First announced back in December 2019 – that does seem like eons ago now, doesn’t it? – today it’s official: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is no more. As of January 16, 2021, every brand that was part of that group – Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Ram, Jeep, Maserati, Lancia and VM Motori – is now under the “Stellantis” umbrella after FCA merged with Groupe PSA out of France.
With the merger comes an even larger model portfolio as Groupe PSA already included Citroën, Peugeot, Opel and Vauxhall in their portfolio. Surprisingly, however, as big as that sounds, the merger only makes Stellantis the world’s fourth-largest automaker behind Toyota, the Volkswagen Group and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.
Stellantis will appear on the New York Stock Exchange as “STLA”, starting Tuesday, January 19 – a fact that will probably be temporarily forgotten after what’s happening on the 20th.
Of course, the big question for consumers is whether or not Stellantis is going to maintain all the vehicles in its portfolio, or even if it’s going to maintain all the brands in its portfolio – low-volume brands being eliminated from line-ups in order to stay above water isn’t uncommon, and considering the effects COVID has had on the business world, you can bet Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Chairman John Elkann are going to take a long, hard look at what the future’s going to look like for the brand, with a big focus on electrifying the line-ups of their respective brands.
Needless to say, 2021 is going to be a very interesting – and likely historical, for better or worse – year in the automotive world.