Everyone knew it was coming. It wasn’t a secret. Stellantis, the automaker formerly known as, variously, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Chrysler Corp, DaimlerChrysler, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (plus GM Europe, actually), couldn’t possibly support every brand equally. Something would have to give. Now, thanks to a new report, there’s some sense of what’s giving and what’s taking.
There’s good news and bad news here, depending on what brand you hoped would survive. They’re all going to still be here, just some are now secondary brands. A lot of legendary brands are about to become secondary brands.
The Morning Dump cannot see into the future, but it didn’t take a Ouija board to see that Porsche was going to eject its Rimac and Bugatti holdings. What maybe caught me by surprise was the excitement that Chinese brands would have for hybrids, but there’s more of them coming out in Beijing this week. In the UK, they’re showing electric vans.
The Core Brands Make Sense
Back in 2024, I wrote a post with the somewhat tongue-in-cheek headline “A List Of Brands Stellantis Might Kill Ranked From ‘Jeep’ To ‘Most Likely’” based on the premise that having all of these brands tied up into one automaker, all getting special treatment, probably didn’t make sense.
I listed the safe brands as Jeep, Peugeot, Fiat, Ram, Citroën, Dodge, and Leapmotor. Technically, based on this latest report from Reuters, all of the brands are safe, but not all of the brands are the pillars of the company. New CEO Antonio Filosa has to shake things up somehow:
Filosa will present a new business strategy in Detroit May 21. His plan concentrates investment on Jeep, Ram, Peugeot and Fiat as the brands that “really matter” because of their higher sales volumes and profits, a source told Reuters.
Under the new strategy, Stellantis will use brands such as Citroen, Opel and Alfa Romeo tactically in specific countries and market segments, four sources said.
Options for regional brands include using platforms and technologies developed by the core brands, adding their own internal and external design features and handling to give them a distinctive look and feel, the fourth source said. Rebadging some models for specific local markets is another solution under consideration, two of the sources said.
That ‘really matter’ quote is rough. It’s also probably correct, right? The French government still owns part of Stellantis and one of the brands is going to have to be French, and Peugeot is the big one. For DS and Citroën this isn’t even going to be that big of a change.
Fiat makes sense as it’s the OG brand, although the lineups are little different these days, and Fiat isn’t the full-line automaker it once was. Of all the traditionally Fiat brands (Alfa, Maserati, Lancia), it’s Alfa Romeo that’s shown the most growth recently.
Jeep was always going to the brand that sticks around as it has the most brand value, plus a slate of (traditionally) high-margin vehicles. The concept of it being a brand that makes platforms that then get shared is interesting as, normally, Jeep has the only-for-Jeep Wrangler and then a bunch of other cars built on borrowed platforms. Will Dodge benefit here? Maybe? Chrysler?
Ram is probably the biggest standout here, as I tend to think of Ram as a very American brand. It’s also, if done correctly, profitable enough to cover up for losses from other parts of the company. Ram extends beyond our borders, though, and has prominence in Latin America as well. Heck, they even sell Ram trucks in Australia these days.
The big open question to me is what happens to the “regional brands?” Does it make sense to keep selling Alfa Romeos and Fiats in the United States? Sales continue to be dismal and I don’t see that turning around.
Maserati isn’t mentioned at all in this report, which only makes me more convinced that Stellantis is going to sell the brand. I mean, selling your low-volume luxury sports car brand is all the rage now.
Porsche Sells Shares In Rimac And Bugatti
Bugatti was maybe the last great example of a Volkswagen with so much money it didn’t know how to spend it. Now, Volkswagen needs that money, and so it’s selling its shares in Bugatti-Rimac and Rimac. I wrote about this at length last year if you’re interested in the background. The short version is that Porsche, having invested in Rimac and then quasi-sold Bugatti to a Porsche controlled joint venture with Rimac, seemed to want out of the agreement.
