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Fiat Chrysler to open $30M autonomous driving test facility in Michigan

Fiat Chrysler said Wednesday it's invested more than $30 million in a new facility to develop and test autonomous vehicle and advanced safety technologies at its Chelsea Proving Grounds in southeast Michigan. The facility is the first of its kind for the automaker, which has mostly relied on partnerships with the likes of Uber and Google subsidiary Waymo to develop the hardware and software used in self-driving vehicles and avoided making large investments itself under former CEO Sergio Marchionne. The company this spring announced plans to deliver as many as 62,000 additional Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans to Waymo and make Waymo's tech available in customer vehicles via a licensing deal. The new facility features a dedicated highway-speed track for testing self-driving cars with obstacles, tunnels and other features, a 35-acre safety feature testing area and a high-tech, 6,500-square-foot command center equipped with computers that can track GPS coordinates and test vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. It will allow FCA to test for different levels of automated driving, automatic electronic braking and automated parking simulations, and test protocols from third parties such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, U.S. New Car Assessment Program and European New Car Assessment Program. Testing starts later this month. "The all-new facility at Chelsea Proving Grounds will help support and enable the successful rollout of the company's five-year plan laid out earlier this year," Mike Manley, FCA's new CEO and chief operating officer for the NAFTA region, said in a statement. "Our ability to test for autonomous and advanced safety technologies enables FCA to offer our customers the features they want across our brand portfolio." The Chelsea Proving Grounds, near Ann Arbor, opened in 1954 and now cover about 4,000 acres. About 900 people work there, the company says. Related Video: Image Credit: Getty Chrysler Fiat Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles Uber Waymo testing

The Plymouth Prowler was so cool you could get a Prowler-shaped trailer for it

Like many car enthusiasts, we at Autoblog have a tendency to spend our free time browsing online car listings for unusual vehicles. One of our editors' latest finds is this 1997 Plymouth Prowler with less than 300 miles on the clock. And as we looked at it and discussed it in our work chat room, we were reminded just how cool the Prowler was. It was one of the rare automobiles to go from concept to reality almost unchanged. It was even more remarkable Chrysler pulled it off considering its open wheels, aluminum chassis and dramatic body work. The 1997 model year was the very first for the Prowler, and it was only offered in the metallic purple that the show car wore. That show car made its debut in Detroit in 1993. You can see it in the photo above. Besides some tweaked bumpers and reworked headlights, they're hard to tell apart. The Prowler, inspired by hot rods like custom 1932 Fords, helped kick off the retro craze of the late 1990s and early 2000s, leading to Chrysler's own PT Cruiser and other vehicles such as the VW New Beetle, BMW-built Mini Cooper and Ford Thunderbird. The production car boasted some impressive technology, but it also had a number of drawbacks. It featured an aluminum chassis, and it had a rear-mounted transmission connected to the engine via a torque tube similar to the contemporary C5 Corvette. On the flip side, this hot rod-inspired roadster ended up with a 3.5-liter V6 making 214 horsepower, rather than a rumbly V8. This was because there wasn't room in the narrow nose for a V8. It was also saddled with a four-speed automatic, the only available transmission. The interior, while having cool hot rod touches like the body-color instrument panel, AutoMeter tachometer on the steering column and stylish hoops on the seats, was plasticky and sourced heavily from the Chrysler parts bin. These were issues on a car that cost the equivalent of nearly $60,000 in today's money. Chrysler did make efforts to improve the Prowler over time. The most significant improvement was the introduction of a high-output V6 for 1999 making 253 horsepower, which actually resulted in acceleration appropriate for a performance car at the time. Then again, it still had that four-speed automatic. Plymouth also offered the car in a variety of colors and some special editions with two-tone paint. The one sad thing about the Prowler is that Chrysler recognized some of the shortcomings of the car, and it even built a show car that fixed the issues.

Stellantis mega-merger gets approval from FCA, PSA shareholders

MILAN — Shareholders of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot decisively voted Monday to merge the U.S.-Italian and French carmakers to create worldÂ’s 4th-largest auto company. Addressing separate meetings, both PSA Peugeot CEO Carlos Tavares and Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann spoke of the “historic” importance of the vote, which combines legacy car companies that helped write the industrial histories of the United States, France and Italy. Before the merger is finalized, shares in the new company, to be called Stellantis, must the launched. It will be traded in Milan, New York and Paris. The marriage of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is built on the promise of cost-savings in the capital-hungry industry, but what remains to be seen is if it will be able to preserve jobs and heritage brands in a global market still suffering from the pandemic. The deal will create the worldÂ’s fourth-largest carmaker, with the capacity to produce 8.7 million cars a year, behind Volkswagen, Toyota and Renault-Nissan, and create 5 billion euros in annual synergies.  “We are fully aware of the fact that together we will be stronger than individually,'' PSA CEO Carlos Tavares told a virtual gathering of eligible shareholders. “The two companies are in good health. These two companies have strong positions in their markets.” The new company will put together under one roof French mass-market carmakers Peugeot and Citroen, top-selling Jeep and Italian luxury and sports brands Maserati and Alfa Romeo - pooling companies that have helped define the industry in the United States, France and Italy. While the tie-up is billed as a merger of equals, the power advantage goes to PSA, with Tavares running Stellantis and holding the tie-breaking vote on the 11-seat board. Tavares is set to take full control of the company early this year, possibly by the end of January. Fiat Chrysler chairman John Elkann, heir to the Fiat-founding Agnelli family and Fiat ChryslerÂ’s biggest shareholder, will be the Stellantis chairman. Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley will head North American operations, which is key to Tavares' long-time goal of getting a U.S. foothold for the French carmaker he has run since 2014, and the clear money-maker for Fiat Chrysler. Such a deal was long wanted by Fiat ChryslerÂ’s long-time CEO Sergio Marchionne, who had predicted the necessity of consolidation in the industry. He was unable to find a deal before his sudden death in July 2018.