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Fiat Chrysler’s Sergio Marchionne throws more cold water on Tesla, EVs

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has once again sounded off on industry upstart Tesla and its wunderkind boss, Elon Musk. In the process, he doubled down on FCA's reluctance to follow its competitors headlong into electrifying its vehicle fleet, saying "we're not betting the bank on going fully electric in the next decade. It won't happen." Marchionne made his comments on Monday during remarks at the New York Stock Exchange, where he was marking the 70th anniversary of Ferrari. They come as Tesla struggles to ramp up production of its Model 3 sedan, its first mass-market offering, and the company continues to hemorrhage money. Here's what he said: "We still don't have a viable model for delivering an electric car. As much as I like Elon Musk, and he's a good friend, and actually he's done a phenomenal job of marketing Telsa, I remain unconvinced of a new economic viability of the model that he's pitching. So I think we need to be careful, because when we embrace electrification, and I made comments on the fact that we lose money on every Fiat 500, the electric that we sell in the U.S. Now that's reflective of the 2011-2010 costs in terms of components. Those costs have come down. If I were to do it again, I would certainly reduce the amount of the loss, but I would not make any money. And you can't run economic entities on losses. It doesn't happen. "So how do we find a convergence of technology bringing prices of components down and allows us to price accordingly — or we need to navigate through this process in a combined way between combustion and electrification to yield at least a minimum of economic returns that allows for our continuity? The last thing you want is me to be successful selling cars for 24 months and then go bust. That's not a good story. Especially in a place like this which rewards economic success. Let's not sit here and design our own future in the tank. Let's try and do it properly. We will do all the right things. We are investing without making a lot of noise on electrification. We will combine it with combustion to yield the right level of CO2. But we're not betting the bank on going fully electric in the next decade. It won't happen." It's not the first time Marchionne has publicly expressed doubts about Tesla's business plan.

Chrysler Uconnect gets dealer-activated navigation, new infotainment features

Get in just about any mid-level Chrysler product these days, and you'll see a touchscreen head unit that would be perfect for a navigation system. The only thing is that some of these cars equipped with the head unit for Chrysler's Uconnect infotainment system were not optioned up with navigation at the time of purchase, leaving drivers looking for turn-by-turn directions relying on either an aftermarket nav system or a smartphone. Starting on select new Chrysler products, however, customers with Uconnect will now be able to upgrade to navigation as a dealer-activated option.
Announced at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, this new element of Uconnect will allow owners to have an in-dash navigation system installed quickly and easily; Chrysler said that this will be a major benefit for used-car buyers. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like this system will be retroactive on previous Uconnect head units, but it will launch this year on the 2013 Ram 1500, 2013 SRT Viper and the 2014 Fiat 500L. Chrysler did not announce the expected MSRP to have dealers activate the navigation capabilities.
Another infotainment option for Chrysler buyers is the Uconnect Access system that can allow WiFi, voice text messaging, emergency assistance, remote vehicle operation (such as starting the engine or locking/unlocking the doors) and limited POI searches using Bing. Also introduced at CES, the new Uconnect Access via Mobile system builds on this by allowing users to add in-car apps such as iHeart Radio, Pandora and Slacker by connecting to the system via a smartphone. This system will first be offered on the 2013 Ram and Viper.

Chrysler reports $166M net income for Q1, down $307M vs. 2012

Preliminary first-quarter results from 2013 have been announced by Chrysler, and the company is reporting a net income of $166 million on revenue of $15.4 billion. Compared to this period last year, net income is down $307 million and revenue has dropped $1 billion.
Chrysler says that its quarter was negatively affected by the costs associated with launching its 2013 Ram Heavy Duty, 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and preparation for the return of the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee pictured above. The launches should provide a strong second half of 2013, says the automaker. "We remain on track to achieve our business targets, even as the first-quarter results were affected by an aggressive product launch schedule," said Chrysler Group LLC Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne.
On a positive note, the automaker says worldwide vehicle sales are up 8 percent from one year ago, a number pushed by a 12 percent bump in U.S. retail sales. In addition, domestic market share has risen slightly, up to 11.4 percent from 11.2 percent last year. Read more in the official statement below.