{"id":86495,"date":"2014-12-16T14:35:40","date_gmt":"2014-12-16T19:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=86495"},"modified":"2014-12-16T14:35:40","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T19:35:40","slug":"alphabet-soup-as-chrysler-becomes-fca-us-llc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2014\/12\/alphabet-soup-as-chrysler-becomes-fca-us-llc\/","title":{"rendered":"Alphabet Soup as Chrysler Becomes FCA US LLC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
More changes for the newly merged Fiat Chrysler.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After nearly 90 years, it\u2019s the end of the road for the familiar Chrysler corporate name.<\/p>\n

Just two months after the maker completed its merger with Italy\u2019s Fiat, the U.S. side of the company will abandon the familiar Chrysler Group LLC to become FCA US LLC.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
What's in a Name!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The name is meant to better reflect that of the new parent company, the global Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.<\/p>\n

“FCA US continues to build upon the solid foundations first established by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925 as well as a rich Fiat heritage that dates from 1899,” the company said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

Founder Walter P. Chrysler first lent his name to an automobile in January 1924, an affordable 6-cylinder model that went up against such tough competitors as the Model T. The Chrysler name was placed on the corporate masthead a year later, following the reorganization of the earlier Maxwell Motor Co. The company quickly became known for innovations that included the first mass-market use of hydraulic brakes and the first all-transistor car radio.<\/p>\n

(Chrysler significantly ramps up size of Takata airbag recall. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for the latest.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1998, Chrysler became the lesser half of a so-called \u201cmerger of equals\u201d with Germany\u2019s Daimler-Benz. That alliance, the renamed DaimlerChrysler, collapsed in 2007, what was left of the renamed Chrysler LLC was sold to a New York investment fund, Cerberus. But the venture collapsed as the economy entered its worst recession in decades, and two years later Chrysler was forced to file for bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

New U.S. President Barack Obama was ready to let Chrysler file until Fiat came along as a white knight. The Italian automaker was given a 20% stake in the reborn Chrysler Group, increasing its holdings until it was able to buy out the remaining stake held by the United Auto Workers Union last January.<\/p>\n

In October, Fiat and Chrysler completed their merger, the new, global automaker basing itself out of the Netherlands, with a corporate headquarters in London \u2013 and a new listing on the New York Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n

(Forget luxury cars. Chances are that Americans are buying a loaded pickup or SUV, like the Dodge Ram, when they spend over $50,000. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for the full story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, for all practical purposes, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles maintains two major hubs \u2013 at the old Chrysler headquarters in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, and Fiat\u2019s ancestral home in Turin, Italy.<\/p>\n

The Chrysler name will remain part of the parent company\u2019s nomenclature. And it will continue to be used as one of the various brands the maker offers, along with Jeep, Dodge, Ram and various former Fiat names including Alfa Romeo and Maserati.<\/p>\n

The Ferrari brand will be spun off next year.<\/p>\n

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles operates 36 manufacturing facilities worldwide, with 23 of those in the United States. All told, the company has 77,000 global employees.<\/p>\n

As to the impact of the new U.S. name, \u201cChanging the name of Chrysler’s parent automotive group will mean little to the average consumer. \u00a0Car shoppers are often unaware of these corporate naming structures,\u201d said Karl Brauer, an automotive analyst with Kelly Blue Book. What will matter to the typical buyer, he said, is not the name of the parent company but the quality of the products it is building.<\/p>\n

(US automakers could be hit with costly demands when union workers return to the bargaining table in 2015. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for more.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After nearly 90 years, it\u2019s the end of the road for the familiar Chrysler corporate name. Just two months after completing its merger with Italy\u2019s Fiat, the U.S. side of the company will abandon the familiar Chrysler Group LLC to become FCA US LLC. TheDetroitBureau.com has the back story on this alphabet soup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86495"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=86495"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=86495"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=86495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}