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Fiat Chrysler and PSA boards sign off on merger

MILAN — The boards of French carmaker PSA, the owner of Peugeot, and Fiat Chrysler in separate meetings on Tuesday approved a binding agreement for a $50 billion merger, sources said. The two midsized carmakers announced plans six weeks ago for a tie-up to create the world's No. 4 carmaker and reshape the global industry. A merger is seen helping them deal with big challenges in the industry, including a global downturn in demand and the need to develop costly cleaner cars to meet looming anti-pollution rules. Both companies declined to comment. A source close to FCA had said earlier the two companies could formally announce the agreement early on Wednesday, followed by a conference call to explain further details later in the day. China's Dongfeng Motor Group, which now has a 12.2% equity stake in PSA, will have a reduced stake of around 4.5% in the merged group, two sources said, in a move that could help make regulatory approval easier. According to the deal approved by PSA's board on Tuesday, FCA's robot unit, Comau, will remain within the combined group rather than be spun off as was originally planned in October, the sources said. The new group will evaluate how to extract value from Comau. Ahead of the meetings, entities representing the Peugeot family, Etablissements Peugeot Freres (EPF) and FFP, unanimously approved a proposed memorandum of understanding for the planned merger, a source familiar with the situation said. FCA and PSA are expected to finalise a deal by the end of 2020 to create a group with 8.7 million annual vehicle sales, a source said. That would put it fourth globally behind Volkswagen AG, Toyota and the Renault-Nissan alliance. It was only six months ago that FCA abandoned merger talks with PSA's French rival Renault. FCA would gain access to PSA's more modern vehicle platforms, helping it meet tough new emissions rules, while Europe-focused PSA would benefit from FCA's profitable U.S. business featuring brands such as Ram and Jeep. However, the deal could still face close regulatory scrutiny, while governments in Rome, Paris and unions are all likely to be wary about potential job losses from a combined workforce of around 400,000. PSA's Carlos Tavares will be chief executive and FCA's John Elkann — the scion of Italy's Agnelli family, which controls FCA through their holding company Exor — chairman of the combined company.

Dodge Durango to stay classy with Ron Burgundy as spokesperson [w/video]

The upcoming 2014 Dodge Durango has a lot of things going for it, including its 290-horsepower V6 and 360-hp Hemi V8 engine options, an eight-speed automatic and aggressive looks. And now it will have Ron Burgundy, the fictional television news anchor played by comedian Will Ferrell, as a spokesperson, Adweek reports. He follows in the footsteps of other non-fictional Chrysler brand spokespeople such as Eminem, Clint Eastwood and the late Paul Harvey.
Though the star of 2004's Anchorman and the upcoming Anchorman 2 is wildly popular, we're not sure we see a Dodge spokesperson in Burgundy. (Please, no womanizing or scotchy, scotch, scotch before test test drives). But at this point there's no turning back: Chrysler's chief marketing officer Olivier Francois previewed three ad spots at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Masters of Marketing conference in Phoenix on Friday, and says Chrysler has already filmed 68(!) Durango ads with the fictional newsman.
According to Adweek, one of the ads previewed had Burgundy highlighting the SUV's glovebox size, and in another he compared its horsepower to a white horse standing next to him. Will this help Dodge Durango sales improve? We can only wait and see. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in Comments, and check out the trailer for Anchorman 2 below.

FCA posts $716m profit in 2014, has big plans for 2015

In practically every metric, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced growing worldwide earnings for 2014 in its latest financial release. The automaker sold 4.608 million vehicles globally for the year, a 6-percent jump, and total revenue grew 11 percent to 96.090 billion euros ($109 billion). Profits before taxes also increased by 161 million euros ($182 million) from last year to 1.176 billion euros ($1.3 billion). However, net profits did tumble by 1.319 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to a total of 632 million euros ($716 million). These figures put FCA slightly ahead of what some analysts expected. According to Automotive News, the company's adjusted earnings before taxes and interest of 3.651 billion euros ($4.1 billion) beat a forecast figure of 3.4 billion euros ($3.9 billion). Regionally, Europe is showing signs of a comeback. FCA lost 109 million euros ($123 million) there in 2014, but that was almost a triumph compared to the 506 million euro ($573 million) loss in 2013. According to Automotive News, North America played a major role in the company's success, accounting for 55 percent of its revenue. While these annual figures show growth, FCA is even more optimistic about its prospects in 2015. The company is forecasting shipments of between 4.8 and 5 million vehicles worldwide next year. It also estimates earnings before interest and taxes to reach 4.1 billion and 4.5 billion euros ($4.6 billion – $5.1 billion). You can read FCA's full results in PDF format, here. While this release focuses on worldwide figures, FCA US, previously known as Chrysler Group, announces its US results on February 3. News Source: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Automotive News - sub. req. Earnings/Financials Chrysler Fiat FCA fiat chrysler automobiles