Never fear, Chrysler lovers, PSA’s Tavares wants to keep you
FCA may have an absurd number of brands, and PSA may have one more than it really needs, but PSA CEO Carlos Tavares believes they all have a purpose. In a television interview, PSA’s leader said that all the brands would probably survive a merger.
FCA’s portfolio includes Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram, not to mention Mopar and SRT; PSA has Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, and Vauxhall (the latter is how Opels are sold in the United Kingdom, so there is complete overlap between Opel and Vauxhall. PSA bought the two brands from General Motors recently). While the combined company will not be one of the world’s top three, it will have more brands than any other automaker.
Walter Chrysler’s great-grandson, Frank Rhodes, is likely quite happy about this: he has led a campaign to keep and enhance the Chrysler brand, which dates back to 1924. Indeed, the first cars advertised as Chryslers were created years earlier, but never made it onto the market as such; instead, they were eventually sold as Durants.
Clark Westfield grew up fixing up and driving past-their-prime American cars, including various GM and Mopar V8s. He has ghostwritten auto news for the last few years, and lives in Farmingdale, New York.