2014 Fiat 500l Trekking on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Audi gets Q2 and Q4 badges in trademark swap with FCA

Audi has swapped trademarks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to snare the rights to the Q2 and Q4 badges for upcoming crossover SUVs. Audi CEO Rupert Stadler confirmed at the Detroit Motor Show that the automaker had finally persuaded FCA to release the two names that would let Audi lock up the Q1 to Q9 badges for its growing SUV family. Audi already plans to drop the Q2 name onto its MQB-based city crossover five-door this year, while the Q4 badge will slot onto the rump of a coupe-like version of the next Q3. It will also reserve the Q1 badge for a 2018 baby crossover, based around the architecture of the next A1 hatch. The A1 will share a lot of its engineering with Volkswagen's Polo-based soft-roader, dubbed T-Cross in concept form. The German company has also pounced on the naming rights for SQ versions of all of its Q-cars, along with F-Tron to cover the day when it pushes hydrogen fuel cell cars into production. Stadler insisted that no money had changed hands in order to pry the two badges off FCA, admitting that they had "each found something we needed." "We promised each other we wouldn't disclose what it cost, but it was not something they were willing to sell," Stadler said. "We tried to get it years ago and they said 'No, never,' but there is never 'never' in business. ... This year I went back to them with a proposal and we talked and there were some negotiations and then we agreed to it." Those negotiations are believed to have centered on a trademark swap with a Volkswagen Group name that FCA desperately (evidently) wants to use on a Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge or Maserati. Asked if Audi had given FCA a trademark in return for Q2 and Q4, Stadler replied, "Something very much like that, yes." Audi has used Italian names on past concept cars that FCA could be interested in, such as the 2001 Avantissimo concept and the 2003 Nuvolari coupe. The latter was named after legendary pre-war racer Tazio, who won grands prix for both Alfa Romeo and Audi's forerunner, Auto Union. Both are unlikely trade chips, with laws in Europe preventing the trademarking of the names of actual people. There is always "quattro" (Italian for "four"), but after investing nearly four decades locking it in as an Audi all-wheel-drive name, it's just not anything like trade bait.

Fiat Chrysler CEO says final merger talks with Peugeot going well

BRUSSELS — Fiat Chrysler's chief executive Michael Manley said on Wednesday that merger talks with Peugeot owner PSA  to create the world's No. 4 carmaker are progressing well and he hopes to have a deal within 12-14 months. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of an industry meeting, he said he doesn't expect any major obstacles that could delay a final agreement. "Talks are progressing really well," Manley said about negotiations with the French carmaker ahead of a briefing by the European automotive association (ACEA), of which he is president. His comments come a month after the two carmakers agreed to a binding deal worth about $50 billion to combine forces in response to a slowdown in global demand and mounting costs of making cleaner vehicles amid tighter emissions regulations. Manley's timeline for completing the deal by early 2021 is in line with a forecast made by the companies in December. Fiat and Peugeot are now getting into the details of how the merger will work, including choosing which vehicle platforms — the technological underpinnings of a vehicle — will fit which products in a combined company. Because customers in different locations still prefer vastly different cars, there is room for multiple platforms in a combined group, Manley said. "That global platform is an elusive beast," he added. "This concept of a massive global platform in my mind is almost a myth, but that doesnÂ’t mean to say weÂ’re not going to recruit significant volume." Related Video:    

Auto Mergers and Acquisitions: Suicide or salvation?

We love the Moses figure. A savior riding in from stage right with the ideas, the smarts, and the scrappiness to put things right. Alan Mullaly. Carroll Shelby. Lee Iacocca. Andrew Carnegie. Steve Jobs. Elon Musk. Bart Simpson. Sergio Marchionne does not likely view himself with Moses-like optics, but the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recently gave a remarkable, perhaps prophetic interview with Automotive News about his interest and the inevitability of merging with a potential automotive partner like General Motors. Marchionne has been overtly public about his notion that GM must merge with FCA. For a bit of context, GM sold 9.9 million vehicles in 2014, posting $2.8 billion in net income, while FCA sold 4.75 million units and earned $2.4 billion in net income, painting a very rosy FCA earnings-to-sales picture. But that's not the entire picture. Most people in the auto industry still remember the trainwreck that was the DaimlerChrysler "merger" written in what turned out to be sand in 1998. It proved to be a master class in how not to fuse two companies, two cultures, two continents, and two management teams. Oh, it worked for the two individuals at both helms pre-merger. They got silly rich. And the industry itself was in a misty romance at the time with mergers and acquisitions. BMW bought Rolls-Royce. Volkswagen Group bought Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini, putting all three brands into their rightful place in both products and positioning. No marriages there, so no false pretense. Finally, Nissan and Renault got married in 1999. A successful marriage requires several rare elements in this atmosphere of gas fumes and power lust. But a successful marriage requires several rare elements in this atmosphere of gas fumes and power lust, the principle part being honesty. Daimler and Chrysler lied to each other. The heads of each unit, the product planners, and finance all presented their then-current and long-range forecasts to each other with less-than-forthright accuracy. Daimler was the far greater equal and no one from the Chrysler side enjoyed that. The cultures were entirely different, too, and little was done to bridge that gap. Which brings me back to the present overtures by Marchionne to GM. "There are varying degrees of hugs," Marchionne stated in the Automotive News piece. "I can hug you nicely, I can hug you tightly, I can hug you like a bear, I can really hug you." Seriously?