Oh, and by the way, Carlos Tavares the Stellantis CEO is a racing driver and huge motorsport fan, if I'm not mistaken he even raced in F1s (Boss GP). I doubt he would let go the opportunity to have their most sporty or luxyry brands associated with F1.
At the merger, only the PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel, Vauxhall) was making money, and JEEP was the only profitable brand from Chrysler-FIAT. All the others were loss making. Thats the reality. Now all brands in the PSA range share platform and powertrains. Alfa and FIAT will have to be included in that or they will be be culled, said Tavares Before too long, all Stellantis cars in Europe will be the same under different skins, and with different badges. I suppose that Chrysler and Dodge will do their own thing for the US market. Some JEEPs are already made in Italy . There could be some arm wrestling in high places between the CFA side (John Elkann) and the PSA side (Tavares), but there will inevitably be some victims in the restructuration.
Citroen, Opel, and Vauxhall are dead brands. the reality is Citroen is only known in the French world.. and that is not big enough to keep it going. Peugeot won that battle. let it die with dignity or make it a sub brand. Opel & Vauxhall - AKA GM Europe ... well not much to say. last Opel i drove was the Calibria ... nice car... but that was it. Vauxhall We had in the UK about 6-7 years ago was awful... horrible ergonimics... last year I had a merc ... much better. American Cars don't to well in Europe because they are made for the USA, not European roads. big, loafing engines ... vs. light and high revving... when you see a jeep in Europe - its a stand out, its so big. last time I was in Paris I saw a Jeep Cherokee .. it was huge. compared to the rest of the cars. it was crossing Pont Alexander III... huge. Talaveres cant afford to be emotional about brands, its about $$$$ sell what works. FYI - Fiat 500 in the USA has been popular, but I don't think they are ever going sell millions... people normally have them as a 2-3 car for the city, or running round ...easy to park etc.
Well, here in Texas, aJjeep Cherokee is small by comparison. We like big trucks and big SUV's.....some lift them and add a bunch of accessories. The bigger the better....at least that's the ideology here.
Hummm... Figures for 2020. Peugeot production 1 200 000 units. Citroen production 717 000 units. sales in France 162 000 units. Citroen sells 3/4 of its production outside France DS production 43 700 unites. DS is a Citroen sub-brand Opel/Vauxhall production 630 000 units, FIAT production 742 000, Alfa Romeo production 61 000. BTW, Opel and Vauxhall are exactly the same cars, designed in Germany, but built in various countries in Europe. The Vauxhall brand exists only in UK and Ireland . Cars from different brands are made in shared factories in the PSA Group. Some of those PSA Group cars are built in France, and Germany, but the builk comes from Slovakia, Spain, Portugal, China, and UK.,
And that's exactly what the European legislators want to ban ! But also large cars don't fit well here with narrow streets and restricted parking spaces.
de Vries in the picture https://racer.com/2021/09/03/alfa-romeo-option-for-albon-could-open-a-spot-for-de-vries/?fbclid=IwAR3k4OlgUPIqWdG0-qBJpLpC8-fIBsgZK-huBuwZA1h9Z6BAUpgXnfam8YA
According to AmUs , Lawrence Stroll offered Fernando Alonso an contract to be alongside Lance Stroll next year. Alonso didn’t accept it. It’s not clear why Aston Martin wanted to replace Vettel. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Doesn't make sense that...Did they really think they could get Alonso? Alonso is pretty closely tied with Alpine/Renault/Benetton. It's a move sideways at best. It's also not really a good look for Stroll to go up against Alonso.
It wasn't a good look for Stroll to go up against: 1) Massa 2) Perez 3) Vettel (he's leading in points.....still) Hey, the kid is lucky driving an F1 car so that makes daddy happy regardless of his performance.
Sky were speculating that Red Bull want Albon at Williams in advance of hopefully supplying them customer engines in the future.
That doesn't sound stupid; the more Red Bull can sell their engines the quicker they will recoup their investment.
Fully denied by Aston is this approach to FA. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/aston-martin-rubbishes-alonso-f1-offer-rumours-/6660515/ --But with Aston Martin set to imminently conclude a deal with Vettel, the team has moved to dismiss the idea that it wanted to sign Alonso. A spokesman for the team said: "Lawrence Stroll did not offer a drive to Fernando Alonso, as has been reported in some media. "Lawrence had lunch with [Alonso's manager] Flavio Briatore in Sardinia during the summer break. Lawrence and Flavio are friends. They have lunched together in Sardinia many times over many years. It was a social occasion, nothing more."--
Per Canal+, Valtteri Bottas has signed with Alfa Romeo for 2022. An announcement is expected tomorrow.
Russell to MB….Jeeves to Alfa….Williams? Alfa’s second driver? Mick? Lots of questions left. Hope the Ferrari motor can deliver next year.
Mick to stay at Haas it looks like. A shame as I think he'd learn a lot more at Alfa next to an experienced driver.
I don´t know what Bottas can offer to Alfa Romeo at this point. Experience, yes, but Giovinazzi is not a rookie either so why not trying someone new.
And he’d be farther away from Mazepin. With a hopefully better car next year though, he’ll at least be able to create a gap between himself and his “teammate”.
+1 Sounds like they think he’ll bring some Mercedes-think to the party to help them out. Pretty defeatist attitude, I’d say.
