The 2023 Los Angeles Dodgers weren’t good enough. Sure, they won their nine millionth NL West Division title, but this was quickly followed by a depressing sweep in the first round of the playoffs that saw their ace pitcher get dusted for six runs in the top of the 1st in Game One. The 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers, after a few small lineup changes, were good enough to win it all. Stellantis has also recently undergone a clubhouse shuffle and suddenly things are starting to make sense.
I’m going to miss being able to rely on Stellantis execs getting into another pointless fight every other Morning Dump, which is likely not a sentiment shared by anyone who still works at the company. Will the company suddenly conquer the world next year? I doubt it, but the news is great if you’re a RAM fan or a UAW worker.
Ford’s attempt at making smaller trucks has been a model for success, with the Maverick in particular creating its own segment and outselling the Tacoma during that truck’s generational switchover. The problem Ford has isn’t building products people like, it’s keeping those products out of service bays. Alas, the Maverick is being recalled againand for a reason that’s becoming too common with hybrids and EVs.
Oliver Zipse, current head of BMW, isn’t be recalled, but he’s going to retire next year, which means he’s only got a little time to accomplish all his goals. Perhaps he’ll want to go to Škoda? I hear Škoda is killing it.
The Ram Midsizer Is Coming
Everyone implicitly understands “good cop, bad cop” even if they’ve never been interrogated by the police. For a time, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares (not pictured) was the ultimate bad cop, managing to get into a fight with:
- Dealers
- Suppliers
- Workers in the United States
- Workers in Italy
- The Italian federal government
- At least one Italian state government
That is less than ideal for a company that makes cars and, eventually, the Stellantis Board of Directors got fed up with Tavares and made it basically impossible for him to stay with the company. Since then, it’s been a much chiller vibe at Stellantis as many of the decisions Tavares made were suddenly undone.
One of the biggest fights that Tavares picked was over the production of the new Dodge Durango in Detroit and a potential mid-size electric truck in Illinois. The United Auto Workers, backed by President Biden, negotiated record contracts with Detroit’s 2.5 automakers. This included the reopening of the long-time Chrysler/FCA/Stellantis facility in Belvidere, Illinois.
Then, all of a sudden, Stellantis made it sound like the mid-size electric truck project was on hold. And, actually, maybe Durango and more Ram 1500 production should move to Mexico or Canada. The UAW, unhappy with this, threatened to strike. It’s been an ongoing sticking point, but then things started to change.
Prepare yourself, because we’re entering a section that will be highly colored by your preconceived political biases, even though I suspect the outcome would have been the same no matter who won the presidency. The news, via the Detroit Free Pressis that the next-generation Dodge Durango will be built in the company’s main Detroit plant, and Belvidere will be getting a midsize truck of some kind.
If you ask the UAW, this has everything to do with the yeeting of Carlos Tavares into the Sun and the UAW’s new contract. From that Freep article:
The UAW noted in a statement provided by spokesman Nathan Pensler that the investment news followed months of the union pushing the company to keep its 2023 contract commitments in Detroit and Belvidere. The union had accused the company of confirming plans to move production of the next-generation Durango to the Windsor Assembly Complex in Ontario, which the company disputed. The current version is built at the Detroit Assembly Complex-Jefferson, formerly known as Jefferson North Assembly Plant.
The UAW said in its statement that both commitments had been “walked back by disgraced former CEO Carlos Tavares, and are being honored by the company’s new leadership,” but that with the new commitments related to Detroit and Belvidere, it had agreed to settle its grievances over those issues.
Sure. Maybe. Stellantis probably didn’t want a strike and the new UAW contract theoretically gave the union the ability to walk off the job even if a commitment was delayed, although a court was eventually going to decide if that’s the way the contract was actually written. It’s convenient for the union that this issue wasn’t tested. Additionally, when Tim Kuniskis returned as the CEO of RAM he made it very clear he wanted the Hemi V8 back, as well as a midsize truck, going so far as to say that RAM wasn’t really a truck brand without one.
Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room, or the White House, in this case. Executives always want to curry favor with presidents, and our new president is about as open to being curried as chicken breast in Leicester. By waiting until there was a new president, Stellantis essentially gets to hand President Trump a win without having to do anything other than not to do the thing they maybe weren’t ever going to actually do.
Stellantis Chairman John Elkann did spend a lot of time with Trump before the inauguration as CNBC reports:
“John told the President that building on our proud, more than 100-year history in the U.S., we plan to continue that legacy by further strengthening our U.S. manufacturing footprint and providing stability for our great American workforce,” Antonio Filosa, head of Stellantis’ North American operations, said in the message.
One could imagine that Stellantis would have done the same with an incoming President Harris, but maybe not. Stellantis could be playing good cop/bad cop with the new administration. Conversely, President Trump threatening tariffs against Canada and Mexico will most likely result in automakers and suppliers planning more production here in the United States.
