Stellantis says it is prepared to kill off its struggling brands and Maserati is said to be a leading candidate. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors is set to join an alliance between Honda and Nissan, creating a tie-up between automakers with combined sales of more than 8 million vehicles. More at Reuters.
+ Toyota will replace complete engines in 102,000 recalled Toyota Tundra pickups and Lexus LX SUVs to correct a defect in which machining debris could damage the bearings. More at Autoblog.
+ A fire in a scrapyard in Los Angeles, California consumed 1,500 vehicles and took more than 24 hours to extinguish, forcing an evacuation of the area due to hazardous fumes. More at The Drive.
+ Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell was disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix when his car was found to be underweight, handing the win to teammate Lewis Hamilton. More at RacingNews365.
+ Two U.S. senators are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate automakers selling driving data to brokers who package it and sell it to insurance companies. More at The Detroit News.
+ Mercedes-Benz Group has revised its profit target for the year, citing challenges in the China market and ongoing trade tensions, but predicts a more favorable second half. More at CBT News.
+ To honor Corvette chief executive engineer Tadge Juechter, who retires this summer after 47 years, Corvettes from the 2025 ZR1 will feature a “Tadge badge” on the backlite glass. More at Motor1.com.
+ Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says the automaker is prepared to kill off its brands that struggle to turn a profit, which observers believe would have to include Maserati. More at Car and Driver.
+ Chinese EV battery giant CATL reported a 13.4 percent jump in net profit to $1.7 billion in the second quarter over the same period last year despite a 13.2 percent dropR in revenue. More at World Auto Forum.
+ In a shakeup at the Legacy Motor Club NASCAR Cup operation, crew chief Jason Burdett and a number of other crew members on Jimmie Johnson’s no. 84 car were released. More at Jayski.
Photo courtesy of Maserati.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from July 26 here.
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Go woke, go broke. Stellantis major push towards EV’s is coming back to haunt them. You don’t kill off your best sellers {Dodge Charger and Challenger} without a like replacement. A more balanced approach of offering both ICE and EV on the same bodies would have kept sales up. Well, at least they would go back up after the current wreck in the White House and their party are pushed to the curb.
Playing the blame game again and it doesn’t matter if there is truth in it or not, huh? I guess creating more manufacturing jobs than the Annoying Orange did after bragging on how much he was going to “bring back”.
If Stellantis screwed up, then Stellantis screwed up. Incentives doesn’t tell anyone to go at break neck speed to develop something so fast that they try to squeeze a profit from the incentives. All electric isn’t ready for prime time, and hybrids are a better option right now. But if no one does anything, it never will be.
Take any advancement, once someone took up the challenge, then gave up. Not much progress, huh? That attitude would have stopped pretty much every early automaker.
Why does anyone 700+ BHP in a street car. The only reason those cars you mentioned sold well were the people who survived the wreck to buy a new one. 700 BHP didn’t do me any good on a race track. Certainly don’t have a use for it on the street.
All the above, but you don’t want a 1000+ BHP Electric car. . .? You really don’t know what you want !!!