I am constantly concerned that the average person has no idea what or who a Stellantis is. Every previous iteration of the company had Chrysler in the name somewhere (FiatChrysler, Daimler Chrysler, Chrysler Corp.), so I’m left writing CDJR in many headlines for The Morning Dump because, for most Americans, that’s how the brand’s dealers represent themselves. All that being said, whether you’re talking about CDJR or Stellantis, the news today is awful.
Like, $2.7 billion awful. This is the inevitable result of poor decision-making from the previous leadership of Stellantis, combined with bad timing. Is it the bottom for Stellantis? Possibly. Turning around a company this big is a bit like one of SWG’s restorations, where the first few steps feel more like going backwards than forwards.
In life, the grass is always greener on the other side, but sometimes that’s because your neighbors just spray-painted that ish. For example, one Chinese brand that seemed to be rising while Stellantis was falling might have made up half of its sales using the “zero-mileage used car” trick.
Japanese automakers, too, seemed in an enviable position until recently. The tariff question has thrown Japanese politics into a bit of disarray, and the results were ultimately mixed. The EU has less of a political problem at this exact moment in time, and is either going to cut a deal with the Trump Administration or push for harsher retaliatory actions against the United States.
What’s Happened To Stellantis?
I don’t take much pleasure in being right, more than a year ago, about Stellantis being a company that essentially doomed itself with short-term decision-making, which resulted in immediate profits at the expense of long-term viability. Then-CEO Carlos Taveres, pictured above enjoying his millions of dollars, may be the only person who did well because of this approach (a result of a compensation package that made no sense).
When I wrote that piece, Stellantis was talking about huge profits. It was clear to car enthusiasts that this was a mirage. The company was squeezing the last money it could out of old platforms in North America, with no obvious direction and few incentives. The pandemic gave the company’s aging cars a new life as people were desperate to buy anything new and, by and large, anything was all Stellantis had to sell on this side of the Atlantic.
To its credit, Stellantis inevitably reorganized and ditched Tavares for a CEO who knows something about the North American market. Instead of building more EVs that no one seems to want, the company is shifting focus back to V8-powered Rams and hybrids. Some of the execs who fled the automaker during the Tavares regime are slowly coming back.
The question is: Has Stellantis reached the bottom? Is the first half of 2025 the harbinger of things to come or the nadir?
Even before the company’s full financials are published next week, a preliminary figure was released to basically warn everyone that it’s not going to be great. Specifically, the company said that it expects it has already lost $2.7 billion through the first half of the year.
A lot of this has to be blamed on the specific cars the company is (or isn’t) selling, with deliveries down 25% year-over-year in Q2 in North America. So what’s going on? Here’s how the company describes its current predicament:
- The early stage of actions being taken to improve performance and profitability, with new products expected to deliver larger benefits in the Second Half of 2025
- Approximately €3.3 billion of pre-tax net charges, primarily related to program cancellation costs and platform impairments, net impact of the recent legislation eliminating the CAFE penalty rate, and restructuring, which are excluded from Adjusted Operating Income(3) consistent with the Company’s definition of AOI
- Adverse impacts to AOI from higher industrial costs, geographic and other mix factors, and changes in foreign exchange rates
- The early effects of US tariffs – €0.3 billion of net tariffs incurred as well as loss of planned production related to implementation of the Company’s response plan
Just FYI, AOI is “Adjusted Operating Income,” and is how the company describes its income net of certain types of expenses like interest. A lot of this is focused on North America, because North America is historically where the company made its money (while hoping to not lose too much in Europe).
While tariffs were not necessarily in place for all of the quarter, there are “early effects” noted. The biggest issue here might not be the actual tariff costs but the fact that the company has to reorganize its production. That was going to happen anyway as mentioned in the first bullet point; it’s just happening faster now. There’s also the usual mix of input costs and currency fluctuation.
Did you notice something strange here? The “net impact of the recent legislation eliminating the CAFE penalty rate” bit?
