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Stellantis is official: FCA and PSA merger finally sealed

MILAN — Fiat Chrysler and PSA sealed their long-awaited merger on Saturday to create Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest auto group with deep enough pockets to fund the shift to electric driving and take on bigger rivals Toyota and Volkswagen. It took over a year for the Italian-American and French automakers to finalize the $52 billion deal, during which the global economy was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. They first announced plans to merge in October 2019, to create a group with annual sales of around 8.1 million vehicles. "The merger between Peugeot S.A. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. that will lead the path to the creation of Stellantis N.V. became effective today," the two automakers said in a statement. Shares in Stellantis, which will be headed by current PSA Chief Executive Carlos Tavares, will start trading in Milan and Paris on Monday, and in New York on Tuesday. Now analysts and investors are turning their focus to how Tavares plans to address the huge challenges facing the group – from excess production capacity to a woeful performance in China. Tavares will hold his first press conference as Stellantis CEO on Tuesday, after ringing NYSE's bell with Chairman John Elkann. FCA and PSA have said Stellantis can cut annual costs by over 5 billion euros ($6.1 billion) without plant closures, and investors will be keen for more details on how it will do this. Marco Santino, a partner at consultants Oliver Wyman, said he expected Tavares to disclose the outlines of his action plan soon, but without divulging too many details at first. "He has proven to be the kind of person who prefers action to words, so I don't think he will make loud statements or try to over-sell targets," he said. Like all global automakers, Stellantis needs to invest billions in the years ahead to transform its vehicle range for the electric era. But other pressing tasks loom, including reviving the group's lagging fortunes in China, rationalizing its huge global empire and addressing massive overcapacity. "It will be a step by step process, also to allow the market to better appreciate every single move. I don't think we will have all the details before one year," Santino said.

Dukes of Hazzard reruns dropped amid Confederate flag controversy

Those Duke boys are in a mess of trouble again, as TV Land announced Wednesday that it will be dropping the classic 1980s action-comedy the Dukes of Hazzard from its roster. But it may not be Bo and Luke's fault this time. Rather, it appears to be the changing political landscape. Entertainment Weekly reached out to TV Land, which is devoted to airing episodes of classic TV series, but it had no further comment. While the network didn't say why the episodes were removed, EW speculates that the cancellation is part of the reaction to the racially motivated murder of nine people in a historic black church in Charleston, SC, last month. The shooter was often photographed carrying a Confederate flag and other trappings of white supremacy. Since the tragedy, Confederate flags are being dropped from state houses, license plates, and toys. Last month, Warner Bros. said it would stop producing toys featuring the rebel flag, including a die cast miniature version of the Dukes of Hazzard's trademark ride, The General Lee, which was a bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger with a Confederate flag plastered to the roof. The same week as the shooting, the Supreme Court decided that states can reject license plates featuring the stars and bars as part of the states' right to free speech. Nine states currently use the flag in license plates, and the ruling will allow Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee to remove the motif from their state's plates. Georgia is also considering redesigning its plates in the wake of the shooting. For our younger readers, the Dukes Of Hazzard was a television show that aired from 1979 to 1985 on CBS. It feature the antics of the Duke boys in a fictional place called Hazzard County, GA. Related Video:

Ram exec: first 30-mpg pickup truck will 'win'

It is totally possible, today, to take the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel pickup truck, load it up with gear and people, and drive it from Texas to Michigan while getting 38 miles per gallon. We know because we did it. Officially, though, the 1500 gets just 20 mpg combined. A more impressive number is the 28 mpg on the highway. Bob Hegbloom, the Ram brand director, thinks that there's a more important fuel economy target to hit: 30 mpg. Whichever truck company can manage that feat, he recently told Automotive News, "wins." It's kind of an obvious thing to say, but in the 1500 with both the EcoDiesel and the V6 Pentastar engine, Hegbloom said, "fuel economy is so important." Hegbloom didn't promise that the next EcoDiesel truck will manage to get on up over the 30 hump, but he did say that Ram is not sitting still when it comes to fuel economy. "I just want to have continuous improvement and to keep gaining every day," he said. "We sat still in the past and it doesn't lead to a great place."