So who owns the company now? Here’s Porsche’s explanation of what’s going to happen:
Porsche and Rimac Group established Bugatti Rimac as a joint venture in 2021 to serve as home to the iconic Bugatti brand. In this joint venture, Porsche holds a minority stake of 45%, Rimac Group owns 55%. Porsche also holds a 20.6% stake in Rimac Group. As part of the transaction announced today, Porsche will fully divest its equity stakes in Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Group to the HOF Capital-led consortium. This includes BlueFive Capital as its largest investor, as well as a group of institutional investors across the US and EU. Following completion, Rimac Group is set to take control of Bugatti Rimac and form a strategic partnership with HOF Capital and BlueFive Capital to support its continued growth. HOF Capital will additionally join Rimac Group as the largest shareholder alongside Mate Rimac, founder of Rimac and CEO of Bugatti Rimac.
And who is HOF Capital and BlueFive Capital? Bloomberg has some details:
BlueFive is a private equity firm run by former Investcorp executive Hazem Ben-Gacem. HOF Capital was co-founded by Onsi Sawiris, who’s the son of billionaire Naguib Sawiris and grandson of the late Egyptian construction magnate also named Onsi Sawiris.
Got it.
OMODA & JAECOO Maybe Has Another Hit On Its Hands
If you live outside of the United Kingdom, you might no know the brands OMODA and Jaecoo. If you live in Bristol, you’ve probably seen a lot of them. While Chinese EV automakers are having luck in the UK, the hybrids have been especially popular lately. It’s no surprise, then, that the two related brands used the Beijing show this week to show off a new hybrid:
On display was the OMODA 4, a key addition to the brand’s evolving global line-up and a clear expression of its future design and technology direction – and confirmed for UK launch in Q4 2026. It was showcased with a full hybrid SHS-H powertrain specification, which was first introduced on the OMODA line on the OMODA 5 SHS-H at the beginning of the year.
Positioned as a compact, urban-focused model, OMODA 4 combines sharp, contemporary styling with a strong emphasis on digital integration and everyday usability. Its exterior reflects the brand’s progressive ‘art in motion’ philosophy, while its connected, user-centric interior focuses on intuitive technology, integrated displays and seamless interaction. Advanced connectivity and intelligent driver assistance systems further underline its appeal to modern, tech-focused customers.
It’ll be interesting to see how cheaply the company can price this.
Behold, The Chery Delivan
I may have made a little joke about Chery calling its latest commercial van for Europe the “Delivan” because I can only hear it as a van for a sandwich-making operation, and not the intended portmanteau.
Chery is the Chinese automaker that also owns OMODA and Jaecoo, in case you were curious. While its Chinese arm was in Beijing showing off its new global compact, the European arm was at the van show in Birmingham showing off this:
As the first expression of the FSCV strategy, DELIVAN introduces a new generation of intelligent, purpose-built commercial vehicles for urban logistics, last-mile delivery and fleet operations. It also confirms its entry into the UK and European markets as an OEM, offering a complete end-to-end solution spanning vehicles, charging, service, telematics and digital programmes, as well as aftermarket, warranty and lifecycle support.
I love a big van, and this one looks cool.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
One more Coachella performance? One more Coachella performance. It’s David Byrne doing the Talking Heads classic “Slippery People.”
The Big Question
What happens to Dodge and Chrysler now?
Top photo: Stellantis
TBQ: The K Car platform rises from the ashes, to mobilize Americans in fuel efficient shitboxes. Lee Iaccoca smiles from the Heavens.
Ah, the darkest timeline. Got it.
You weren’t born to just pay bills and die. First you must suffer. A lot.
The new Alfa Romeo slogan?
At least you’ll look good doing it!
Some of those JAECOO SUVs have been spotted in Toronto. I guess they’ll be some of the Chinese cars incoming. We’ll have to get Hundal on it.