Everyone knows that Congress getting rid of CAFE penalties was to the benefit of automakers, but this is the first time I’ve seen this come up in an investor press release. If I’m reading this correctly, it’s basically admitted that it’ll cost money upfront to retool to build more V8-powered trucks and other vehicles, but ultimately that’ll be worth it for the automaker as it saves money on penalties.
I have mixed feelings about this, even if the logic is sound. Perhaps this is really the bottom for Stellantis.
China’s ‘Zero Mileage Used Car’ Scandal Gets Even Worse
Back in 2022, Neta seemed like one of the biggest and most promising electric car companies in the budding Chinese EV industry. This summer, the company filed for bankruptcy. What happened?
In addition to being caught in a brutal price war, Neta was reportedly one of the worst abusers of the “zero mileage used car” practice that’s been upending an already unstable car market in China. The short of it is that automakers, in varying ways, will register a car as being sold by passing it through a dealer or another company. That way, the company can get incentives and mark the car “sold” even if there’s no buyer for it, with the vehicle then later being sold as a used car.
Many of China’s biggest brands have been popped for allegedly doing this, but Neta might be the most egregious. There’s a big exclusive report from Reuters that singles out Neta and Geely-owned Zeekr, but I’m focusing on Neta because it’s wild stuff:
Neta booked sales early by arranging insurance policies for cars before sending them to dealers, according to records shared with Reuters and a dealer for the brand.The records contain details for each car and the insurance policies purchased on them, with the names of the insurance agents. Dealers were able to refer to these when they found a buyer to transfer the policy to, according to copies seen by Reuters. The company booked early sales of 64,719 cars this way.“In Neta’s case, the company made it clear to dealers that the cars were insured ahead of time and therefore counted as sold,” said the dealer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fears of retaliation from the company.“We had to explain to buyers that the traffic insurance was complementary and remind them it would expire earlier and should be renewed on time,” he said.But three Neta buyers, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the dealerships had not told them the policies had begun well before the purchase date, only finding out when the policies expired.
What Happened In Japan Last Night?
I spent yesterday trying to take a break from work and recharge, but I did spend a bunch of time following the Japanese elections on my phone. The result? Like a lot of elections recently, incumbents lost ground, but not enough ground for anyone to claim a mandate to do anything.
Japan’s ruling coalition lost its upper house majority in an election on Sunday — after having suffered a similar lower house defeat in October — but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has made clear his intention to go on leading the government.
[…]
Of the 125 upper house seats up for election, the ruling coalition won 47, versus the opposition’s 78. Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party lost 13 seats while its coalition partner, Komeito, gave up six.
The chamber has a total of 248 seats.
Including the coalition’s 75 seats that were not up for reelection, the bloc’s upper house presence is down to 122 from 141, three seats short of a majority.
For now, it’ll be Ishiba who is going to lead the tariff negotiations with the Trump Administration, but it’s likely only a matter of time before the LDP dumps him for someone who knows how to win elections.
The EU Is Coming For Our Bourbon
With 50 states, there are a lot of ways for foreign governments to target American senators for reciprocal tariffs if they don’t get what they want out of negotiations. The President decided to blow up the global trade order by threatening increased trade duties on virtually every country, inhabited or not. So far the United States has little to show for it, as these are complicated negotiations that usually take months or years.
The EU seems ready to accept a 10% tariff on most goods, but that might not be enough. If the EU doesn’t get what it wants, it’s going to retaliate, as Bloomberg reports:
The bloc has already approved potential tariffs on €21 billion of US goods that could be quickly implemented in response to Trump’s metals levies. They target politically-sensitive American states and include products such as soybeans from Louisiana, home to House Speaker Mike Johnson, other agricultural products, poultry, and motorcycles.
The EU has also prepared a list of tariffs on an additional €72 billion of American products in response to Trump’s so-called reciprocal levies and automotive duties. They would target industrial goods, including Boeing Co. aircraft, US-made cars, and bourbon whiskey.
