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Chevy Bolt wins 2017 Green Car of the Year

We knew that a plug-in vehicle was going to win the 2017 Green Car of the Year award this year, given that all five finalists have a way to charge up. And when Ron Cogan, the editor and publisher of Green Car Journal, announced the winner – the 2017 Chevy Bolt EV – he said that the car itself represents one of those times in the auto industry when everything is about to change. Similar to the invention of the starter motor, things are about to get different. For now, though, the fact that the Bolt EV won an award sounds like the same old thing all over again. Just this week, it was named Motor Trends Car of the Year and to the Car And Driver Top 10 list. The other four finalists for Green Car of the Year included the Toyota Prius Prime, the Chrysler Pacifica, the Kia Optima (including hybrid and plug-in hybrid models) and the BMW 330e iPerformance. Last year, the winner was the 2016 Chevy Volt. Did Green Car Journal make the right selection this year? See the award ceremony below.

4 ways FCA-PSA merger could be a plus

DETROIT — In a merger deal announced overnight, Fiat Chrysler stands to gain electric vehicle technology while PSA Peugeot Citroen could benefit from a badly needed dealership network to reach its goal of selling vehicles in the U.S. The merger would create the world's fourth-largest automaker with a combined market value of around $50 billion. Neither company would comment. Experts say the two automakers will be able to share car, SUV and commercial vehicle designs, helping each other fill weaknesses and share costs that will make them a strong global player. "We view the combination of these two companies as reasonable given global competition, high capital intensity, and industry disruption from electrified powertrain as well as autonomous technologies," Morningstar analyst Richard Hilgert wrote in a note to investors. Here are four areas that could be crucial to the two automakers' success: Technology For years, Fiat Chrysler has lagged its rivals in electric vehicle technology, with its former CEO once trying to discourage people from buying its only fully electric car in the United States, the Fiat 500E, because he lost money on each sale. The company has made progress on gas-electric hybrids and may have plans for more fully electric vehicles, but PSA has valuable technology that FCA can use, said Navigant Research analyst Sam Abuelsamid. Peugeot was relatively late to the electric vehicle game but is now working fast to catch up, notably with fellow French rival Renault. CEO Carlos Tavares has made a point of stressing the company's need to adapt to changing technology at car shows and earnings calls. Last year he announced plans to offer 40 electric models across its lineup by 2025. "Electrification hasn't been a huge part of their play up until now," Abuelsamid said. "Between the two of them, I think they could generate some scale for whatever they're doing, sharing component costs, development costs across electrical platforms," he said. More electric vehicles also would help FCA meet pollution and fuel economy regulations in Europe. As far as autonomous vehicles, neither company is among the leaders, Abuelsamid said. But that's a technology that's years into the future, giving them time to share the huge expenses and catch up together. FCA also has alliances with other companies such as Google spinoff Waymo that could bring autonomous vehicle technology to the market when ready, Abuelsamid said.

FCA's European boss quits after losing out as Marchionne's replacement

MILAN — Fiat Chrysler's European boss has quit, adding to the problems facing new CEO Mike Manley, who must deliver on promises to boost production of SUVs and catch up with rivals in electric cars. Jeep division head Manley was named on Saturday to succeed Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, one of the auto industry's most tenacious and respected leaders, who fell seriously ill after suffering complications following surgery. It emerged on Monday that Alfredo Altavilla, head of Fiat Chrysler's business in the Europe, Middle East Africa had resigned, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. He had been a rival for the top job along with Manley and Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer. It's another complication to new CEO Manley's task of executing his predecessor's plan to keep the world's seventh-largest carmaker competitive in the absence of a merger. Marchionne had been due to step down next April, so the market reaction was limited on Monday. The shares initially fell more than 5 percent, but then pared some losses and were down 2.4 percent by 0930 GMT. "The downside may be modest, at least in the next 12 months. But long-term concerns will build — Marchionne ran FCA in a command and control style, with constant firefighting measures," said Bernstein analyst Max Warburton. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) said British-born Manley would pursue the strategy that Marchionne outlined last month. FCA has pledged to increase production of sport utility vehicles and invest in electric and hybrid cars to double operating profit by 2022. It also unveiled bold targets for Jeep, which has become FCA's ticket to creating a high-margin brand with global appeal. Reviving struggling brands Analysts said that choosing Manley, 54, under whose watch Jeep's sales surged fourfold, sent a clear message that FCA was staying on course and would keep the Jeep brand at the heart of its growth plan. "Manley knows that his primary focus is on execution and that, already, he has a strategy into which his team has bought," said George Galliers, an analyst at Evercore ISI. "There is no reason the 2022 plan cannot be executed." Under Manley, the company is expected to sharpen its focus on revamping individual brands, including ailing Fiat in Europe, Chrysler in the United States and Alfa Romeo, which has yet to turn a profit despite multibillion-euro investments.