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Stellantis, GM pay $363 million in U.S. fuel economy penalties

WASHINGTON — Stellantis and General Motors paid a total of $363 million in civil penalties for failing to meet U.S. fuel economy requirements for prior model years, documents seen on Friday by Reuters show. The record-setting penalties include $235.5 million for Stellantis for the 2018 and 2019 model years and $128.2 million for GM covering 2016 and 2017, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which administers the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program. Stellantis — which also owns Fiat, Peugeot and other marques — said the penalty "reflects past performance recorded before the formation of Stellantis, and is not indicative of the companyÂ’s direction." Stellantis previously paid a total of $156.6 million in penalties for the 2016 and 2017 model years. GM said Friday as "we work towards the goal of a zero-emissions future, we may use a combination of credits from prior model years, expected credits from future model years, credits obtained from other manufacturers, and payment of civil penalties to comply with increasingly stringent CAFE regulations." GM, which sells Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles in the U.S., had not previously paid a fine in the 40-year history of the CAFE program. It had initially planned to use credits to meet its compliance shortfall but opted to pay penalties, NHTSA said. The GM and Stellantis penalties were paid between December and May, according to the records. This is the first time in three years the agency has collected fuel economy penalties. NHTSA in April 2022 said it calculated there would be 11 instances between 2018 and 2021 "where substantial civil penalty payments will have to be made," but did not disclose the automakers involved. The disclosure comes ahead of NHTSA's plan to soon propose more stringent fuel economy standards for 2027 and beyond, after the Environmental Protection Agency in April proposed a 56% reduction in projected fleet average emissions over 2026 requirements by 2032. Sharp increase The EPA said in December Stellantis had the lowest real-world fuel economy among all major automakers, at 21.3 miles per gallon on average in 2021, while GM was second-lowest at 21.6 mpg. In March 2022, NHTSA reinstated a sharp increase in penalties for automakers whose vehicles do not meet fuel efficiency requirements for 2019 and beyond.

Minivans could be key to Google-FCA self-driving partnership

Executives from Google and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have held discussions about creating a technical partnership, the purpose of which would be to further development of self-driving vehicles, according to multiple reports. The two companies might make ideal partners. Google has been at the forefront of developing autonomous technology, and has publicly stated it'd seek partners to build vehicles. FCA, meanwhile, has not invested in self-driving research, and its CEO has been publicly offering the company up for acquisition for the last several years. Combined, they could make both the brains and the bodies of self-driving cars. "Public transit executives could be buying autonomous minivans rather than expensive buses." – Chris Urmson "A Google-FCA tie-up could simultaneously put both companies in the lead in this critical race," said Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer. "... FCA's efforts to merge with another automaker have failed, but if the automaker can join forces with Google, it could immediately change the dynamic. Every car company is trying to get into the tech space right now, because they all know their future depends on it." A Google spokesperson declined comment on the reports Thursday, and FCA did not return a request for comment. But Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car project, may have inadvertently hinted at the partnership Wednesday when he detailed an interest in building autonomous minivans for public-transportation use. "Public transit executives could be buying autonomous minivans rather than expensive buses," Urmson said during a public meeting on autonomous regulations held by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Palo Alto, California. "Federal standards determine what kinds of vehicles cities can use for transit. This needs attention." Minivans are different than the Lexus 450h and pod-like prototypes Google has used for autonomous testing so far. If Urmson is indeed interested in self-driving minivans that provide on-demand services for public transportation users, as he elaborated upon, there may be no more perfect partner than Chrysler, which pioneered the minivan segment three decades ago and recently reasserted its presence the minivan market with the new Pacifica, a completely redesigned vehicle. Ridding the urban environment of traffic-clogging buses might be one small slice of Google's broader plan for transforming cities and the imprint cars make upon them.

Fiat brand chief reassigned then resigns amid flagging sales

Jason Stoicevich was replaced as head of the Fiat brand in North America just the other day. He was immediately reassigned to another job within Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. But according to Automotive News, Stoicevich quit the new job – and the company altogether – the very next day. The development comes amidst flagging sales for the Fiat brand in America. The introduction of the awkward-looking 500L multi-purpose vehicle has been largely regarded as a sales disaster in the US. Despite having just introduced the new 500X into the growing crossover market, and an overall upward trend across FCA group sales, the Fiat brand's figures have been dropping all year. While the Italian brand's volume has fluctuated from month to month compared to last year's sales, the number of cars its dealers sells on an average day has been firmly in decline. Fiat's downward trend reflects a general tendency in the market towards larger vehicles at the expense of smaller ones. However, the powers that be in Auburn Hills evidently felt that a change of leadership was in order, so it placed Dodge chief Tim Kuniskis in charge of all the company's mass-market passenger-car brands – namely Dodge, Chrysler, and Fiat – and moved Stoicevich to running the group's fleet and small-business operations. Stoicevich remained in charge of the company's California Business Center, but it seems as though he was as dissatisfied with the switch as his superiors were with the performance of the brand over which he presided, and so he apparently elected to step down and leave the company.