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Bailout dealership cuts did their job as profits surge

Almost five years after US taxpayers bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, a large majority of their slimmed-down dealership networks are posting soaring profits, Bloomberg reports, and contributing to the US auto industry on track this year to deliver 15.4 million vehicles, the most since 16.15 million were delivered in 2007.
Consider another important figure: Bloomberg says that more than 90 percent of GM dealerships are profitable, compared to about half of them in 2008 and 2009. At the start of 2013, GM had 4,355 US dealerships and Chrysler had about 2,600. Compare that with just a few years ago, when GM had 6,246 dealers in 2008, while Chrysler had 3,200 in 2009.
As part of their bankruptcy restructuring, both GM and Chrysler decided that their retail networks contained far too many dealerships and insisted that they be slimmed down. The resultant dealership terminations followed by a rebounding auto market - in part due to better new GM and Chrysler vehicles - have increased the number of sales per dealership to record levels. Many dealers are taking advantage of increasing profits and investing in facility renovations and updates, such as Chrysler dealership owner David Kelleher. He's spending $2 million to expand his store.

Mike Manley and Louis Camilleri appointments confirmed after shareholder votes

AMSTERDAM – Fiat Chrysler shareholders held a meeting yesterday to officially vote on the appointments of Mike Manley as CEO of FCA and Louis Camilleri as the CEO of Ferrari. Manley and Camilleri were announced as the replacements for Sergio Marchionne following the former chief's sudden death. At the same time, FCA announced that it would place John Elkann in the role of Chairman. A minute-long moment of silence was held at the start of the meeting in honor of Marchionne. According to reports, 99 percent of shareholder votes were in favor of Manley's appointment at FCA, and 98 percent were in favor of Camilleri taking the CEO role at Ferrari. Manley said at the shareholder's meeting that he will announce his organizational plans for the automaker by the end of September. "When we learned Sergio Marchionne could not return to work the board decided to appoint Mike Manley, who was the only candidate," Chairman John Elkann said. The chairman added the decision was based on succession plans the board was working on with Marchionne for his planned departure in 2019. Of Camilleri's direction at Ferrari, Elkann said, "Sergio Marchionne strengthened the foundations of Ferrari, now we can build on that for the future, which will be a bright future."Reuters contributed to this report.Related Video: Image Credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Chrysler Fiat Sergio Marchionne FCA Mike Manley

Waymo bids its self-driving bubble cars farewell

Say goodbye to Waymo's quirky bubble-shaped autonomous cars. Google's former self-driving car division is retiring its fleet of "Fireflies" - also known as "koalas" and "gumdrops," among many other nicknames - to focus on integrating its technology into more traditional vehicles. It particularly aims to give more people access to its self-driving technology through a fleet of 600 Chrysler Pacifica minivans, which the team has equipped with its latest custom-built radar, lidar and vision systems. The minivans also come with Waymo's newest AI platform that can see farther and more clearly. Plus, they run like normal vehicles do, unlike the Fireflies, which are limited to 25mph. This move doesn't exactly come as a surprise. A report from late 2016 said Alphabet's Larry Page scrapped Waymo's plans to manufacture bubble-shaped driverless vehicles to make the company's strategy more feasible. It said Page's new plan involves collaborating with automakers to design and make cars with no pedals and steering wheels that use Google's self-driving tech. Shortly after that report came out, Waymo introduced its heavily modified Chrysler Pacificas with altered electrical, powertrain, chassis and structural system to accommodate the extra weight of the company's equipment. While Waymo will no longer use its Fireflies for future tests, you can still catch a glimpse of the cute bubble cars in various locations. This August, they'll be on display at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix before making their way to the The Thinkery in Austin, Texas, this October. You'll also find a Firefly at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California and another at the Design Museum in London.Written by Mariella Moon for Engadget. Waymo Related Video: