The electric shock behind Europe's stuttering EV future

Re:The electric shock behind Europe's stuttering EV future by Animats on Saturday December 07, 2024 @01:22PM (#42351653)

> The world knows how to make good cars now.

Companies can forget how.

Stellantis (which owns Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat, and some other forgettable car brands) forgot how. The CEO was fired on December 1st, 2024. His strategy had been to crank prices way up, add on post-sale service charges, and get the biggest bonus in automotive executive pay history (not counting Musk's current litigated bonus.)

Sales went down. Way down. Chrysler now makes only minivans. Overpriced Jeeps are piling up in dealer lots. The "mild hybrid" power train, with 21 miles of electric mileage, is a dud. The brand image is in the tank. Nobody wears a Stellantis T-shirt.

The US has 3 million unsold cars sitting on dealer lots. Some have been there for over a year. How many will still start?

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Re:The electric shock behind Europe's stuttering EV future by BarbaPeru on Saturday December 07, 2024 @01:46PM (#42351827)

Forgettable as Citroen and Peugeot, for example?

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Re:The electric shock behind Europe's stuttering EV future by GuB-42 on Saturday December 07, 2024 @02:36PM (#42352242)

I think GP means forgettable in the US. Here is the brands from the Wikipedia article:

  - Abarth
  - Alfa Romeo
  - Chrysler
  - Citroën
  - Dodge
  - DS Automobiles
  - Fiat
  - Jeep
  - Lancia
  - Maserati
  - Opel
  - Peugeot
  - Ram Trucks
  - Vauxhall

None of them I would call "forgettable". Most of these brands have been there for more than a century. The only ones more recent than that are Abarth, DS and Ram. DS and Ram refer to iconic vehicles by Citroën and Dodge respectively and lately turned into their own brands.

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