I stumbled on a forum post from like 9 years ago when searching for Ram starter motor replacement instructions. It was a poster “hoping” that Dodge would become the “Harley Davidson of cars.” I feel like everything, which anyone who was paying attention expected to happen, has happened
I have no cares for any of their domestic brands. They’re outdated and out of touch with modern realities (see our latest oil war). Jeep? Plenty of other manufacturers out there that already make farm equipment. Give me their European brands, they still hold some excitement and innovation.
If Stellantis can only focus on one brand at a time, maybe it’s time to throw in the towel and admit it’s not very good at this whole “car company” thing.
TBQ. Just rename Stellantis Dodge Chrysler.
“What happens to Dodge and Chrysler now?”
They start making very affordable, high quality, attractive cars?
Let’s be clear on which Porsche this is.
This is Porsche AG. The subsidiary of VW.
This is Not Porsche SE, the parent company of VW.
Sigh – can I have a flow chart….
It is more complicated than an ancient Egypt pharao family tree.
Actually, isn’t Porsche SE the parent company of VAG, which owns both VW and Porsche AG, which seemed to own Bugatti-Rimac? Really thought that Bugatti was owned by VAG, not Porsche AG.
Yes, I think that’s what I said above (well, I skipped over the Piech family).
Who’s on first?
I don’t know, Third Base? Or is it optional contrasting seat stitching for $5000?
Chrysler was always kind of the Cadillac to Chevrolet. I think maybe they need to fold Ram back into Dodge so they can share drivetrains a bit more and then using platforms and technologies developed by the core brands, add their own internal and external design features(aka reliable-ish known engines and transmissions) and handling to give them a distinctive look and feel…..
Imperial was Cadillac, Chrysler was always more Buick/Olds level. Dodge battled Pontiac, Plymouth Chevy.
Not sure where DeSoto used to fit in. Maybe have them go against Oldsmobile, leaving Chrysler to go up against Buick?
I suppose it might have been the way it was supposed to be, but imperial to me just always seemed like the pie in the sky halo type car under the Chrysler brand. Way back in 26 it was called the Chrysler Imperial I thought. I think in the early 50’s is when they tried to break it away and up market the Imperials above all the rivals. Cadillac, Continental, Lincoln and so on. it felt like the answer to the continental vs Lincoln setup to be honest.
Are Ram and Dodge actually meaningfully separate aside from being different brand names on paper? I feel like it was only done to separate the sporty and cheap Dodge image from the truck lines so they could sell high-margin luxo-pickup trims more convincingly. Drivetrains are already shared by the whole conglomerate, with the Hurricane I6 appearing in the Ram 1500 and Dodge Charger and the Prince 1.6T used in many Peugeots and Citroens appearing in the new Jeep Cherokee.
The only reason Dodge (and Chrysler) doesn’t have better integration with the rest of Stellantis is that they simply sell too few models, which predate the formation of Stellantis itself. The Durango predates FCA and the Pacifica was one of the first FCA vehicles. They really need to start badge engineering some Peugeots under the Chrysler and Dodge brands, and consider making a Dodge version of the failing Jeep Wagoneers.
My understanding is that Ram was separated from Dodge to make them easier to sell back. It happened back in 2009 around the bankruptcy. Then Fiat came in an bought the whole company.
At the time the trucks and Jeep were the only part of Chrysler that was worth anything and not much has changed since.
In other news, the automaker currently known as Stellantis still doesn’t know what it’s doing, but dreams of making cars.
Too many brands, countries and governments. You couldn’t dream a bigger sh*t show.
“Talk to your doctor to see if Stellantis is right for you!”
(It isn’t)
The potential side effects… Oh, the potential side effects…
David Byrne is such a freaking joy. He just seems like he’s having such a genuinely great time up there.
Merge Dodge and Ram together (maybe call the trucks “Dodge Rams” similar to the GMC Hummer)
Chrysler gets rebadged Euro cars, maybe Citroens or something.
Jeep keeps on keepin’ on.
Alfa and Fiat could disappear and almost nobody would notice.
Pairing Chrysler up with Citroen and DS, and, maybe Lancia and Opel for certain models, had always seemed like an obvious option to me
A very US centric take on the global automobile market. Alfa and Fiat are doing just fine in the rest of the world.
