All 14 Stellantis brands performing since merger, exec says

‘Everybody’s got a fi gh ng chance,’ North American COO Mark Stewart said of the brands brought together by combining FCA and PSA.

DETROIT — The 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group brought together 14 brands with varying levels of market success. A key ques on going into the e-up was whether all of these brands would have a future under one umbrella.

Early on, there are signs they will, Stellan s North America COO Mark Stewart said Monday.

“Can everything survive? Everybody’s got a fi gh ng chance, and everybody is performing, which is great,” Stewart said at the Automo ve News Congress in Detroit.

Stellan s CEO Carlos Tavares last year said he’s giving each brand a 10-year window to execute a business plan. Tavares said brand leaders have the chance to build and carry out a long-term vision.

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Continued from Page 41 This approach has breathed new life into brands such as Chrysler, which has been trudging along with a shallow product lineup in the U.S. and appeared to be in need of direc on before the merger.

Stewart said Monday that he’s proud of Chrysler’s new vision that calls for the brand to go all electric by 2028. The product-starved brand will debut its fi rst ba ery-electric model by 2025. Chrysler has provided a glimpse of the road ahead with an electric crossover concept called the Airfl ow.

“Obviously we’ve had a lot of diff erent names over the years, but we are a house of 14 brands. And what’s incredible about bringing the brands together, it’s just that they’re highly diff eren ated brands,” Stewart said. “Everybody has a personality on the brand side, and to be able to fi t in diff erent parts of the market without clashing into each other, people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, how can you feed 14 children?’ “

Stellan s is preparing to launch more than 25 ba ery electric vehicles in the U.S. by 2030.

Several are due in 2024, including the fi rst electric Ram pickup that’ll go up against compe tors from Ford, General Motors and Rivian that have will have been on the market for several years by the me Ram’s entry arrives.

Ram has using insights gleaned from its Ram Revolu on insider program and a series of town hall conversa ons called the Ram Real Talk Tour is looking to jump in with a superior off ering a er its rivals cul vate a market that barely exists today. Ram CEO Mike Koval told Automo ve News in April that the brand will pair what it learns from pickup owners with the knowledge it already has about the capabili es of compe tors’ op ons.

Stewart said having the extra me will work to Ram’s benefi t. “We are later to the party, obviously, than everybody else,” Stewart said. “We’re about two years behind pu ng that into the marketplace compared to others. What is cri cal is that we come in with leadership.

“So we have more me to actually make sure all the things that the customers are loving today that have given us tremendous market share growth, that we don’t lose that and that we’re also able to tweak and refi ne because the other guys have done a really good job.”

As Stellan s forges ahead on its product plans, the automaker is establishing a cap ve fi nance unit in the U.S.

It acquired the parent company of First Investors Financial Services Group in 2021 for about $285 million.

FCA had been opera ng with Chrysler Capital through a private-label agreement with Santander Consumer USA formed in 2013, while most major compe tors have their own cap ve units.

The move to establish its own cap ve fi nancing arm in the U.S. was welcome news to dealers who said it will give the company greater fl exibility while being highly lucra ve.

“As a team we felt it was really important that we have it,” Stewart said. “It’s a defi ni ve compe ve advantage to have it. We’ve got great rela onships with [Chrysler Capital], Ally, Chase and the other guys, but we have launched now already with over 1,600 dealers, so we’ve been ramping up through the course of this year… We’ve more than doubled that business this year, so we feel very good going into next year.”

Source: AutoNews.com