It’s also working on potential measures that go beyond tariffs, such as export controls and restrictions on public procurement contracts.
You know when they come for the bourbon, they’re not playing.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
The Last Dinner Party has a new album coming, and the video for “This is the Killer Speaking” is predictably strange. I dig it.
The Big Question
Is this the bottom for Stellantis, or is there another sub-basement?
Top photo: Jeep/Depositphotos.com
TavarAss really did a number on Stellantis. It’s a shame they didn’t see through his sheer lack of ability sooner.
Lol, if you are incapable of discerning the difference between bourbon, Irish, and Scotch then you probably shouldn’t waste your money on any of them.
If he couldn’t discern the difference, he probably wouldn’t prefer Scottish and Irish whiskeys.
Personally I prefer Scottish whiskeys, with Irish ones a distant third. But preferences are like Instagram accounts; everybody’s got one.
while i generally disagree with tariffs, i won’t be sad if bourbon gets a little cheaper due to domestic oversupply. oh noes.
regarding stellantis, the best thing they make is a minivan, so do with that information what you will.
Yum
I don’t care about the V8s. Maybe they have importance as a marketing gimmick, but they were never actually the volume sellers, at least for cars. The move has always been to get customers into dealerships, then sell them a Caliber, Avenger, Jeep CUV, Journey, Caravan or a v6 Charger at a cheap monthly payment. My assessment of Stellantis in North America basically comes down to them having semi competent, *affordable* successors to those key vehicles, of which barely any exist.
Are they in the basement? Yes. Do they have further to go? Absolutely. It doesn’t really matter if people (citizens or the current administration) want gas guzzlers or not. Smaller, fuel efficient vehicles will ultimately become a necessity through a tightening economy and rising fuel prices.
Cars take 3-4 years to develop. Any automaker making long-term product planning decisions based on the whims of the current administration deserves what is coming for them. If the worst happens and the USA becomes Trumpistan for the foreseeable future, your average citizen will not be in the market for a V8 Charger.
3-4 years to develop a new entire vehicle yes, however it only takes a few months to integrate a new powertrain into a vehicle. Short term path to long term profitability will be Dodge Rams, I mean Ram Trucks, offering V8s again for now, alongside the I6T.
Ford has shown the method to market a factually better engine to crowds that claim to want a V8 for V8 sake. You trickle in the high spec turbo option alongside the V8, for around the same price or slight discount (read V8 tax for added corp profits). Once sales invert to favor the I6T you reintroduce the low spec turbo option to recoup profit margin. The problem is when you tell Americans you can’t have something, we tend to get very angry. Don’t take the V8s away, you have to figure out how to make us choose something else.
Makes sense, the issue I see is do they have the other options for the people who are sucked in by the V8 but can’t actually afford it. Ford has those basis covered.
My above premise would require a rental spec to exist, which I guess Dodge doesn’t have either. My mistake. You’re completely correct.
Yeah the amount of automakers and other large companies making huge decisions (such as building or not building important factories) based on trumps current mood is wild.
I would advise a wait and see with all vehicles coming from Stellantis. EVs were rushed, then delayed to rush V8 powered vehicles to avoid losing money.
A lot of corners are being cut to meet those goals. Maybe give them 3 years and they will fixed all the problems introduced from rushing. Maybe they will even align the taillights with the lights on rear doors in Challangers, Durnagos, Wagonners, Grand Cherokees…
Any company making making long range plans and investments and scrapping their earlier plans is run by idiots. I don’t know what’s going to be happening in four years, but it won’t be this.
Of course saying you’re going back to gas’s guzzlers may be politically correct in the current situation, but actually committing is a entirely distinct container of worms.
I mean Daimler sold controlling interest in Chrysler for less than 8 billion back in 2007(12 billion now), so that was pretty cheap, and as bad as their lineup is now, they had more models, but all the interiors are made of trash can plastic, and the small cars had Jatco CVTs.
And then of course go back to the 80s and k-cars, remembered fondly today, literally 50 different models from the same platform.
So I think Stellantis looks at that, and other falterings and is like, oh we’re not that bad yet, this is fine(insert comic of dog in room full of fire sipping coffee).
I think we’re watching in 1000fps the landing of the Stellantis vase on hard concrete, flung from the 20th floor. First, the whole thing seems to buckle as if made of rubber (market share stretched by -30%) then explodes in a beautiful choreography of a million smaller bits (in this case, what, 15 brand-pieces?) which on their own are worthless and forgettable. Then, just nothingness, man.
Ok, maybe a couple shards will keep their name enough to spring something valuable but it will be a long shot.
My ridiculous love of Citroens would take umbrage at worthless and forgettable. Now what was I saying?
I carefully picked my words: the two shards I mentioned are specifically Citroen and Jeep. I think now jeep is beyond played out and has definitely squeezed all it could out of the original AMC genius DNA but Citroen, oh man it sure deserved better and I hope it sticks around. They brought us real cool stuff and a 1970’s Citroen SM remains unmatched until now.
Does Stellantis sell one vehicle in the U.S. that doesn’t need a mountain of incentive cash sitting on the hood to get anyone to notice?
I just saw a Wagoneer S advertised with $33k(!!!) off the sticker price….$73k-$40k. That is insane. That is their latest product to hit the market. That same dealer has a bunch of 2023(!!!) and 2024 4xe Wranglers and Grand Cherokees with $20k discounts.
A $70k HEMI Charger isn’t going to save them. They have another sub-basement, and the discontinuation of some useless brands to go before they possibly right the ship.
I don’t think I’ve seen a single Wagoneer S yet. I’ve seen a couple regular Wagoneers but not that.
Stellantis needs to focus on making Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram showrooms not look like Soviet supermarkets
Stellantis kinda reminds me of Ford back in the early Aughts when they had ownership interests in Mazda, Jaguar, Aston Martin, etc. As soon as they unloaded all the non-Ford/Lincoln brands, it turned out quite beneficial for Dearborn.
Doesn’t seem to be a good idea to be a Jack of All Trades, Master of None in the car biz.
I’m trying to figure out what they’re spending their R&D money on, since it doesn’t appear to be going towards actual R&D.
At least back then Lincoln got a Jaguar 32 valve V8s and made some sports sedans. Now only taxi drivers buy Lincolns and Ford only makes crappy trucks
Ironically, it’s largely Ford’s doing that everyone wants to drive a damn SUV/crossover today.
It wasn’t just that they unloaded all the brands, it was the timing – they basically raised a bunch of cash right before the global financial crisis when cash was suddenly in high demand and low availability.
Not surprising at all. The auto industry has spent billions preparing to meet 2026 – 2032 fuel economy requirements. If CAFE goes away that development and in some cases tooling is wasted and has to be written off. Then you have to spend time and money to validate the old less fuel efficient engines in new models.
It looks like several programs I spend the last 4 years working on will just get scrapped – or put on the shelf until the next administration – and then they will require more worked to come off the shelf.
Highly efficient stuff. Reminds me of the Apple car project. And that’s how you build prosperity, kids!
Nothing like the Apple car. That was a private company looking at what it would take to enter a new market and then deciding they didn’t want to do it.
On the other hand with CAFE the federal government set regulations that cost billions to meet with the threat of many more billions in fines if companies did not comply. Then they said – “my bad – we aren’t doing that anymore – sorry” This hasn’t happened just once.
If anyone was actually interested in building prosperity, stability would be a prime concern instead of playing musical chairs and juking left and right.
Exactly. Industry would rather deal with steadily increasing regulations that we can plan for than a change every 4 years.
Meanwhile the rest of the world will keep on in the same direction and the American manufacturers will be even less competitive.
And it’s not like gasoline is getting cheaper, the whole point is to give mo money to the oil industry.
The write-off people!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCP27_vquxQ
I’m waiting on Dodge to ship cars with carburetors, long-tube headers, and no cats soon.
Our future smells great.
“ Instead of building more EVs that no one seems to want….”
Stellantis built compromised EV that even EV buyers didn’t want.
Any car company that changes it’s path because we are CURRENTLY not penalizing violations of CAFE standards deserves everything it gets when we go back to doing so.
First. Stellantis is a moronic name that means nothing to anyone. To ass wipe clean the value of historical names is a giant self own on the scale of the cyberfuck. Lancia, Maserati, Citroen Peugeot Chrysler Jeep. I’m not sure about Dodge Opel Fiat and whatever that rebrand in England is called. My brain says one or two models per moniker leaning into their best history. One ice one EV/Phev. Grand wagoner my butt. It should have been an aspirational awd Chrysler. A Jeep should be a Jeep full stop. Citroen stays weird like updated 2CV and remake the DS. Peugeot leans hard into 3rd world indestructible and Lancia goes hard into Rallye/with spin offs for mere mortals. Add your own historical updates and yeah I completely forgot Alfa Romeo. Can you blame me?
Stellantis means a bit more if you live in a country that speaks a romance language. In Latin it is a grouping of stars. Which makes sense for their “constellation of brands”.
“Is this the bottom for Stellantis, or is there another sub-basement?”
Sad to say, I think we’ve only reached the level of the frogurt being cursed. We haven’t discovered that the choice of toppings contains potassium benzoate yet.
THAT’S BAD!
I thought the BMW i8 was cool and would occasionally check out available inventory just to daydream. One December a few years after it launched, I noticed a drastic increase in used i8 listed as available at BMW dealerships: nearly 100 of them listed at around $10K under new MSRP and less than 1K miles on the odometer. (Some MUCH less.) That amount dwarfed new inventory and was 3-4 times more than used i3 inventory.
I smelled year-end financial shenanigans but never found any more details. This “Zero mile used car” pattern might be a plausible explanation.
I’m ok with more tariffs on bourbon- may keep some of the rare stuff from leaving the country so I can buy more.
Stellantis’ American brands have ended up where they are now by trying to hold on to the good ol’ boy “that thing have a Hemi?” demographic without a plan to diversify or expand beyond that niche. Jeep has avoided this somewhat but has it’s own issues. Chrysler has no cars left and nobody seems to know what they are as a brand anymore. Dodge came out with the electric Charger but changed nothing else and now are retreating to the what worked for them 20 years ago.
I would guess that since they are working from the “we tried nothing and we are all out of ideas” strategy we will see them continue to excavate further depths in future quarters.
What should they do instead of returning to what worked well for them?
What would have worked well for them was actually investing in product — such as a midsize CUV for Chrysler, a replacement for the Jeep Cherokee, a midsize truck for RAM, hybrid engines, etc., etc.
Instead, they took all of their profits from the COVID era and funneled them right into Tavares’ pockets. (And Elkann’s, if we’re being fair.)
What they should do now is honestly well above my pay grade but I would start by figuring out what each of their brands actually is supposed to be. Right now it’s a mess and going back to ‘Hemi all the things’ is not going to fix it in the long run – although a SRT Pacifica would be pretty sweet.
As a semi-interested observer here is my (probably inaccurate) image of each brand:
Ram = Trucks and a commercial van which used to be a Mercedes – no midsize or small truck for some reason and no classic full size SUV – probably should still be a sub-brand of Dodge
Dodge = Potentially cool electric muscle car nobody wants because the brand spent the last 15 years basically saying EVs and hybrids weren’t real cars for real manly men, a forgettable compact SUV which could probably work if it had any relation to a cohesive lineup, and an ancient fullsize SUV which for some reason isn’t a RAM. None of these vehicles have similar styling elements, grilles or lighting signatures.
Chrysler = Two models of minivan which are actually the same – one reusing the least popular model of the Chrysler Corp minvans when they were dominant and the other which was a crossover/wagon to start and has no history.
Jeep = Jeep is Jeep and comparatively seems to actually have it’s shit together but needs to work on QC. A defined brand with a full lineup of SUVs and a truck with limited overlap, PHEV options, and pricing from entry level to luxury.
Fiat = Retro compact cars – basically the image opposite of Dodge
I don’t get to make these decisions but in my opinion Ram is an incomplete brand and should be filled out with a smaller truck and probably a Durango variant or should absorbed back into Dodge.
Dodge is a mess and while it probably has the most to gain by going back to a big engine, big power strategy I don’t see this as a viable strategy past say maybe Jan 2029. Spend that time moving toward a sustainable set of products with PHEVs or hybrids mixed in and re-establish a visual cohesion between them.
Chrysler needs a lineup and an identity refresh and tariffs make raiding DS and Peugeot difficult but the other option is kill it off and move the minivan to Dodge as a Caravan.
Jeep mainly needs to work on QC and improve their PHEV options.
Fiat needs to bring at least one version of the Panda to the US and expand it’s lineup.
Seems like they just stabbed the good ol’boy demographic right in heart. Selling goofy cars and bloated trucks to people that wanted to buy them makes more business sense than whatever they’re doing now.
Yeah, they absolutely did. Their biggest problems in my mind have been mid-term forecasting and investment in new product. I have no doubt that the new Charger would be more popular if Dodge hadn’t spent the last 20 years advertising the “brotherhood of muscle” and how there are sheep and shepherds and wolves that eat the sheep all over video of burnouts and street racing adjacent driving.
There was no strategy of weaning away with a few muscle hybrids and then suddenly they were killing off the Challenger and Charger for a full electric which couldn’t do a burnout. I get why their customers feel betrayed because the company they felt got them changed to quickly and without a place for them. That doesn’t mean the new Charger shouldn’t have been developed – just that they got to it in the worst way possible.
The problem with not having a viable set of products in the pipeline is that they take years to develop.
In order to have years to develop a new product pipeline, you have to survive as a company.
To survive as a company, you have to find ways to bring in short term profits . . . Like playing back your greatest hits.
Toyota needs to buy Jeep. It sounds sacrilege but imagine a Jeep Wrangler with 4Runner levels of quality and reliability.
I imagine a Toyota Corolla with Dodge level of build quality being a reason why not.
if they could just get off their dupa and do their own….I just don’t understand why they haven’t yet, especially considering they have capacity at at least one assembly line to do somethingggggggggggg
They’re bringing back the FJ, are they not?
I mean…that’s the word? But, I don’t know? I mean, I grasp the difficulty of anything with a drop top, but the goodwill that the earth would shower upon Toyota for a) the rumored Maverick fighter and b) the Compact Cruiser actually happening…all other models could turn off the lights and go home at that point.
Barring any sort of serious recalls like Fords been doing lately.
Every company who’s bought Jeep has ended up in trouble, I think they’re smart enough to pass at this point.
Two identically speced vehicles at the same price. One branded Jeep, one branded Toyota. Which would you buy?
Also somehow Jeeps manage to be both crude and fragile/fussy looking at the same time or maybe it’s supposed to be retro.
Toyota also didn’t innovate enough early. They had a huge headstart on hybrids and they wasted it. Ford beat them to the truck market.
How did Toyota waste their headstart on hybrids? They sell the most hybrid vehicles in the USA by far and their entire ICE lineup has a hybrid option with the exception of the GR86 and Supra. Some of their core vehicles are hybrid only.
Cody doesn’t quite understand, but the “wasted head start” is a nice talking point
By not putting them in their trucks. Trucks vastly outsell everything else here. Ford should not have been able to beat and enter the hybrid truck market first, but they did.
Not at Toyota. Toyota makes more RAV4s than their trucks combined:
2024 sales:
Trucks outsell everything else here. Not toyota trucks. Trucks in general.
