1936 36 Chrylser Imperial Airflow Series C-10 6 Passenger 4 Door Sedan Project on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Hundreds of Detroit residents line up to ride in autonomous cars

DETROIT — Members of the public got the chance Friday to take a free ride in a self-driving vehicle as part of an effort to clear up confusion about the technology. Hundreds signed up for the 6-minute journey that led riders through a course set up inside a Detroit convention center. Mary Van Der Maas heard about the opportunity on the radio and decided to give it a shot. The 73-year-old retiree from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, hopped into an autonomous Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan, and off she went. "I think that it's just ignorance that keeps us from wanting to do this. And once you experience it, it's marvelous," she said afterward. Daniel Schroeder, 17, said he "thought it was interesting how the car knew its route." "And then it could identify things in the road," said the high school junior from Troy, Michigan, who spent one of the days of his spring break at the demo inside Cobo Hall downtown. Rep. Debbie Dingell also rode in the driverless Pacifica, asking more than a few questions of organizers along the way. "Public confidence in autonomous vehicles has decreased, not increased, over the last year for a variety of reasons," the Democratic congresswoman said. "And people need to get to know it. They need to be hands-on. They need to see that it works." Dingell said she had asked her husband, the late John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in the institution's history, to serve as an advocate for driverless cars, citing the technology's potential to benefit older Americans. "He just quite frankly didn't trust it," Debbie Dingell said. Technological hurdles and apprehension have limited attempts to deploy fully autonomous vehicles on public roadways. Uber pulled its self-driving cars out of Arizona last year after one of the ride-hailing service's autonomous cars struck and killed a woman as she crossed the street. Mary Moore of SAE International, an association of mobility engineers, said the idea behind the Detroit event is to "use the facts, use what's on the market today to explain what the capabilities are today and then also give a glimpse into what can happen in the future." The event was sponsored by SAE International as well as Partners for Automated Vehicle Education, a coalition of industry, nonprofit and academic institutions whose goal is to inform and educate the public and policymakers about automated vehicles. It runs through Sunday and is free to attend.

Chrysler-Fiat quality chief out after another poor Consumer Reports showing

Fiat Chrysler has announced a management change following the company's woeful performance in the latest Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability Survey. Of the 28 brands surveyed, FCA's marques occupied the five the seven lowest scores, while Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Fiat were the four lowest scorers.
Doug Betts, FCA's 51-year-old head of quality "left the company to pursue other interests," which, considering the aforementioned paragraph, means he was sacked. According to Automotive News, Betts joined Chrysler in 2007, defecting from Nissan, and, insiders report, had a somewhat tumultuous relationship with new boss Sergio Marchionne.
His replacement is the newly promoted Matthew Lidane (shown at inset), who was formerly VP of systems and components. Lidane has been at Chrysler since 1987 and was previously chief engineer of the Jeep product team as well as the vehicle line boss for the compact US wide platform which (ironically) underpins two of FCA's lowest scoring vehicles, the Dodge Dart and Jeep Cherokee.

Fiat Chrysler and Renault pursue $35-billion merger to combat car industry upheaval

MILAN/PARIS — Fiat Chrysler pitched a finely balanced merger of equals to Renault on Monday to tackle the costs of far-reaching technological and regulatory changes by creating the world's third-biggest automaker. If it goes ahead, the $35 billion-plus tie-up would alter the landscape for rivals including General Motors and Peugeot maker PSA Group, which recently held inconclusive talks with Fiat Chrysler (FCA), and could spur more deals. Renault said it was studying the proposal from Italian-American FCA with interest, and considered it friendly. Shares in both companies jumped more than 10 percent as investors welcomed the prospect of an enlarged business capable of producing more than 8.7 million vehicles a year and aiming for 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in annual savings. It would rank third in the global auto industry behind Japan's Toyota and Germany's Volkswagen. But analysts also warned of big complications, including Renault's existing alliance with Nissan, the French state's role as Renault's largest shareholder and potential opposition from politicians and workers to any cutbacks. "The market will be careful with these synergy numbers as much has been promised before and there isn't a single merger of equals that has ever succeeded in autos," Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said. With these sensitivities in mind, FCA proposed an all-share merger under a listed Dutch holding company. After a 2.5 billion euro dividend for existing FCA shareholders - giving a big upfront boost to the Agnelli family that controls 29% of FCA - investors in each firm would hold half of the new entity. The merged group would be chaired by Agnelli family scion John Elkann, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters, while Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard would likely become CEO. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said the proposed merger could be good news for Italy if it helped FCA to grow, but it was crucial to preserve jobs. He did not comment on the French government's 15% stake in Renault, but an influential lawmaker from the ruling League party said Rome may seek a stake in the combined group to balance France's holding. A deal could also have profound repercussions for Renault's 20-year-old alliance with Nissan, already weakened by the crisis surrounding the arrest and ouster of former chairman Carlos Ghosn late last year. The Japanese carmaker has yet to comment on FCA's proposal.