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Trump is pleased with FCA's investment in Michigan and Ohio, but it wasn't done for him

Fiat Chrysler announced yesterday that it would be spending $1 billion on vehicle production in both Michigan and Ohio. The company estimates that its investment will yield about 2,000 jobs between both states. In addition to attracting our attention, it caught the gaze of President-elect Donald Trump, who tweeted praise to both FCA and the Ford Motor Company. He praised the latter for the company's move to cancel a new factory in Mexico. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Trump's writing also seems to imply he deserves a certain amount of credit for these shifts to American production. However, as Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FCA, explained to the press in a conference today, Trump and his impending administration had nothing to do with the decision. He said the decision to invest in the plants in Michigan and Ohio were in place well before Trump was going to be the President of the United States. In addition, he said that FCA has not been in contact with Trump or any of his colleagues regarding the decision. Marchionne also stated that neither he nor the company was making any preemptive plans for manufacturing locations the light of the upcoming Trump presidency. Rather, he said that the company will change to address regulations that are actually passed, and the only way the company could change plans ahead of new laws or taxes would be with more information and clarity. We assume that a "big border tax" isn't specific enough. Still, the fact that automakers are going out of their way to make and clarify announcements about manufacturing illustrates the massive attention Trump brings with every Tweet. Related Video: Government/Legal Plants/Manufacturing Detroit Auto Show Chrysler Fiat Sergio Marchionne FCA 2017 Detroit Auto Show

Marchionne backs off merger plans, could retire after 2018

FCA boss Sergio Marchionne is stepping back from plans to attempt a major auto industry merger like the oft-speculated deal with General Motors last year. According to Bloomberg, Marchionne now wants to grow his automaker through 2018, and then the 63-year-old could retire around the end of that year. Marchionne claims he received merger proposals last year, but he couldn't find an attractive enough partnership. "We went back to concentrate on the 2018 plan which would boost Fiat Chrysler's value and its position in a deal," he said to Bloomberg. He still believes that a big merger is possible, but "it will be someone else's duty," he said after previously hinting about possibly staying at FCA until 2020. Marchionne was clear that any chance for the GM merger was likely over. "I met Mary Barra less than a month ago in Washington," he told Bloomberg. "I don't think I will have another coffee with her. It won't happen again in the future." Now, the boss intends to spend the rest of his time at FCA building the automaker through its five-year plan, and his goal is to grow global deliveries to seven million units a year by 2018. To make that happen, the automaker will invest around $52 billion over that time to improve its brands' product slate. Marchionne began backtracking from the possible GM merger late in 2015 after it became clear that The General's board wasn't interested. Earlier in the year, he seemed more aggressive about the prospect by suggesting a hostile takeover with a bizarre metaphor about giving the company a hug. Related Video: News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Richard Drew / AP Photo Chrysler Fiat GM Sergio Marchionne FCA fca us

2015 Chrysler 300 looks to recapture its mojo in LA

Chrysler's 300 sedan has never been a shrinking violet, but it arguably lost a bit of swagger when its second-generation model bowed. There was no way that an evolutionary design could ever upend the automotive establishment the way the original 2005 model did, but even so, something was clearly left on the table when the 2011 model bowed.
You don't have take our word for it - Chrysler knows it, too. Reflecting back upon the second-generation model's styling today, Ralph Gilles, Chrysler's senior vice president of design is refreshingly candid, telling Autoblog, "Our previous generation of leaders didn't understand the car very well, and kind of forced this front end on us." For 2015, Gilles and Co. have worked to recapture some of the 2005 design's lightning in a bottle. In Gilles' words, the brief for the refreshed 2015 model was to "give the car the attitude it deserves... up the attitude, up the presence."
Visually, the new 300 initially appears very similar to the current car, but closer inspection and side-by-side comparisons reveal countless changes, the most noticeable being a much larger front grille (by about 30 percent), redone light fixtures and a 'Mobius-strip' lower fascia that picks up where the new 200 left off. The cabin has been upgraded, too, with a standard seven-inch display in the gauge cluster, the latest UConnect infotainment system and improved material choices.