#Stellantis

Stellantis is going to shutter operations at its plant in Belvidere, Illinois.

This will result in what the company calls "indefinite layoffs."

Yesterday, we asked you who had the worst infotainment system. So, naturally, today we're asking you about the best.

Stellantis is now among the ranks of large companies that have paused or pulled advertising on Twitter.

Stellantis has announced a new business unit dedicated to fostering a “circular economy” that should help it reach carbon neutrality by 2038. The arm is also supposed to net the automaker a breezy €2 billion ($1.95 billion USD) in revenue while setting itself up to have more direct control of its products in the future.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has suggested that the global semiconductor shortage will persist through 2023.

“The situation will remain very complicated until the end of 2023, then will ease a little,” he told French outlet Le Parisien over the weekend, adding that “semiconductor manufacturers have an interest in making business with us again, especially as they’re raising prices.”

Following Citroën’s preview of its new logo, there was a healthy buzz around the foreshadowed concept model that would first wear the badge. As French automakers are known for going against the grain, occasionally resulting in some brilliant innovation, there was a level of genuine excitement that the brand would deliver something truly novel during a period where the industry seemed to be running out of ideas. 

The resulting vehicle turned out to be extremely innovative. However, it wasn’t quite the morale booster some of us had anticipated, because the concept isn’t designed for today’s world. Instead, Citroën delivered a vehicle that’s designed for a future existence where resources are unavailable and people have to make do with less of everything. Though that doesn’t mean some of the concepts included in the design aren’t absolutely brilliant.

Big change is in the air at Chrysler and company these days, as the rear-drive LX platform heads off into the sunset. With a longevity of two decades - far beyond the reach of the majority of current platforms - it seems fitting to eulogize the LX at this juncture. The end of the LX represents more than just the end of the rear-drive internal combustion vehicle at Chrysler.

It’s also the end of two gasoline-powered Dodge muscle cars, the Charger and Challenger (only the Charger returns as an EV). The LX is also the basis of the last two remaining full-size American sedans: Charger and 300C. In 2023 all the last LX-based vehicles will roll off the line, wearing their various gaudy special edition gingerbread. Before that time comes, we should consider all the cars that brought us to this point.

United Auto Workers union members went on strike over the weekend to pressure Stellantis into retaining jobs they’re worried might evaporate as the industry attempts to transition to battery electric vehicles. UAW Local 1166, representing the workers at the engine and transmission plant located in Kokomo, Indiana, was in negotiations with the automaker over this weekend. But things fell apart on Saturday, leading to a formal strike that has reportedly resulted in a tentative agreement on their local contract.

Stellantis has issued a recall of nearly 140,000 Jeep and Ram models equipped with the 3.0-liter, six-cylinder EcoDiesel engine due to a potentially faulty high-pressure fuel pump which could render the vehicles inoperable.

On Monday, General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, and Toyota Motor North America reportedly asked the United States Congress to lift the existing cap on the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. Though automakers petitioning the government for free money is hardly new business.

The United States has requested that Mexico investigate worker rights violations that were alleged to have taken place at one of the parts factories owned by Stellantis. Officials are curious about what’s been happening at Teksid Hierro de Mexico, a facility located in the border state of Coahuila that’s responsible for manufacturing iron casings, in regard to unionization. According to U.S. officials, this is the fourth such complaint under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Having supplanted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed into law by the Clinton administration in 1993, USMCA sought to rebalance trade laws the Trump administration believed had disadvantaged the United States. However, it also sought to advance worker protections in Mexico and give employees an easier pathway toward unionization.

Stellantis has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy charges relating to emissions requirements on over 100,000 diesel-powered Ram and Jeep products sold in the United States. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) was previously on the hook for $800 million in civil penalties over a so-called “defeat device” equipped to the automaker’s 3.0-liter turbo-diesel engine. Allegations began in 2017 as regulators were hunting for compliance violations in the wake of Volkswagen’s massive emissions scandal from a couple of years earlier.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since 2019, you’ve probably realized that just about every major carmaker has plans to go “fully electric” at some point in the rapidly approaching future. That’s going to mean big changes in the way we buy and use cars, obviously— but change is hard, and not every company is going to be willing or able to make those changes.

That equally obvious fact begs the question: who’s not gonna make it?

General Motors, Stellantis, and Ford Motor Co. collectively decided to reinstate masking mandates in Michigan over the weekend — stating that the impacted factories were in areas with high levels of COVID-19.

The automakers had lifted mask requirements for employees after the backlash against government-backed restrictions and mandates hit a fever pitch in March. While protests had begun swelling by the fall of last year, the Canadian Freedom Convoy that was forcibility disbanded in February drew national attention to the issue. Despite Detroit manufacturers suggesting they would walk back restrictions (if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was okay) for months, ditching masks initially involved a series of stipulations about vaccinations and job titles. It wasn’t until public outrage spilled over into the real world that sweeping changes began to occur.

The automotive sector is currently suffering from ongoing component shortages and supply chain bottlenecks stemming from regional restrictions relating to the pandemic. However, it’s assumed that those problems will gradually abate, only to be supplanted by a global deficit of the raw materials necessary for battery production. Analysts have been warning about the shift toward electric vehicles, spurred on by government regulations, for years. But they’re starting to get some company from within the auto industry.

On Tuesday, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares suggested that there was a very real possibility that manufacturers could begin confronting serious issues in terms of battery production by 2025 if the shift toward EVs continues at pace. Though his concerns aren’t limited to there being a new chapter in the already too long saga about parts shortages. Tavares is also worried that Western automakers will become overwhelmingly dependent upon Asian battery suppliers which already dominate the global market.