Fiat, sure, but Alfa could fall off the European market and it would take a while before the average person would notice.
I guess I was thinking specifically about the US market. Fiat and Alfa have such a small market share here that they are a rounding error in the total sales here. I should have been more clear that those two would make sense to keep as European brands.
Still it’s enough sales if you realize they don’t spend a dime and anything sent over is already purchased by the dealer
To me they are still Dodge (brand/company) Rams (model), like they used to be. They largely threw away a history of Dodge trucks when they decided to make Ram a separate entity, and they killed or at least contributed to killing Dodge cars with the same stroke. They went nuts with the spinoff idea, with SRT as a separate brand, too, which they then backtracked on. Intelligently.
I really wonder why they won’t just take Chrysler behind the shed.
Yeah, enthusiasts would whine, for sure, but that feels like the “brown diesel manual wagon” — how many people would actually buy if given the opportunity (i.e., if they actually produced other “Chrysler” models)?
Rip the bandage off and ask your doctor if Stellantis is right for you.
I guess the minivan is still doing well enough? It’s strange to me that they haven’t done some rebadging of international models for Chrysler, they haven’t shied away from that with Dodge or Jeep (although let’s be honest, the Hornet is a complete train wreck).
Or I guess the Jeep isn’t a rebadge, but a platform sharing situation. Still!
The Wagoneer arguablely makes more sense as a Chrysler.
I do agree with that wholeheartedly, but I think the time to have done that is already past, in the same vein as people suggesting to throw Ram back under the Dodge name.
The putrid Aspen didn’t help either. The only real brand value left in the US is RAM and Jeep, they’ve pretty well squandered the rest.
The only plausible explanation I can come up with is that don’t want to spend the money to buy back the franchises. When the Detroit 3 killed the Mercury, Oldsmobile, Plymouth brands in the past they had to buy out the dealers. Put those payments in 2026 dollars and it cost each company billions.
Far cheaper just to brand one vehicle as a Chrysler to round out the lineup at a Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram dealership.
It’s also not worth buying back the franchises just yet because the brand could still be useful in the future; they’re the best place to dump some rebadged PSAs or aero-optimized EVs
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Chrysler the brand costs basically nothing to run, other than making the Pacifica which still sells well; it had its biggest year in sales last year with 140k units made with tooling that’s long been paid off, and the refresh should continue that momentum. Yes, they probably used heavy incentives to achieve those numbers, but they can afford it with how everything’s been amortized.
So other than the Pacifica factory, what else do they need to pay for that’s not already shared internally with other brands? A web domain and a couple marketing people?
And it’s good to keep them around because they are easily the best poised to sell EVs and restyled PSA vehicles as a pseudo luxury brand. The highly smooth ‘soap bar’ styling required for minimizing drag fits Chrysler’s aesthetic arguably better than any other legacy brand, while Jeep and Dodge require boxier looking vehicles with the former needing range-sapping high ride height and good approach/departure angles. It’s just frustrating that all of the internal company turmoil has likely continuously delayed any new product for almost a decade at this point.
Watch the unwanted parts of Stellantis and VW be cast off only to merge together into a new company that somehow ends up more successful than Stellantis or VW.
That’s a low bar
Bet there’s a Chinese company looking to buy local (no tariffs) production capacity so buyer(s) already exist.
I do understand that the lion’s share of Chinese manufacturing plants in China are far from making a profit or reaching a break-even production level, so they’re focused on export markets until their local manufacturer bubble bursts and reduces the number of companies/plants.
Yet, Chinese companies avoiding tariffs and even labeling their own designs/products with a local name after a transition period must be scary for North America and European car companies wanting to downsize and sell brands and manufacturing plants.
I still have no idea why Stellantis doesn’t fold Ram and Chrysler under the Dodge brand, leaving only it and Jeep as the American brands.
