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Long winter means most automakers won't curb summer shutdown

A lot more happened during this latest brutal winter than days of snow and Netflix binges. Automotive sales took a battering. After all, going out car shopping when it's eleventy-billion degrees below zero isn't a good time.
Because of this Old Man Winter-induced sales slump, inventories are abnormally high as we head into the summer car buying season. That's led some analysts to predict that automakers will be more inclined to idle factories this summer, in a bid to trim some of the built-up inventory. Traditionally, American manufacturers offer up a two-week break in the middle of summer, although the burgeoning sales of the past few years have seen this practice become less popular.
"We're likely not going to see an acceleration this year," Jeff Schuster, a senior vice president at LMC Automotive, told The Detroit News. "We'll see production increases in 'pockets' but I don't know if it will be as widespread as in recent years."

FCA updates 700k-vehicle recall to replace ignition switches

FCA US is revising a previously announced recall of 702,578 minivans and SUVs; now specifying that owners replace their ignition switches, rather than just a component. The campaign affects the 2008-2010 Chrysler Town & Country, 2008-2010 Dodge Grand Caravan and 2009-2010 Dodge Journey. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initially opened an investigation last summer following complaints about the ignition switches in these models. FCA US (then Chrysler Group) responded with a recall of 695,957 examples of these vehicles because the key could appear to be in the "Run" position but not be fully engaged. If it slipped out, and there was an accident, then the airbags might not deploy. The company had initially planned to install a new detent ring to fix the problem. According to the timeline in a NHTSA document (available here as a PDF), the government agency and FCA US continued their research into the problem. The automaker found that the time needed to create a new ring design and updated software would be longer than replacing the whole ignition switch. The company worked with the supplier Marquardt to negotiate an accelerated schedule to manufacture the extra replacement parts. According to NHTSA, the investigation has now been closed because of FCA's recall. Company spokesperson Eric Mayne confirms to Autoblog via email, "No additional vehicles are affected and all affected customers have already been made aware their vehicles are subject to recall." FCA US sent out an initial notification advising owners of the problem in September 2014. The company will now send out a second letter in April and will replace the parts in two phases. Repairs for affected models from the 2008 and 2009 model years will begin in April, and 2010 examples will start being fixed in August. RECALL Subject : Ignition Switch may Turn Off , 1 INVESTIGATION(S) Report Receipt Date: JUN 26, 2014 NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V373000 Component(s): AIR BAGS , ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Potential Number of Units Affected: 702,578 All Products Associated with this Recall Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY 2008-2010 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN 2008-2010 DODGE JOURNEY 2009-2010 Details Manufacturer: Chrysler Group LLC SUMMARY: This defect can affect the safe operation of the airbag system. Until this recall is performed, customers should remove all items from their key rings, leaving only the ignition key.

Why FCA-PSA merger is no quick fix for their China problem

BEIJING — Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner PSA's merger is unlikely to provide a quick fix to their problems in China, as both companies have long struggled to find the right products at the right price for the world's top car market, analysts say. The companies said on Thursday they aimed to reach a binding deal in the coming weeks to create the world's fourth-biggest automaker by production volume. But scale alone will not make Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and France's PSA Group more competitive in a market where they have been slow to adapt to trends and win over consumers, leading their sales to lag far behind foreign rivals such as Volkswagen and General Motors. PSA does not have enough competitive SUV models, and neither company has enough electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, or enough cars packed with hi-tech features for Chinese tastes, analysts say. In a market where 28 million cars were bought in 2018, FCA sold just 155,215, while PSA sold 257,723, according to consultancy LMC Automotive. At the end of September, FCA had a market share of 0.5% in China's passenger car market, while PSA's was 0.6%. Analysts say they have been squeezed by Japanese and local brands, which have product line-ups better suited to Chinese tastes at cheaper prices. "Both companies are very home-market centred and have failed to adapt to shifts in Chinese market preferences," said Bill Russo, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Automobility Ltd and a former senior Asia-based Chrysler executive. "Neither company has recognized and delivered on the trends of shared, connected and electric vehicles,” Russo said. That makes them ill-prepared to deal with further shifts in the Chinese market, which saw annual sales contract for the first time since the 1990s last year and is expected to see another drop this year. "China's overall market is experiencing a transmission and adjustment period," said Alan Kang, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at LMC Automotive. "It is very hard for these two companies, which do not have enough competitive up-to-date products, to quickly recover with the merger." FCA has a partnership in China with Guangzhou Automobile Group, which said on Thursday it backed the merger. PSA has been trying to reboot its operations in China.