Fiat Following Ford

[TheTalkingMule]

Fiat Chrysler looks to be heading down the same path as Ford.

Fiat Chrysler replaces Sergio Marchionne at the helm amid health struggles 

With Marchionne replaced by the Jeep/Ram guy, Fiat is clearly going the same direction as Ford. Focusing on Hummer size Wranglers and Ram trucks leaves even more of the US passenger vehicle market open to Tesla sedans.

These guys are maximizing profit in the very short term to "get it while we can" just like the fossil majors. This is now clearly a trend, the marketshare ceiling for Tesla in the US should be revised upward.

 

[Esme Es Mejor]

Fiat Chrysler looks to be heading down the same path as Ford.

Fiat Chrysler replaces Sergio Marchionne at the helm amid health struggles

With Marchionne replaced by the Jeep/Ram guy, Fiat is clearly going the same direction as Ford. Focusing on Hummer size Wranglers and Ram trucks leaves even more of the US passenger vehicle market open to Tesla sedans.

These guys are maximizing profit in the very short term to "get it while we can" just like the fossil majors. This is now clearly a trend, the marketshare ceiling for Tesla in the US should be revised upward.

They aren’t necessarily doing the wrong thing. It’s clearly too late for them to compete in the EV sedan/hatchback market. It’s probably too late for them to compete in the EV SUV/truck market, but there’s some chance they can pull it off in time, if they really focus on it. Not likely, but not impossible.

When Ford replaced their CEO, they talked about the need to move more quickly on EVs and autonomy. I haven’t seen any actions to support these words, but it’s possible they’re happening behind the scenes. I don’t know if Marchionne’s replacement will be any better about EVs, but he can’t be any worse.

 

[adiggs]

I tend to think, and this is purely speculation on my part, that the more serious a company is about competing in the EV space with Tesla, the less public and the less that we're going to know about it. Unless we're doing, or reading, research about EV related research, design, and engineering hires, acquisitions of companies (big or small) with a clearly EV application.

Or breaking ground on their own GF - that's a big enough investment and big enough deal that I wouldn't expect that to stay quiet.


But for the internal efforts involving 00's or 000's of people doing that companies version of the Manhattan project, the more they're talking about, the less I think is really there.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

I would agree that major leadership changes with little fanfare or information would normally be a sign of giving in to EVs, but not when Mike Manley is the replacement.

This guy led the effort to super-size Wranglers and basically create a Hummer/Explorer hybrid. They've resisted any effort to make an EV version of the two door Wrangler and even if they wanted to it's basically impossible til battery density increases a lot.

This is a clear move away from sedans. Imports are going to be the only competition...should make this trariff war interesting.

 

[RobStark]

Dodge and Chrysler got rid of their small/midsize sedans and hatchbacks for the 2017 model year.

Ford is really following FCA here.

Since Ford sells nearly 1M vehicles per year in China they have to do SOMETHING regarding EVs to stay in compliance in China. That means ~120k Ford EVs next year. This probably means 120k enclosed golf carts for $12k and under. But Ford is planing a 300 mile range midsize EV CUV for the US market in 2020. The Mach 1?

FCA has virtually no presence in China.

 

[renim]

FCA is the most likely company to first bring a full autonomous vehicle to the public market.

Why?
Only FCA has announced intention to sell Waymo powered vehicles to the public.

(Nb not all autonomous vehicles will be equal)