2009 Chrysler Town & Country Pa 6366 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Marchionne's FCA-GM merger might come after Ferrari spinoff

Sergio Marchionne is continuing to rumble about working out a merger with General Motors, but don't expect anything big to happen before at least early next year. That's because Marchionne would likely wait for the Ferrari spin-off to be complete before beginning his next big deal, according to Automotive News. While the Ferrari IPO on the New York Stock Exchange is expected in the coming weeks, that only concerns 10 percent of the shares. The remaining 80 percent of stock is being distributed among shareholders in 2016. Piero Ferrari holds the final 10 percent with no intention to sell. This strategy allows FCA to claim 80 percent of the Prancing Horse's profits in the automaker's 2015 financial results. According to Automotive News, the tactic has other advantages, as well. FCA would be flush with cash by waiting for the spin-off to be complete, and it would keep Ferrari separate if a GM merger actually happens. Marchionne thinks Ferrari could be valued at over $11 billion in the IPO, and it could make FCA $3.3 billion richer when complete. Marchionne believes a combined FCA/GM could sell 17 million vehicles a year globally and rake in $30 billion in earnings. In the CEO's opinion, the two automakers are wasting money by developing components to do the same things on their vehicles. Although, so far the General's top execs are rebuffing all of his advances.

Marchionne uses racial epithet to describe what must power future Alfa Romeo models

Sergio Marchionne and his Fiat empire have a lot riding on the US return of the Alfa Romeo brand. The endeavor has been in progress for what feels like a lifetime - certainly for as long as Fiat has had the Chrysler brand under its Italian wing.
It's not surprising that Fiat CEO Marchionne needs a perfect first Alfa to mark a return to America. And here's where things get dicey. Nobody would argue with Marchionne's insistence that Alfa Romeo's be powered by Italian engines - as Marchionne himself is quoted to have said at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, "There are some things that are well done in Italy."
If not what he said, then, it's how he said it that has eyebrows raised. "I cannot come up with a schlock product, I just won't. I won't put an American engine into that car. With all due respect to my American friends, it needs to be a wop engine." Wait, what's that?

SRT belatedly claims Plymouth Prowler as one of its own

Before Chrysler had Street and Racing Technology, it had Performance Vehicle Operations. What the two entities have in common, before SRT became its own brand, of course, is that each was created to take Chrysler and Dodge (and Plymouth, before it was unceremoniously killed off) vehicles to the next level of style and performance.
We'll leave the question of whether or not the old Plymouth (and later Chrysler) Prowler was ultimately a stylish, performance-oriented car to you, but the boys and girls currently leading the SRT charge at the Pentastar headquarters are keen to accept the retro-rod into the fold.
According to the automaker, all of SRT's current high-performance models owe a debt of gratitude to the old Prowler, due mostly to that car's use of lightweight bits and pieces and innovative construction techniques. If nothing else, the fact that the Prowler's frame is "the largest machined automotive part in history" is pretty cool. Read all the details here.