Tag Archives: Stellantis

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Ram

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into nearly 605,000 heavy-duty Ram trucks. A report from the regulator’s Office of Defects Investigation has tabulated 22 complaints from the 2019 and 2020 model years, all of which use 6.7-liter Cummins turbo diesel engines, spurring the NHTSA to launch a formal investigation. Complaints revolve around loss of motive power, with most incidents occurring above 25 mph and resulting in the “permanent disablement of the vehicle.”

While the public was not made aware of the investigation until Monday, the agency launched its probe last Thursday on October 14th. The goal will be to establish how widespread the presumed defect is, what exactly caused it, and any potential safety hazards relating to the issue. Some headway has already been made, however. 

Back in 2019, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (now Stellantis) issued Warranty Bulletin D-19-02 to dealers. The memo requested stores participate in a campaign to “collect, monitor and correct quality issues” on certain MY 2018-2020 Ram trucks equipped with the 6.7-liter Cummins. The NHTSA’s action summary states that this resulted in FCA and an unnamed supplier collecting and inspecting high-pressure fuel pumps.

Vehicles under suspicion include all Ram 2500, 3500, 4500, and 5500 HD pickups from the 2019-2020 MY. The NHTSA plans on looking into the trucks to determine whether or not it needs to press Stellantis to launch a recall. That means asking the manufacturer to give its take on the situation while it compiles warranty claims, injury reports, and whatever FCA previously had on those suspect fuel pumps.

Regulators have been incredibly hard on diesel vehicles ever since Volkswagen’s emissions scandal upended the industry in 2015. While a part of me wants to believe the NHTSA just has it out for Ram’s HD lineup (since a few have asked), it seems far more plausible that this was a standard, shrug-your-shoulders defect. Selective environmental regulations have made diesels cost more as they’ve gradually amassed a bevy of pollutant controlling hardware while also complicating powertrains to a point that has lessened their overall effectiveness. But the impact this has had on their reliability is less obvious and may have nothing to do with a bunch of subpar fuel pumps.

Let’s face it, U.S. regulators haven’t been shy about hitting manufacturers with emissions-focused recalls backed by the Environmental Protection Agency and/or California Air Resources Board in the past. If they wanted to chide Cummins or FCA/Stellantis over pollution, they could have done so overtly.

Stellantis has said it plans on cooperating with the NHTSA fully, launching an investigation of its own for good measure. So we should have some answers soon, including the name of the supplier. In the meantime, you might want to keep a closer eye on how your HD Ram is running if it falls under the purview of the investigation.

[Image: Stellantis]

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Ford is temporarily suspending production at its Kansas City assembly plant to deal with the shortage.

Automakers continue to search for ways to deal with the semiconductor chip shortage impacting the industry on a global scale.

Most companies cut back production and shift available chip inventory to high-profit vehicles like pickup trucks. Seemingly no automaker is immune to the problem, including pricey luxury and sports car makers. Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and others all recently announced moves to deal with the shortage.

This week is not different with Daimler, Stellantis and Subaru reporting today they are taking new measures to account for current run of chip shortages, both in the U.S. and in other facilities around the world.

New announcements

Ford plans to extend the shutdowns at plants that build its F-150, Ford Transit, Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, Ford Edge/Lincoln Nautilus and Ford Mustang. The Kansas City Assembly Plant that builds its top-selling F-150 and Transit commercial van suspend operations for the weeks of May 3 and 10. It’s currently closed down.

GM is slowing production of its van at its Wentzville plant to deal with the chip shortage.

The Flat Rock, Michigan plant, which builds the Mustang, and Chicago plant that builds the Explorer and Aviator will also be down the first two weeks of next month. They’ve been down since the week of April 12, according to Automotive News.

The company plans to continue the reduced production of its Super Duty and medium-duty trucks at the Ohio Assembly Plant near Cleveland.

General Motors plans to move its Wentzville (Missouri) Assembly plant from three shifts to just two on a temporary basis starting the week of April 26. It’s cutting van production at the site. Production of its midsize pickups, the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon, are unaffected. The company just restarted operations at the facility last week after a two-week shutdown.

Other moves

In what may be the most novel approach to dealing with the issue thus far, Stellantis is using analog speedometers in some its Peugeot models instead of the digital ones they would normally come equipped with.

