Fiat Is About To Give It One More Try In The US

The stage is set for Aamir Ahmed, a former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles marketer appointed to head Fiat’s North American operations last month. Ahmed left FCA in 2017 to work for Harman International and Amazon. Ahmed succeeded Larry Dominique, who had been leading Fiat in addition to his role as senior vice president for Alfa Romeo in North America.

There’s a tough job ahead.

Although the brand has been a major player globally, it hasn’t been able to find its footing in the US market, where it sells only the 500X. Fiat sold just 138 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023.

Despite Fiat’s rocky track record since its 2011 return to the US, industry observers say the 500e could bring viability to the brand as automakers move aggressively toward electrification. The 500e, according to Fiat CEO Olivier Francois, is coming back to the US to capitalize on the industry’s EV revolution.

Today, the European version of the 500e, called the New 500, is among that continent’s top-selling EVs.

“If they could come to market with something very small and electric and [with] better range, that’s the kind of vehicle that can turn some heads,” Ivan Drury, director of insights for Edmunds, told Automotive News. “Right now, the average ATP for an EV is $60K, and while [EVs are] attracting a lot of buyers and a lot of money, we know there are people who don’t want to spend that. They’re not looking to buy a used one, either.”

The 31% rise comes after a strained 2022, when the company, like other automakers, felt the effects of persistent COVID-lockdowns in China, chip shortages and other supply constraints that hampered production.

As Volvo, majority-owned by China’s Geely, has begun recovering from 2022’s setbacks, sales figures have consistently been up for the past few months.

Still, automakers’ worries are not yet over as high costs linger. That forced the company recently to commence a cost-slashing effort that has seen 1,300 jobs being cut.

It also announced in May that production of its fully electric SUV was delayed until 2024.

[VW board member and technology chief Thomas] Schmall and PowerCo chief Frank Blome have traveled the world to secure resources. They have met government officials and mining operators from Canada, South America, Indonesia and Australia. There are large deposits of lithium in South America, where Chile in April said it would nationalize the country’s lithium industry to maintain control of the resource. Mexico has also taken steps to nationalize lithium deposits.

Schmall said VW has spoken to a number of lithium suppliers in South America.

One of the lithium producers that VW has been speaking to, according to people familiar with the matter, is Sigma Lithium, a Nasdaq-listed Canadian mining company with operations in Brazil that has begun mining hard rock lithium, which experts say is less environmentally damaging than other methods of extraction.

In March, PowerCo said it would build its biggest planned battery factory to date in St. Thomas, Ontario, which is near deposits of lithium, nickel and cobalt. Schmall said another factor for picking the site was a trade agreement between the EU and Canada that would enable VW to export battery materials or cells from Canada to Europe in a pinch.

We failed miserably on the first run,” admits Simon Humphries, who is chief branding officer at Lexus parent Toyota Motor. He oversees designs for the Lexus and Toyota brands.

He said that when executives gathered to review the first full-size LBX design proposal, “it dawned on us … we had fallen into the trap of making a small car with small car proportions,” he said.

The project went back to the drawing board, with extensive engineering work on the platform. As a result the wheelbase was extended by 20 mm compared to the Yaris Cross but its overhangs were reduced to keep its length at 4190 mm.

“The big tires, the broad shoulders, the ratio between the body and cabin are calculated to give the car an air of confidence and strength well above its dimensions,” Humphries said.

Toyota hopes the Crown will help propel its worldwide fuel cell vehicle sales to 8,000 units in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, from 3,440 the fiscal year before.

Fuel cell sales are rising from a tiny base and still have gauge numbers. Toyota’s full electric vehicle sales, by contrast, are expected to rise more than fivefold to 202,000 this fiscal year.

In a briefing about Toyota’s drivetrain strategy in April, Executive Vice President Hiroki Nakajima said the company sees mass production of fuel cells being driven by commercial vehicles.

“The energy source, hydrogen, is light, so even when traveling longer distances the vehicle is not as heavy as a battery EV, and less space is required,” said Nakajima. “Refueling is also much quicker. Taking advantage of these strengths, we will work with business operators to promote FCEVs by starting with commercial vehicles such as medium- to heavy-duty trucks.”

Fuel cell technology was one key thrust of Toyota’s decision last week to agree with Daimler Trucks on combining their commercial truck subsidiaries, Hino and Mitsubishi Fuso.

Vickers PLC shareholders overwhelmingly voiced their support Friday to sell its Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. to Volkswagen AG for 430 million pounds ($700 million).

The London-based industrial concern said the official count was 5.1 million for the Volkswagen bid and 109,000 against.

Vickers said Volkswagen provided a parent for the British luxury car maker with the engineering capability, resources, brand expertise and global reach to match Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) AG, whose rival bid of 340 million was rejected.

But Rolls-Royce PLC — a separate company that makes jet engines and controls the brand name and logo — has made it clear it would rather see the automaker go to BMW, which happens to be its partner in a jet engine venture.

Rolls-Royce PLC hasn’t said whether it will negotiate with Volkswagen or try to block its use of the brand name. Asked about that, Vickers Chairman Sir Colin Chandler insisted that a 25-year-old contract that would let Rolls-Royce PLC veto the purchase of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. by a foreign buyer is legally unenforceable.

“The trademark can’t go anywhere else,” Chandler said. “We exclusively own the radiator, the flying lady and Bentley.”