FCA ELECTRIC CAR STRATEGY

wattEV2buy explores the FCA electric car strategy and list the FCA EV brands, news, and sales as it vies for a position in the fast-growing EV market. The FCA Group were one of the last auto manufacturers to develop an electric cars strategy. The FCA electrification strategy is predominantly based on applying the platform to more expensive model ranges and plug-in hybrid models. The majority of the respondents to the wattev2buy Alfa Romeo EV survey favored pure electric models below $50,000. The FIAT range will see a new FIAT 500e in 2020. RAM will only get a mild hybrid option for its electrification road map.

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BRANDS | SALES | NEWS

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Maserati-product-portfolio

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JEEP-EV-Models

FIAT CHRYSLER EV BRANDS

FIAT

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CHRYSLER

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ALFA ROMEO

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MASERATI

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JEEP

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FIAT CHRYSLER EV PROPULSION SYSTEM

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FIAT CHRYSLER SELF DRIVING CARS

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FIAT CHRYSLER EV SALES

Go to our detailed breakdown of Global EV Sales to see how the FCA electric car strategy fares to its competitors in the fast-growing EV market.

GLOBAL EV SALES

THE FCA ELECTRIC CAR STRATEGY IN THE NEWS

2018 Week 29 - FCA strategy update

The head of FCA Group’s luxury brands, Maserati and Alfa Romeo, Tim Kuniskis told NBCNews that it aims to compete with Tesla in the USA for premium models. FCA Group which has been anti electrification up to June but surprisingly changed it’s tune and committed over $10 billion towards electrification which is 20% of its 5-year budget. I find the claim strange since the company is only planning plug-in hybrid models for the Alfa Romeo brand. In the exclusive interview, Kuniskis said, “Everything gets electrified, look at our product portfolio and you see we’re going after Tesla.” Kuniskis praised the performance advantages of premium electric cars over combustion vehicles saying “In addition to relying less on petrol, range-topping electrified models from Maserati and Alfa Romeo are going to give you more horsepower and quicker 0 to 60 times.”

In Week 27 I mentioned that Chinese battery maker CATL planned to construct a battery assembly line in Germany to supply BMW with EV batteries to the value of €4 billion. Bloomberg this week reported that BMW now has the right to make an equity investment in CATL for $427 million (2.85 billion yuan), making it the first foreign-owned auto company to do so. The stake, if it goes through, will give BMW less than 2% in the newly listed CATL.

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2020 Alfa Romeo 8C PHEV

2018 Week 22 - FCA woke up and smelled the coffee

The next news piece of news gives me an immense amount of pleasure. FCA CEO and longtime EV naysayer, Sergio Marchionne, announced a $10.5 billion investment into electrifying the group as it intends to exit diesel engines by 2021. The announcement was made during the company’s Capital Markets Day to the investment community. The EV budget makes up 20% of the planned expenses for the next five years.Mr. Marchionne which is to retire next year has as recently as 2017 said that he did not believe EVs will be a factor. FCA has up to now been seen as a compliance company, only selling one BEV, the FIAT 500e in markets where it is mandated by law to do so and is now in a tight spot as it tries to play catchup to its competitors. FCA plans to develop 2 FIAT EVs, 4 JEEP EVs, and 4 MASERATI EVs but no Alfa Romeo.

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In related news, Chrysler announced this week that it would supply a further 62,000 Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid minivans to Waymo’s autonomous driving programme, starting from later this year. Currently, Waymo is using 600 minivans in its pilot project in Phoenix.

2017 Week 30 - FCA joins yet another self-driving alliance

As the race for electric vehicles hots up so it does for autonomous vehicles as car makers try and regain the edge it lost in the EV sector to tech start-ups. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), dead-last in the EV race, this week joined the BMW Intel self-driving car alliance as the company gears-up to produce self-driving cars by 2021. The BMW led alliance also includes Intel’s recently acquired Israeli tech company, Mobileye, Delphi Automotive, and Continental. Together the alliance will have 140 self-driving test vehicles on the roads by the end of 2017. Interestingly enough FCA is also a partner with Google’s Waymo where it developed and deployed autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans.

2017 Week 30 - Half of Fiat Chrysler line-up to be electrified by 2022

FIAT Chrysler and (former) EV naysayer, Sergio Marchionne, this week announced during an Investor event that all cars of its luxury marque Maserati would be electrified post-2019. Mr. Marchionne went further stating that half of Fiat Chrysler’s lineup, including Alfa Romeo, will be electric from 2022. The strategy will be formulated over the next year as the company enters its 3rd five-year plan in 2019.

2017 Week 13 - Sergio Marchionne is warming to electric vehicles

With the run-up to the Formula E to be held in Mexico City today, Ferrari came out in support of the event. FIA’s Auto magazine quoted the CEO of FIAT Chrysler, one of the auto industries biggest naysayers of EV’s, Sergio Marchionne as follows in an interview:

“The first is that we need to be involved in Formula E because electrification via hybridization is going to be part of our future.”
“We have already developed a hybrid supercar, La Ferrari,” he said, “and on future Ferrari models we will leverage new technologies as well as electrification.”

And this from a man that came out vehemently against the technology, saying it will never catch on. No mention was made of plans for the electrification of Alpha Romeo.

2017 Week 7 - Forecast for EV sales adjusted significantly upwards, Fiat Chrysler strategy not geared

The respected Economist Magazine this week commented on forecast adjustments by various investment houses for the penetration of electric vehicles. Up till last year the consensus was that only 4% of new vehicles would be electric by 2025. BNP Paribas now forecast 11% penetration by 2025, while Morgan Stanley see’s a 7% penetration. In 2016 international EV sales increased with nearly 750,000 units (42%)  in spite of a low fuel price environment. One factor driving the change of heart are aggressive regulations to support environmental targets. In Norway electric vehicles now makes up 37% of new vehicle fleet amid government support while in China the Government aims to have EV’s make up 8% of new vehicles by 2018. Technology has also moved much faster than anticipated and battery cost, a long time stumbling block is coming down faster than anticipated, with some mega factories coming online within the next two years. Our hearts go out to the automakers that failed to notice the trend, RIP Fiat, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and the list goes on, not to mention Big Oil. 

2017 Week 3 - Fiat Chrysler branded for just doing enough to comply on regulations

A report just released by the Californian Air Resouces Board indicated that advancement in electric vehicle technology is happening at a much faster pace than anticipated five years back. The report highlights the efforts by Tesla and Chevrolet to bring affordable and long-range vehicles to the market. The report found expanding charging networks, advancements in battery performance, decreasing cell costs, and the number of models available to the consumer as factors for the improved results. On the other hand, the Board states that not all automakers attack the challenges with the same vigor, with Honda and Fiat Chrysler named as company’s that just do the bare minimum to comply with regulations. We predict this will reflect in the various companies share prices five years from now when the next report take the pulse of the sector.

2017 Week 2 - Fiat Chrysler on notice for cheating on its emmission tests.

Another one bites the dust as the Environmental Protection Agency this week put Fiat Chrysler on notice for cheating on its emission tests. Diesel Gate might be the best own inflicted wound by big auto fighting electric vehicles, forcing big brands such as Volkswagen and Mitsubishi to change strategy from pushing back to embracing the technology. Now Fiat’s CEO, Sergio Marchionne, who has been a fervent EV hater might be forced out or to change his stance. In our books, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person ????

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