Mercedes C-Class line at Bremen 2021

Daimler is cutting hours for 18,500 workers at two plants in Germany as it waits for more chips.

The move affects only the Peugeot 308, Reuters reported, which are built in France. The brand sold about 98,000 of the 308 model last year. The 308 is being phased out this fall in favor of a new vehicle. The company may reduce the price as a result of the less advanced speedo.

Daimler plans to reduce hours for 18,500 employees and idle production at its Bremen and Rastatt plants in Germany. Bremen builds the C-Class as well as the GLC, GLC Coupe and the all-electric EQC. The Rastatt plant produces the A-Class hybrid as well as the A-Class sedan, B-Class and GLA compact SUV.

Japanese automaker Subaru Corp. revealed plans to temporarily suspend production at its plant in Lafayette, Indiana. The closure will be in place until the end of April, according to officials. It will affect about 15,000 vehicles for North America, officials noted. The company builds the Ascent, Outback, Legacy and Impreza at the site.


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American automotive brands have never really caught on with the typical Japanese consumer. While we’ve done numerous dives trying to understand why the gist is that our tastes don’t typically overlap and they generally prefer to buy domestic. Foreign marques are comparatively rare, frequently German, and are generally owned by those looking to flex their status with an imported luxury vehicle.

U.S. brands that were on the market began retreating as they began pulling smaller automobiles from their lineup. But Jeep has stuck it in there and things are reportedly beginning to pay off. The automaker’s distinctive styling seems to be resonating with people in Asia and it’s really the only historically American nameplate that’s managed to find an audience in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Fiat Chrysler Japan has yet to finalize arrangements to be fully integrated into the new Stellantis NV and a part of us wonders if that has anything to do with its rosy reporting. There’s a decent chance Groupe PSA didn’t want to keep Jeep operating within the region and it would behoove the brand to show it has merit before its Japanese offices run the risk of being shut down. It’s a wholly speculative scenario but not unrealistic and exactly what I would be doing in Jeep’s shoes.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, FCA Japan sales boss Hitoshi Ushikubo stated that Jeep deliveries are on pace to eclipse 15,000 units this year. While that’s less product than the company shifts in the U.S. over the average week, it still represents consistent growth in a market that never seemed interested in American (or French-Italian-American) automobiles.

From Bloomberg:

Despite the pandemic, Jeep’s Japan sales notched a 1.7 percent increase in 2020 to reach a record level for a seventh consecutive year.

“We’ve made efforts to fit with the Japanese market” by rolling out cars with right-hand drive, unlike General Motors and Ford, Ushikubo said. “Young people are looking for cars that allow them to present a part of their character,” he said, adding that a strong social media presence has also helped the brand.

Jeep sold 1,925 cars in March, 36 percent higher than the same month of 2020, which was impacted by COVID-19, with the Wrangler and Renegade marques the most popular, according to a statement Tuesday. Jeep ranked third last year among imported SUV brands in Japan.

While the Wrangler and Renegade are the brand’s most popular models in the region by far, Jeep offers other models in Japan. That’s arguably an achievement in itself. Most American automakers operating on the island typically limit themselves to a few specialty vehicles catering to a niche market and don’t have dedicated dealerships. Jeep has been far more ambitious and is even seeking to expand. According to Fiat Chrysler Japan CEO Pontus Häggström, the corporate strategy involves swelling its network of 80 dealerships to at least 100 by 2023.

While we don’t know if that’s going to make the brand a cash cow, Stellantis would be foolish not to identify the importance of Jeep in Asia. Younger drivers really seem to be gravitating toward the brand and it accounts for over half of group sales within the region. That’s a very big deal, made colossal by the fact that American brands were assumed incapable of breaking into the Japanese market. But how was this accomplished?

Jeep has claimed its success has everything to do with offering a desirable product not available elsewhere and actively catering to Japanese customers. Those Renegade sales aren’t a coincidence. Knowing the model’s diminutive stature would make it an ideal product for the market, Jeep started producing them in right-hand-drive, modifying their engines to cater to the local emission incentives, making sure the infotainment system was available in flawless Japanese and tossing them into region-focused marketing campaigns. The resulting efforts have made it the default American brand in the region. Jeep outsells every other American automotive brand by such a wide margin that they might as well not even be there.

But will Stellantis be appreciative of its modest growth?

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