Fiat previews production 500X on Melfi assembly line

The Fiat assembly plant in Melfi, Italy, may not be one that appears on our radar that often. It's been in operation since 1993, but until recently only built the Punto - a model that's been around in its current form with few modifications for the better part of a decade, but hasn't warranted the transatlantic voyage to American showrooms. Fiat recently added to the Punto assembly line in Melfi the production of the new Jeep Renegade, but that's not all.

Soon the Renegade (which you can see being built in the background of the image above) will spawn the 500X, a small crossover based on the same platform but with what you can see will be a more rounded shape. Replacing the Sedici (a.k.a. SX4) that was jointly developed with Suzuki, the 500X will join the Cinquecento family alongside the 500 hatch, 500C convertible and 500L minivan, the latter on whose design we hope the 500X will prove a marked improvement.

Expect the 500X (or so it's expected to be called) to be revealed on July 4, which will mark not only the 238th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence but also the 57th anniversary of the original 500's debut.
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Fiat Chrysler posts $690M Q1 loss

If there is one thing that should be remembered when looking at quarterly and annual earnings, it's that the headline numbers rarely tell the whole story when it comes to an automaker's health. Chrysler's first-quarter earnings are just such an example.

Yes, the Auburn Hills-based manufacturer lost $690 million, which is quite a large sum of money. The reasons for the loss, according to Chrysler, were "Unfavorable infrequent items," which includes a $504 million payment to rid itself of the debts it took on for prepaying the UAW's VEBA healthcare trust. Chrysler was also hit with a $672 million charge to the UAW, which was part of a deal that allowed Fiat to purchase the remaining shares of Chrysler owned by the VEBA.

Ignoring those one-time deals, the first quarter was quite a successful one for Chrysler. It would have made $486 million if you erased the merger costs, which would have been a year-over-year increase of $320 million. Even more promising is the fact that Chrysler snagged the largest increase in market share of any automaker during Q1 at 1.1 percent, bringing its overall share to 12.7 percent of the US market. Chrysler saw a 30-percent improvement in sales of trucks and SUVs, along with an 11-percent increase in year-over-year sales and a 23-percent increase in revenue, to $19 billion.

Overall, not a bad first quarter for Chrysler, provided you ignore its one-time costs. With those merger-related charges settled, it should be pretty interesting to see how Chrysler does in the rest of 2014.
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Fiat Chrysler target 850k sales in China by 2018

Filed under: SUV, China, Crossover, Chrysler, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Fiat

Behind the vanguard of numerous Jeep models, two Chryslers, a smattering of Fiats and Alfa Romeos and local production through a joint venture with Guangzhou Automotive Group (GAG), Fiat Chrysler wants to increase sales in China more than six-fold by 2018. The group sold 130,000 cars in China in 2013, the aim for 2018 being 850,000 cars.

Ultimately it's expected that the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, Wrangler, Renegade, the coming Grand Wagoneer and a sub-Renegade-sized crossover will either be built in or exported to the People's Republic. The Chrysler Town & Country and 300 will join the export list in 2016 and 2018 respectively, according to a report in Automotive News.

With a number of those vehicles not in production or perhaps even envisaged yet, and others not due on the local market until 2018, it will be interesting to see how Fiat Chrysler plans to achieve the target in the specified timeframe. The joint venture with GAG builds two products now, the Dodge Dart-based Fiat Viaggio launched two years ago - supposedly designed just for China - and the just-launched Fiat Ottimo, a hatchback version of the Viaggio. Fiat projected 300,000 Viagio sales in its first two years, that number has been adjusted downward to 94,000 and there doesn't appear to be an analyst alive that sees a good future for Fiat in China's overrun mainstream market. Still, last year's 130,000 group sales in China is a huge jump from 2012 sales of 66,000 units, but less than half the 300,000 units it projected.

Jeep, on the other hand, is in a much better position as a "tough," aspirational brand and made plenty of noise for the locals with four styling concepts at this year's Beijing Motor Show. Nevertheless, while much lower pricing on locally-built models, the expanded dealership network and projected 2015 sales of 53,000 Jeep products will assist in the push, finding those additional hundreds of thousands of units leaves a lot of ground to cover. The 850K number represents about 12 percent of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' global sales target of nearly seven million units by 2018.

Fiat Chrysler target 850k sales in China by 2018 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 11 May 2014 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fiat recalling 500e for faulty power inverter

Chrysler is recalling 4,141 Fiat 500e models from the 2013 and 2014 model years because they could lose power. According to the automaker, the power inverter module could allow coolant to seep onto electrical components. This could cause a short circuit and power loss. The part in question is responsible for altering the electric current.

The company discovered the problem while reviewing warranty claims, and it found five cases where the fault actually occurred. It's not aware of any injuries or accidents tied to this issue. The recall affects cars built between September 24, 2012, and April 4, 2014, and all of them are in the US. Chrysler will contact owners directly to schedule the repair.

This is the second recall for the electric hatchback. Chrysler previously had to repair more than 270 of them last year to replace bolts that secure the vehicles' half shafts.


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Merged Fiat-Chrysler HQ will be in London

You won't be seeing Sergio Marchionne in his famous sweaters running day-to-day operations of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles from Michigan. Although, he won't be doing it from Italy, either. The FCA CEO recently announced that the company's corporate headquarters would be located in London.