In that way, it’s possible that President Trump could be gaining something from threatening Stellantis over something he isn’t going to actually do by getting them to agree to not do something maybe they weren’t actually going to do.
For us, though, the important question is: What is this thing going to be? An electric truck? I don’t think that makes sense. An EREV truck built on an STLA Large platform also shared with the new Durango?
-Maverick And Bronco Sport Recalled Over 12V Battery
Cars have been using 12-volt batteries for, oh, 75 years. Once automakers started regularly shoving high voltage systems like air-conditioning into cars it made sense. You’d assume this technology would all be figured out by now. Your assumption would be quite wrong.
These batteries have been big trouble lately, especially in electric cars. The issue with certain 2021-2023 Ford Bronco Sports and 2022-2023 Mavericks seems to be a simple case of poor supplier design, at least according to NHTSA documents:
In affected vehicles, the 12V battery may experience internal weld and/or caston-strap failures, which could lead to a sudden battery degradation while driving. If the battery suddenly degrades during a drive it can lead to a vehicle that is unable to restart after an auto stop/start event or experience a stall while coming to a stop at low speed. Either of these conditions may be accompanied by a loss of 12-volt accessories, including hazard lights.
The supplier’s cast-on strap (COS) process positioned battery plate lugs too close to strap walls. This leads to cracked COSs, open battery cells and ultimately battery failures. Additionally, weak tombstone welds are occurring due to weld temperatures being too high or weld position being offset relative to the target position. Prior software released as part of FSA 24S24 is unable to detect certain electrical signatures present on failed batteries and/or failed to disable stop/start functionality quickly enough.
That’s less than ideal. The supplier in question is Camel Battery of China’s Hubei Province, if you were curious. OEM batteries are usually trash, so this isn’t a surprise.
BMW Boss Oliver Zipse To Retire In 2026
BMW CEO Oliver Zipse, pictured above, has done a good job at BMW. Was it a great job? It’ll take a lot of time to know. Enthusiasts are largely cranky about some of the choices the company has made, sure, though enthusiasts are harder to please than shareholders.
Of Germany’s big auto groups, I think Mercedes is the best positioned for the future while Volkswagen is the one most burdened by the past. BMW, at least, is the most successful in the present moment. Its lineup isn’t my favorite. I don’t think it makes the best-looking cars. I’m not sure what’s going on with Mini. Overall, though, BMW has strayed the least from its roots and its EVs are currently the best of what Germany has to offer.
Everything, though, is going to ride on the company’s Neue-Klasse architecture and new sales model. BMW gave Zipse a lot of runway and a contract extension. That extension, according to Manager Magazine, is coming to an end, leaving Zipse only so much time to secure his legacy [translated]:
Oliver Zipse will leave behind a completely newly developed vehicle architecture and a production facility that has been revamped for the electric era, including new battery plants – an epoch-defining legacy. He will have technologically linked the group’s subsidiary Mini with Great Wall Motor from China . And he will have set all the course for centralized vehicle sales based on the Tesla model.
“He is to bring our most important project to market: the New Class,” Supervisory Board Chairman Reithofer told manager magazin in December – and gave Zipse another clear task. “That will happen largely in the next two years.”
It’s going to be a fun one to watch.
Škoda Increased Production And Sales In 2024
Škoda, VW’s Czech-based subbrand, isn’t one that most Americans think about a lot. Unlike Cupra, it isn’t coming here anytime soon, and the vehicles are mostly extremely Euro variants of cars we already get. This means, of course, that I think about Škoda all the time.
According to the company, things are going great!
In 2024, Škoda Auto manufactured over 925,000 vehicles at its global production facilities, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%. Additionally, the company produced more than 280,000 battery systems for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles across the Volkswagen Group, over 1 million transmissions and nearly 500,000 engines. The main plant in Mladá Boleslav accounted for the share of this success by producing 575,000 Škoda vehicles. In 2024, production of a record number of new and refreshed models began, including the Scala, Kamiq, Kylaq, Octavia and Kodiaq model series. The company also continued to strengthen its international operations: capacity at the Pune plant in India was expanded for the Kylaq compact SUV, Škoda’s third model made in India for India. Additionally, preparations for vehicle assembly in Vietnam were finalised, and Kodiaq SKD production started in Kazakhstan.
Sales in 2024 were also up more than 6% in a challenging period. The good news doesn’t stop there, though, as the company is now showing off the Superb SportLine, a slightly gussied-up version of the already excellent Suburb sedan and wagon. It’s also available in a PHEV version with a very usable 79 miles of all-electric range (WLTP) from a 19.7 kWh battery.
What I’m Listening To While I’m Writing TMD
I’m not sure why, but it took me a while to finally give Lola Young’s album some time. I’d heard her on the new Tyler the Creator album and just sort of glossed over her. This was a mistake. Please enjoy “Messy,” a great track that works on your local independent music channel or any pop station.
The Big Question
What should the new Ram truck be?
Lead photo: Stellantis via Motor1
