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Fiat Chrysler pressing on with Magneti Marelli spinoff amid sale rumor

MILAN — Fiat Chrysler (FCA) is pressing ahead with the spinoff of its parts maker Magneti Marelli, a spokesman confirmed in Wednesday after reports investment firm KKR was in talks to acquire the unit. "FCA is pursuing a plan to separate the Magneti Marelli business ... it will evaluate bona fide proposals for alternative transactions that may be in the best interest of the Company," the spokesman said in an emailed statement. The company would not comment on market rumors, the statement added. Earlier on Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that global investment house KKR was in talks to acquire the unit and that a potential sale price could exceed the 3.23 billion euros value at which some analysts valued it. In mid-July, FCA kicked off the process to register the business in the Netherlands and list it on the Milan stock exchange. Reporting by Stefano RebaudoRelated Video: Image Credit: Getty Earnings/Financials Chrysler Fiat Parts and Accessories FCA magneti marelli

Chrysler reveals 6.4-liter 2023 300C: Watch it live

[Update: The 2023 Chrysler 300C has been revealed.] Last week, Chrysler teased a new performance model to be unveiled on the eve of the Detroit Auto Show. The day has arrived, and Chrysler has remained tight-lipped about what exactly it plans to show, but based on the specs in the teaser (and Chrysler's diminutive lineup), we have a pretty good idea what we might see this evening.  Chrysler's teaser included a photo of the wheel from the 300 sedan, which not that long ago was offered in an SRT variant. The big, red Brembo caliper behind the face of this alloy suggests that we could be looking at a revival of the old SRT formula, likely with the combination of the 6.4-liter Hemi V8 and eight-speed automatic transmission — a pairing that was never offered on the old SRT model.  While this certainly isn't definitive, Chrysler said the new variant will be "one of the most powerful and luxurious special edition vehicles" in its brand history. The SRT model based on this generation of the 300 left the market in 2015 with 470 horsepower. Other models with the 6.4-liter offer as much as 485, so there's headroom here for a new model if Stellantis is so inclined. There's also the possibility that a supercharged Hemi could be introduced, or that AWD could enter the mix, but given the sunset status of Chrysler's current internal-combustion powertrains, it's unlikely that such a level of development money would have been thrown at a soon-to-be-discontinued model. But hey, Stellantis, we'd still love to see the Challenger SRT-10. Just saying.  Join us tonight at 6 p.m. EDT to find out exactly what Chrysler has in store. 

Stellantis aims to eliminate separate inverter, charger to improve EV efficiency

Stellantis has announced that, in collaboration with French battery company Saft and French National Center for Scientific Research, has made significant progress in eliminating two major components of an electric vehicle powertrain: the on-board charger and the power inverter for the motor. The company claims that doing this will allow for better space use in vehicles, as well as improvements in efficiency, cost and reliability of components. As a quick primer, also explained in the below video, the on-board charger and power inverter are sort of translators to get the right current to different parts of the electric powertrain. The on-board charger takes AC power from the grid and converts it to DC to charge the batteries. Then when power goes from the batteries to the electric motor, the power inverter converts that DC power back to AC. These components aren't exactly small. Frequently you'll find them packaged somewhere under the hood. What Stellantis and its cohorts have developed, and have been using on a test vehicle since last summer, are small power inverter boards that can be mounted very closely to the battery packs. They can handle both conversion needs, for charging and discharging, instead of needing two separate devices. The most obvious perk to this is that you can do away with those traditional components and free up more space, either for making smaller vehicles without losing interior volume, or adding space to a vehicle that wouldn't have had it otherwise. There's the additional benefit of reduced weight, something that EVs struggle with. Stellantis also claims improvements in efficiency, reliability, and cost, however, it didn't go into detail as to how this setup would do that exactly. We'll try to get in touch with representatives from Stellantis in order to get more information. We're still a ways out from seeing this technology in production Stellantis vehicles. The company said it aims to apply it to vehicles by the end of the decade. Saft is also looking at using it on stationary battery systems as well. So maybe we'll see it on a 2029 Ram 1500 REV, but for now, we'll be living with traditional chargers and inverters. Related Video: Green Alfa Romeo Chrysler Dodge Fiat RAM Technology Electric