Following an announcement from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Group for a 50:50 merger deal that could culminate in the world’s fourth-largest automaker group, Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley has revealed that it could purchase electric vehicle technology and even platforms from American EV maker Tesla.
The revelation came as part of an earnings call which also revealed that Fiat Chrysler saw better-than-expected Q3 profits. Should the merger with PSA Group go through – which has been agreed upon – then electrification of FCA’s product line-up would take place on ‘a grand scale’ and that further cooperation on the vehicle-pooling front would make sense, Business Insider reported Manley as saying.
“The customer will be agnostic” to certain components in the possible parts-sharing exercise which could include batteries and drivetrain, while there is also the possibility of purchasing a ‘skateboard’ platform from Tesla and then tuning other systems such as suspension to suit the different needs for its different brands, Manley added.
Manley declined to respond to a question regarding sums FCA paid to Tesla for the pooling of vehicle fleets for regulatory compliance in Europe to avoid fines due to falling short of tougher CO2 emissions regulations from this year, though he noted that FCA’s pooling deal with Tesla would conclude in 2021, with Fiat Chrysler set to achieve the full benefit of its own efforts in the following year, the report said.
“Our relationship with Tesla goes back a long way, and it has really helped us. But FCA are absolutely committed to reducing CO2 emissions around the world,” Manley said.
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Every car manufacturer is moving towards EV. Those car companies still sleeping, pls wake up. Don’t later cry and say nobody want to buy your petrol based cars when the whole world has moved towards EV and PHEV
Now this story raises a very interesting question. Wasn’t Tesla giving their EV tech away for free? So if its for free, why is FCA needing to ‘buy’ it from Tesla like so? Does it mean their giveaway was disingenuous or it wasn’t a giveaway at all?