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Maserati's new North American CEO is Chrysler's dealer guru

There's been a bit of a shakeup among the executive ranks at Chrysler and Maserati, as the Italian sports car manufacturer has appointed Peter Grady as its new North American CEO. Grady, who we imagine is about to get a very nice upgrade to his company car, will retain his role as vice president of dealer network development for Chrysler and Chrysler Capital, and is replacing Bob Graczyk at Maserati.
"It is with pleasure and anticipation that I welcome Peter to Maserati. He brings to our company nearly 30 years of leadership and experience. His background and industry expertise will be a great basis for the continued expansion of Maserati in North America," said Maserati CEO Harald Wester in a statement.
Also joining the team at Maserati is Saad Chehab, who previously worked for the Chrysler and Lancia brands and will be the new head of marketing for the Italian brand. He'll be replaced by Al Gardner, the former boss of Chrysler's southeast business center, as the head of Chrysler brand, according to Automotive News.

Stellantis ready to kill brands and fix U.S. problems, CEO Tavares says

  MILAN — Stellantis is taking steps to fix weak margins and high inventory at its U.S. operations and will not hesitate to axe underperforming brands in its sprawling portfolio, its chief executive Carlos Tavares said on Thursday. The warning for lossmaking brands is a turnaround for Tavares, who has maintained since Stellantis was created in 2021 from the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA that all of its 14 brands including Maserati, Fiat, Peugeot and Jeep have a future. "If they don't make money, we'll shut them down," Carlos Tavares told reporters after the world's No. 4 automaker delivered worse-than-expected first-half results, sending its shares down as much as 10%. "We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money." The automaker now also considers China's Leapmotor as its 15th brand, after it agreed to a broad cooperation with the group. Stellantis does not release figures for individual brands, except for Maserati which reported an 82 million euro adjusted operating loss in the first half. Some analysts say Maserati could possibly be a target for a sale by Stellantis, while other brands such as Lancia or DS might be at risk of being scrapped given their marginal contribution to the group's overall sales. Stellantis' Milan-listed shares were down as much as 12.5% on Thursday, hitting their lowest since August 2023. That brings the loss for the year so far to 22%, making them the worst performer among the major European automakers. Few automotive brands have been killed off since General Motors ditched the unprofitable Saturn and Pontiac during a U.S. government-led bankruptcy in the global financial crisis in 2008. Tavares is under pressure to revive flagging margins and sales and cut inventory in the United States as Stellantis bets on the launch of 20 new models this year which it hopes will boost profitability. Recent poor results from global carmakers have heightened worries about a weakening outlook for sales across major markets such as the U.S., whilst they also juggle an expensive transition to electric vehicles and growing competition from cheaper Chinese rivals. Japan's Nissan Motor saw first-quarter profit almost completely wiped out on Thursday and slashed its annual outlook, as deep discounting in the United States shredded its margins. Tavares said he would be working through the summer with his U.S. team on how to improve performance and cut inventory.

Trump Administration will look 'very carefully' at FCA/Peugeot deal

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will look very closely at the planned merger between Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner PSA, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday. The deal, announced on Thursday, would create the world's fourth-largest automaker. "We will obviously look at it very, very carefully," Kudlow said on Bloomberg. "The president has not commented on the deal ... We're not afraid of doing business with international companies, Lord knows." When asked about the 12.2% equity stake and 19.5% voting stake China's Dongfeng Motors holds in PSA, Kudlow said: "With respect to the Chinese story, we obviously are alert and on guard." The deal, which would be structured as a 50-50 merger, would create the fourth-largest global automaker with annual sales of nearly 9 million vehicles. Fiat Chrysler told employees the deal could generate synergies of 3.7 billion euros but added "these synergies are NOT based on closing plants." Fiat Chrysler declined to comment. There has been speculation Dongfeng might sell its holdings, which could help ease the deal's passage through U.S. regulators, given U.S.-Chinese trade tensions. "We will welcome a good deal. We hope it will get more production in the United States, more factories and workers and employment in the U.S. And with respect to the Chinese angle, we will take a careful look at it," Kudlow said. Fiat Chrysler said on Thursday that "teams at both companies are working to finalize discussions and reach a Memorandum of Understanding in the coming weeks."