The highlander sold only 89,658 in 2024,
My point was the Highlander started as a hybrid in 2006, where the Tacoma was 2024. Taking 18 years to put the hybrid highlander motor in a truck seems like a wasted head start.
Maybe “wasted” is too critical, but it could have definitely been better
Toyota used to sell the 2 row and 3 row Highlanders under the same name. Back when the hybrid version came out in 2006 Toyota was selling 130K Highlanders a year. That grew to a peak of 244K in 2018. Then in 2023 Toyota split the 3 row off as a new model called the Grand Highlander. In 2024 the two versions of the Highlander sold 161K
Would a Hybrid truck sell in the mid-00’s? History says no. Ford wasn’t the first to offer a hybrid full size truck. Chevy did it back in 2009 and it was a flop. In general truck buyers are skeptical of technology and don’t really care about fuel economy – or don’t understand that a few MPG saves a lot of money when the vehicle gets such poor fuel economy. The Silverado boosted fuel economy 4 mpg combined (25%) and 44% in city driving but only 1 mpg on the highway.
Ford made the same decision as Toyota. They put their 2-motor hybrid into the 2005 Escape – more than 15 years before they offered a F-150 Hybrid.
The 2.4L i-Force Max hybrid offered as an option in the Grand Highlander and Tacoma is very different than the base 2.5L hybrid powertrain in the Highlanders. The i-Force is a single motor hybrid with the electric motor sandwiched between the engine and a conventional automatic transmission. The 2.5L Highlander Hybrid uses the old Toyota “synergy drive” 2-motor hybrid system with an eCVT and basically no transmission.
Newly developed for the current generation of trucks – not just the Highlander hybrid motor dropped into the Tacoma.
Toyota already makes cool things for the rest of the world, just bring those here and crush jeep at it’s own game…. or maybe it’s old game. To beat jeep now you just need to make off-roaders with more dash space for ducks. Toyota already has 3 row SUVs.
Also, note that the only reason anyone would take that job would be for the parachute when leaving.
Does that horse-girl have a penis?
Asking for a friend.
Am I the only one who thought that picture of Carlos Tavares was Jon Lovitz?
Either you’re the only one not yet aware of the running joke or I’m the only one not aware that you’re joking.
First thing that came to my mind when I saw that phot, and not aware of the running joke either. Not much of a meme fan here.
When I saw a picture of Jon Lovitz I was really hoping it was going to say “Carlos Tavares, pictured above”. Not disappointed.
If anyone thinks Stellantis has hit the bottom of this shitshow, get ready for the V8-everything re-blowing up in their faces, just like it did last time.
They painted themselves into one hellva pit with dropping things with nothing coming out to replace what they drop and then rehiring idiots like Timmy boy there.
The problem with putting V8’s back into production is that they really have no Challenger or Charger to put them in anymore. Yes, there’s a new Charger and Yes, it can be 2 and 4-door, and Yes, it’s supposed to be a chassis designed for both an EV drivetrain and an ICE drivetrain. I think once it finally becomes available with a Hemi, it will be too expensive and uncompetitive. And I wouldn’t be surprised if people stop caring about these cars. And if I’m not mistaken, most Chargers and Challengers sold came with the Pentastar 3.6L V6 and not a V8. They represented a good value in a large car for a good price. I’m thinking the “good price” part of that equation is dead.
They need a mid-sized truck with the V8. Just like the Dakota of 25 years ago, it’ll be unique and a hit in that segment.
LOTS of Tacoma folks are unhappy that they can only get a 4cyl (even though the last gen V6 was trash) now.
RE the Chargers and Challengers, most pony/musclecars were like that. The V8 (or big V8) was always the halo car. The smaller, less powerful engines ALWAYS were the volume sellers. People would go to the showroom to check out the SS396 Chevelle, then leave with a 307 powered Malibu.
Or to keep it Mopar, come for the Hemi Charger, leave with a 318 Coronet.
I am incredibly confident that should Stellantis hit bed rock, that they’ll drag out the blasting caps and keep going.