Stellantis Navigates Turmoil: Elkann Charts a New Course

It is a pleasant surprise to see John Elkann stepping up (or maybe down 🤔) to personally tackle things head on. It is my hope that North America receives the autonomy that Latin America seems to have. While the market down there did get saddled with some Chinese products, up until recently North America seemed to be treated as children receiving strict oversight. We don't need or want leftover French designs and engineering. It looks like we're stuck with the 1.6 Pure Tech four, but I hope they let the engineers here remake it into something durable that is fit for our driving conditions. If the three cylinder Pure Tech is used in products marketed here, that engine should be built here and refined for our driving conditions. One last thing, keep the Franco-Chinese hybrid transmission out of our market, whether it's installed on vehicles imported or installed on products built here.

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One of the items near the top of Mr. Elkann's to-do list has got to be getting the STLA Large platform battery-electric program in order. He needs to place someone in Auburn Hills who can straighten out the mess. I realized after seeing the Charger Daytona police EV thread and video that there are a lot of projects in the queue which aren't going forward until all the reliability and quality issues are solved. Narrow the EV program down to two offerings, a single e-motor setup and a front and rear dual e-motor setup. One voltage, forget the high voltage, super fast charging, and long battery range for now. Don't chase Tesla down the rabbit tail, concentrate on just making the two basic choices work. Don't be distracted by fake engine sounds, virtual transmissions, or whatever other gimmicks are out there.

The Charger Daytona, Ram REV, Jeep Wagoneer S and Recon are all way overdue. If they all don't share the same drive units, change that right away. Chrysler was the first to have electronic fuel injection, an electronic solenoid controlled automatic transmission, and engines with computer controlled spark advance. All of these ended in disaster. Get the software right and make the battery electric products reliable.

The federal government financial incentives for battery electrics are probably going away. That will cut into the market with only the fanboys and fleets buying the products. Don't worry about losing the fanboys by not having the quickest acceleration, highest voltage, or longest range. The charging network isn't there for most of that. Most of the time people are using level two charging. Get the reliability right and impress the fleets. When consumers witness CDJR battery electrics operating without drama, they also will be won over.

There are many issues with battery electric vehicles. People don't want them and the demand has plateaued. A significant charging network needs to be in place. Stellantis has started efforts towards this and should continue. The way to alleviate range and charging anxiety is to offer extended range EVs and plugin hybrids. The next item on the to-do list should be range extending IC engines availability for the North American market. They should be built here and must be absolutely bullet proof.

Don't let the American market rejection of the Dodge Hornet PHEV hinder another attempt on that power train. It just needs to be used in a more utilitarian, domestically built product. Speaking of hybrids, there is one last thing. Figure out why the only auto company which can't successfully sell hybrids in North America is Stellantis.

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