fiat's value 11 times through 14 years of canny dealmaking. He was due to step down at FCA in April next year. "The company was made aware that Mr. Marchionne had undergone shoulder surgery and released a statement about this," the spokesperson said. "On Friday, July 20, the company was made aware with no detail by Mr. Marchionne's family of the serious deterioration in Mr. Marchionne's condition and that as a result he would be unable to return to work. The company promptly took and announced the appropriate action the following day." Asked whether the scope of the statement included the board and the chairman, the company declined to comment. In emailed comments, Marchionne's family confirmed the companies had not been aware of his health conditions. "At the end of last week FCA was made aware Sergio Marchionne would no longer be able to return to work without mentioning any further details," the family said. The announcement of the death of Marchionne, 66, one of the auto industry's most tenacious and respected CEOs, drew tributes from rivals and tears from his closest colleagues on Wednesday. University Hospital Zurich said earlier on Thursday Marchionne had been treated for a serious illness for more than a year before his death. Marchionne had fallen gravely ill after what the company had described as shoulder surgery at a Zurich hospital. He was replaced as chief executive last weekend after Fiat Chrysler (FCA) said his condition had worsened. "Mr. Sergio Marchionne was a patient at USZ. Due to serious illness, he had been the recipient of recurring treatment for more than a year," the hospital said in a statement. "Although all the options offered by cutting-edge medicine were utilized, Mr.