Chrysler could live on as a top-trim of Dodge (akin to Maybach)
So — ’70s – ’90s Chrysler? Badge engineering at it’s finest?
It’d show more effort than they’ve put into the brand so far.
Badge-engineering saved Chrysler from ruin once, and it could save them again.
Yes, but they’d need something besides a minivan. 🙂
Since Dodge and Chrysler were all the same vehicle with the badge being the only difference makes more sense to bash Chrysler over the head with a hammer make the minivan a Dodge Caravan and roll it into the brand that people know is still in business instead of reviving a thought to be dead brand Chrysler
Speaks to the second problem – Dodge doesn’t really have much either.
This, exactly.
I’d hate to see the Dodge brand go, I’ve enjoyed their unapologetic focus on performance and the appeal to muscle car enthusiasts. And my money has been where my mouth is – my wife and I have owned 3 Chargers and one Durango over the past 15 years.
Trouble is, Dodge keeps screwing up (or getting screwed over . . . or both). 2.5 years ago when I was ready for a new car, Dodge had the same old outdated Charger, which cost a lot more than my last one. I wouldn’t have minded an EV, but it was too far off. I went another direction.
Then when it came time to replace my wife’s Durango last fall, she would have gladly driven another one exactly like it . . . but she couldn’t get all the features her old R/T had outside of a Hellcat (again, too expensive). The newly announced Durango R/T 392 has since solved that problem . . . but our horse was already out of the barn by then.
I get that inflation has been a thing over the past few years, but Dodge and Stellantis have been making other bonehead moves that just compound their own issues.
Personally, I’ve hated the direction Dodge has gone since Bob Eaton sold them out to Daimler. I wish they’d kept the path they were going in the 80s and 90s, as an inexpensive, stylish alternative to GM and Ford available in flavors from mild (Shadow, Neon) to spicy (Shelby models, Viper). Instead they’ve gone all in on the persona they cultivated with being the villains’ car in Bullitt, and they’ve been attracting a clientele to match (not saying you or your family are among them). The HEMI should have stayed dead.
Brotherhood of Muscle? More like Brotherhood of Toolbags.
Dodge (and Ram) have gone all-in chasing men with goatees.
IMHO Stellantis has 2 ways to go with the US Brands. Either bring quality and reliability up to the competition and charge similar price or continue to produce the 10 year old no improvement and charge significantly less.
Chrysler is a seperate franchise that was purchased separately by dealers.
Don’t know if that is the case with RAM as they took 1/2 the Dodge lineup to create RAM.
I can see a future where Chrysler has maybe one BOF big SUV, then everything else they sell is just badge engineered from the Euro Brands. Maybe its the new home of some Alfa and some Opel or something? But little original except a broad design language across the lineup to create cohesiveness.
Dodge gets treated similarly, but without the “premium” approach to the vehicles.
So really Stellantis starts running like 4-5 brands, but rebadged all over the world.
Maybe the president will decide to bundle Dodge and Chrysler into his Spirit airline bailout. That’d be a definite lose, lose, lose proposition.
Be sure to take out a vending machine life insurance policy before boarding that plane.
A pentastar V6 powered airplane, that’ll run fine until the lifters fail or the oil filter neck cracks. Except the ECM will intermittently fail and the pilot’s cockpit will go dark. Should be fine if they turn it off and back on again.
RE: Stellantis – just re-merge Dodge with RAM. Most of us still call it a Dodge Ram anyways. Give it the Pacifica. Euthanize Chrysler unless it is going to be used as a US outlet for mid-range Euro imports. Alfa may have life here for higher end imports.
Jeep is the parasite that kills the host (look at its history, it always survives but kills the parent company).
Dodge and Chrysler are on life support and I hope they (whoever “they” are) doesn’t eff up Jeep.
Jeep really has been the desired brand for all of these insane mergers and acquisitions since Kaiser in 1953.
Jeep is the parasite that kills the host (look at its history, it always survives but kills the parent company).
Bantam
Willys
Kaiser
AMC
Chrysler
D/C
Cerberus
….
