QOTD: Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram-Dream Fodder?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

As you learned yesterday, Fiat Chrysler and France’s Groupe PSA have agreed on a merger plan, paving the way for the creation of the world’s fourth-largest automaker. FCA boss Mike Manley calls it a “compelling” opportunity. PSA chief Carlos Tavares claims it heralds a “bright future” for the combined entity.

Renault is left wondering what could have been.

Should the marriage come to pass, it opens up an opportunity for North American buyers to have greater access to a range of French cars, not to mention models built by the formerly GM-owned Opel. What would you like to see at your local Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram dealer?

It’s true that we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. PSA already has a long-range plan for the introduction of the Peugeot brand to the U.S. and Canada, and the automaker’s North American boss, Larry Dominique, has signalled in the past that it may offer a unique arrangement for the selling of those vehicles. However, a merger with FCA opens the door to the brand making use of the Italian-American automaker’s established dealer network.

While this may not be the route PSA takes, and it may not be a scenario FCA wants (cash-saving synergies and joint electric vehicle development rank high on the two companies’ list of concerns), it remains a possibility.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the merger does open the European floodgates, allowing a pathway for currently-unattainable PSA exotics to reach the hands of long-suffering North American buyers. We’re not just talking Peugeots here, but any vehicle sheltered under the PSA umbrella. (In this thought exercise, FCA-PSA makes a worthwhile profit off of each model it imports, regardless of volume. There’s no local production in PSA’s U.S. reentry plan).

You’ve been longing for French cars for some time. Tell us what you want.

[Image: Groupe PSA]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • TimK TimK on Nov 04, 2019

    Does anyone here remember all the breathless claims and articles about Chinese nameplates entering the U.S. auto market? But this time things will be different...

    • Vulpine Vulpine on Nov 04, 2019

      Peugeot and Citroën are not Chinese. The question is irrelevant.

  • 902Chris 902Chris on Nov 04, 2019

    They should build the Peugeot Rifter 4x4 concept car for North America.

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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