Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler to merge

Rickboy said
I was a little surprised when I heard about the PSA/FCA merger. IMO, as much as I like FCA, they are in trouble with anything that is not Jeep or Ram. PSA could have just waited this out and bought them outright for a bargain.

However Peugeot note has their market opening into the US. I suspect we’ll see Peugeots rebadged as Chryslers in less than two years. Chrysler and Dodge are starved for new products.

The big loser in this may be the Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands. FCA has already killed a few Alfa product this week. There has been talk of Fiat leaving the US market.

Jeep and Ram, I think, will largely be unaffected. They have several new products in the pipeline and the existing products are doing well. A new Grand Cherokee and Wagoner are coming and the new Ram pickup has been a hit. There are plans for a new Dakota truck too.

BTW, anyone talking about bad Peugeot quality hasn’t been paying attention. They’ve made serious improvements in the last twenty years.

I agree it is gonna be a badge engineer job.

What flies over most consumers heads are how much they do that already. The new Supra is a BMW from top to bottom. Total badge job. The Fiat 124 Spyder is a Miata made by Mazda with Fiats engine installed.

The big thing is companies share platforms with a different skin all the time.

That is what the merger is all about. Saving funds in platform development.

The problem with Fiats is they loose value like nothing else on the market.

I tell you that little Fiat arbarth 500 is a fun little car.

If you get a chance to drive one do. They sound great. Tiny little gocart feel they are a hoot.

They dropped like a rock in value. Most people had them as a toy so you find them with low mileage all day long cheap.

The problem Fiat has with this market is Americans over buy vehicles. Buy huge ones they can't afford and spread it out over 78 months. If Americans were logical and bought the size they need daily and rented when they needed a third row of seats small cars would sell fine.

How many times do you see a suburban with one person in it?