The last one is/was FCA
Is Jeep doing the killing or was jeep a straw that was grasped at as life support?
I think we just need to look at the 4xe to know that Jeep is out to take even their owners down.
I think all saw the vast profit potential in Jeep and over-leveraged, negected core brands, etc… to support Jeep to the detriment of the overall company.
Maybe American Bantam laid a curse after the US Army essentially stole their blueprints.
Or that Jeep, as a wider brand, isn’t viable without platform sharing with something else that’s somewhat successful.
Oh, most certainly. As 4jim said, too many looked at it as a pure profit fix for their own woes. Then so heavily invested in Jeep they lost the rest of their shirts.
Unlikely. Look at Jaguar Land Rover – LR brings home the money while J sits at home in its underwear dreaming up grandiose schemes.
With that as a model, Jeep could quite happily make the volume it needs to be a viable company in most economic circumstances.
LR has lost a lot of money in an industry that has continued to reward high-priced SUVs. It drifts from the jewel in Tata’s crown to the loss-leader. Until recently nearly every model had its own bespoke platform with dissimilar materials and manufacturing requirements that prohibited them from properly sharing anything even internally.
Their profit and loss figures don’t seem to reflect that – over the last ten years they’ve had a total profit of around £6.7bn as far as I can see, and that includes a really bad year in China and the pandemic.
wait, the company that lost >3B in 2020, almost 2B in 2021, 1B in 2022?
I mean, we could consider that all caused by pandemicing, but that Damler made record profits 2021, makes JLR’s numbers all the worse.
But, maybe, before the pandemic?
When the lost between 2B to 3B per year from 2016 to 2018?
In the last three years, they’ve been able to do better. But historically they’ve been a trainwreck.
Well, looks like Porsche group has some lineup space…
Rimac owning Bugatti has got to be one of the stranger outcomes of the absolute EV mania of the late 2010s/early 2020s. It’s still just baffling to me how that ended up being the case.
The Stellantis plan makes sense globally.
I can’t see a reason to sell 7 brands in the USA.
Dodge still sells fleet vehicles. Especially police upfitted ones. I guess the police SUVs have been around for so long it might be hard for the changer to compete but has to be some business for them. Just maybe not enough to warrant continued production. So then dodge goes back to Durango only that could easily be shifted to ram or a new model of similar features to be a ram. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dodge and Chrysler and maybe a euro brand or or two end up in Chinese hands. If Stellantis is really desperate for cash a few north American facilities could be included.
I think Stellantis is content to keep Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram in the USA and allow that collection of brands to offer a complete model line as most dealers sell all those brands.
Selling a brand to the Chinese would only accelerate Chinese auto companies’ spread into global markets.
I would be shocked if Chinese ownership of traditional Big 3 brands and especially of domestic production facilities would be allowed by the US government.
Look at the outcry over Nippon Steel purchasing US Steel, a deal that both the union and management were strongly in favor of, in a less prominent industry and with a close ally, presumably none of which would be the case with Chrysler going to the Chinese.
True. I can’t see it being approved either.
Thats true but stranger things have happened. Certain comments from all parties makes me think its’s not DOA the last real holdouts probably the unions and other conmpanies doing business in the us that might have a symothpathetic ear or several.
I think I’d be shocked if the Chinese even wanted Chrysler.
Yep
Matt, typo in the first paragraph under the OMODA picture: “you might no know”
I thoiught that was attempt at a Scottish dialect
Nae.
I forgot Stellantis owned Alfa. Having so many unreliable brands consolidated under one company truly is impressive.
Why? It’s a huge amount of suppliers, components, and platforms shared between brands which means probably very similar quality and reliability between brands. I’d be impressed if one brand somehow managed to be significantly more/less reliable than their sister brands that used much of the same stuff. Not quite sure how it would happen, maybe one brand somehow integrates stuff better and has a better QC process, but boy would it be impressive.
I’ve called this the VW curse for years.