2010 Chrysler Sebring Touring Sedan 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Stellantis not looking for further mergers, including with Renault

MILAN — Stellantis Chairman John Elkann on Monday denied the carmaker was hatching merger plans, responding to press speculation about a possible French-led tie-up with rival Renault. Elkann said that the Peugeot owner, the world's third largest carmaker by sales, was focused on the execution of its long-term business plan. "There is no plan under consideration regarding merger operations with other manufacturers," said Elkann, who also heads Exor, the Agnelli family holding company that is the largest single shareholder in Stellantis. After abandoning the Russian market, at the time its second largest after France, and reducing the scope of its global cooperation with Nissan, Renault has been seen as a potential M&A target. Speculation intensified after an electric vehicle market slowdown forced it last week to cancel IPO plans for its EV and software unit Ampere. Its market cap remains stubbornly low at little over 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) despite a financial recovery over the past few years. Stellantis, the product of a 2021 merger between France's PSA and Fiat Chrysler and one of the most profitable groups in the industry, has a market cap of more than 85 billion euros when unlisted shares are factored in. It has a 14 brand portfolio also including Citroen, Jeep, Opel and Alfa Romeo. NEWSPAPER REPORT Italian daily Il Messaggero had said on Sunday that the French government, which is Renault's largest shareholder and also has a stake in Stellantis, was studying plans for a merger between the two groups. A spokeswoman for Renault said on Monday the group did not comment on rumors. France's Finance Ministry had declined to comment on Sunday. Stellantis has crossed swords with the Italian government, which has accused it of acting against the national interest on occasions. Industry Minister Adolfo Urso last week raised the prospect of the Italian government taking a stake in Stellantis to help to balance the French influence. Renault shares pared gains after Elkann's comments to stand 1.2% higher by 1220 GMT, having initially risen more than 4%. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, a Portuguese-national, last week said in an interview with Bloomberg that the group was "ready for any kind of consolidation" and that its job was to make sure that it would be "one of the winners". Analysts, however, question the rationale of a Stellantis-Renault merger, which would also expand the group's excess capacity in Europe.

Small number of 2013 Chrysler 200 and Dodge Avenger models recalled

A small number of units of the 2013 Chrysler 200 (inset) and 2013 Dodge Avenger are being recalled over a broken control valve in the fuel tank assembly. The potential 1,785 sedans were manufactured late last year, and if affected with a broken control valve could suffer from stalling or fuel leakage.
A bulletin from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes that the recall should begin next month, at which time owners can take their cars to dealers for repair free of charge. The full release with more information is just below.

This forgotten Chrysler was its bid for Humvee contract

Today, the Humvee might be as associated with the dead automotive brand from General Motors as it is with the hard-working truck that has long served as one of the backbone vehicles of America's military. But Autoline host John McElroy is showing off a practically unknown part of the model's story by digging out some old photos from his personal archive.
The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle project, better known today as the Humvee, can be traced back to a US Department of Defense request for bids to build a new military truck. According to McElroy, he was invited to the Chrysler proving grounds in 1981 to check out the bid from the brand's defense division. The company's concept was that it might be able to build an inexpensive, capable vehicle by using off-the-shelf parts.
The angular body panels gave the truck a look almost like a modern, stealth vehicle. However, the flat look was actually just to make the tooling as cheap as possible to produce. Still, this Chrysler looked surprisingly futuristic for the early '80s. It's actually not too far away from the famous Lamborghini LM002, itself intended as a possible military-spec machine.