"Headquarters will be in London. It's clear that group executive functions, the board, my office, some of my functions, need to operate out of London, but that doesn't mean that I'm giving up my operational responsibilities of the US," said Marchionne to Automotive News at a press conference.

When the creation of FCA was announced, the company said its tax domicile would be in the United Kingdom. But it gave no specific location at that time. The business is still keeping most of the details under wraps.

Chrysler spokesperson Gualberto Ranieri did confirm to Autoblog that the move to London will happen "later this year." FCA board meetings will be held in London, as will some corporate functionals. "But that will not mean that Mr. Marchionne will give up his operational duties in the US, including his office in Auburn Hills," Ranieri said.

Industry analysts speaking to AN say that the London location makes sense from a strategic standpoint. It doesn't show any bias between Chrysler in Auburn Hills or Fiat in Turin.

Marchionne is also fighting against investors' skepticism about FCA's recently revealed five-year plan. After the stock fell 12 percent, he and chairman John Elkann bought 130,000 and 133,000 shares respectively of Fiat stock to show their support, according to AN.
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Share price falls on skepticism of Chrysler-Fiat five-year plan

Following this week's Fiat Chrysler extravaganza, where the Italian-American manufacturer announced its plans for the next five years, the Autoblog staff was cautiously optimistic of the company's future. Investors? Not so much.

Fiat saw its shares tumble 12 percent in Wednesday's trading, falling from 8.67 euros ($12.06 at today's rates) to 7.44 euros ($10.35) as of this writing, with blame partly going to the Italian half of the FCA marriage, which recorded a pretty significant drop in profits during the first quarter of this year.

The plan, which will cost around $77 billion over the next several years, is facing criticism from investors thanks in part to a 1.4-percent drop in Fiat's first-quarter profits, to 622 million euros ($862 million). That figure is also short of Bloomberg analysts' projections, which predicted $1.18 billion in profits before taxes, interest and one-time items.

Marchionne's goal of dramatically increasing sales before 2018 is a particularly big point of contention.

"If you start your 2014-2018 plan with an extremely weak quarter, nobody will give you the credit that you will achieve your targets," Jens Schattner, a Frankfurt-based automotive analyst told Bloomberg. "If it was so easy just to launch new products to be successful in this industry, why wouldn't everybody do exactly the same."

Some of the concerns are even simpler, though.

"These brands need a huge amount of work to get where they need to be. The world changes very slowly and you have brands at the bottom of the pile in many regions. It's not going to happen overnight," said Harald Hendrikse, a London-based analyst for Nomura Holdings.

Alfa Romeo and Maserati are perhaps the biggest points of concern, each brand facing its fair share of struggles over the years. Marchionne's goal of dramatically increasing sales (over five-fold for Alfa and nearly as much for Maserati) before 2018 is a particularly big point of contention.

"The aspiration is big but the questions are bigger," said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan. "Can Fiat do enough to turn Alfa into a big, profitable brand? Are there enough Maserati buyers to make Fiat a global player?"

While we like what we saw earlier this week in Auburn Hills, it seems fairly clear that there will be a number of bumps in the road along the way. Whether the analysts' concerns end up being correct, though, remains to be seen.
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Mazda and Fiat finalize deal for Alfa roadster, next-gen MX-5 Miata

Although a little bit later than expected, Mazda and Fiat have signed a final agreement that will bring a next-generation MX-5 Miata to the Japanese automaker and a new roadster to Alfa Romeo. When the proposed arrangement was announced back in May, the two automakers had hoped to seal the deal last year, but it doesn't appear that the production timeline for these cars has slipped any, with both expected to start rolling off assembly lines in 2015.

Other than a shared chassis with a rear-wheel-drive layout, it sounds like the two cars are still planned to be distinct in their own ways from their styling right down to their engines. Mazda will produce both cars at a plant in Hiroshima, Japan, but it isn't clear what role each automaker will play in the cars' developmental process. The big question, of course, is what clever portmanteau name we can come up with, like Toyobaru. Mazda Romeo is the easy choice, but Alfazda might roll off the tongue a little better.

Mazda and Fiat Sign Agreement for New Alfa Romeo Roadster

Further to the joint announcement of May 23, 2012, Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) and Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A. (Fiat) announced today the signing of the Final Agreement which will see Mazda produce an open-top two-seater sports car for Fiat's Alfa Romeo brand at its Hiroshima, Japan, plant starting from 2015.

The new Alfa Romeo roadster will be developed for the global market, and will be based on the architecture of the next generation Mazda MX-5. The agreement foresees for both Mazda and Fiat to develop two differentiated, distinctly styled, iconic and brand-specific roadsters featuring rear-wheel drive. The Mazda and Alfa Romeo variants will each be powered by specific proprietary engines unique to each brand.

Through this contractual agreement, Mazda aims to enhance development and production efficiency and revitalize enthusiasm for open-top two-seater sports cars around the world. For Fiat, this collaboration will permit the company to deliver a modern interpretation of the classic Alfa Romeo roadster utilizing the latest technical solutions, helping Alfa Romeo to achieve its stated goals by 2016.

Turin/Hiroshima, January 18, 2013

News Source: Fiat, Mazda

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