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When thinking about Electric Vehicles (EV), Fiat Chrysler isn’t exactly the first name that comes to mind. Brands like Ford or Volkswagen are basing their long-term roadmaps around EVs, yet FCA has always been hesitant about dipping their feet into the EV pool. However, times are a changin’ and Sergio Marchionne, former CEO of FCA, had laid out a five year plan to Italian investors before recently stepping down due to illness. As part of this $10.5 billion five year plan, Fiat-Chrysler has announced that over 30 vehicles will include, whether it’s a full EV, plug-in, or conventional hybrid, some kind of electrification by 2022.
So, why now? It’s no secret that Sergio Marchionne wasn’t the biggest supporter of EVs. For the past 10 years, Marchionne refused to jump on the EV bandwagon, insisting that the battery-powered cars never brought legitimate profit to his company. One thing we know for sure, this was a forced transition. If it wasn’t for the Alphabet Inc. Waymo Autonomous Vehicles (AV) equipment partnership with FCA, specifically with the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, Fiat-Chrysler would have nothing to show consumers that are interested in some kind of in-the-future vehicle.
“Reducing our dependence on oil is one of the single, greatest challenges that our society faces," said Marchionne. "At FCA, we believe there is no single solution, no magic formula, to solve this problem. We believe to achieve a quantum leap, the entire system — political, economic and industrial — needs to work together with the right measure of realism based on finding the appropriate balance between consumption levels, cost and efficiency. At the same time, conventional internal combustion engines will continue to be in the vast majority of our production.”
In order to meet specific regulations, each of the FCAs global markets will receive a combination of gas, various hybrids, and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). While Jeep, Ram, Maserati, and Fiat vehicles transition to going electric, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) will use the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids technology in order to do so. Waymo recently added about 60,000 Pacifica Hybrid units to transfer the AV technology into as FCA passenger vehicle. But wait! There’s always a catch! This “regulation-oriented” plan will only require a particular emission for specified regions - basically, companies will only receive what’s specifically needed from parts to electrics and nothing else.
Maserati’s all-new “Maserati Blue” Program will electrify four cars by 2022. Those four cars include the all-new Quattroporte and Levante, along with the Alfieri and Alfieri Cabrio. The Maserati Alfieri will be the first to debut in 2020, then the Quattroporte will follow in 2022. Lastly, the Quattroporte and Levante will also receive PHEV variants.
“Everything gets electrified. Look at our product portfolio and you see we’re going after Tesla”, says Tim Kuniskis, Head of alfa Romeo and Maserati, to NBC News. “FCA’s electrified luxury models will “have a performance advantage,” said Kuniskis. “At the bottom rung you have models equipped with low-performance four-cylinder engines, then moving up to higher and higher-power sixes, eights, and twin-turbo eights. The electric models will be at the top of that ladder, where I’m going to give you more horsepower and quicker 0 to 60 times,” the FCA executive boasted.
Now, for the game plan. As previously mentioned, Marchionne had put together a five-year plan, costing about $10.5 billion that will run through 2022. Starting in 2021, Jeep will have 14 electrified vehicles, four BEVs, and some sort of electrified option will be included in every Jeep model. By 2020, Fiat will also expand on their 500e. The strategy, however, is performance based. FCA plans on making their electric program performance-oriented as well - especially after witnessing the success of the SRT program.
I’m sure that EV enthusiasts are jumping for joy after hearing this news; we can only hope that these next five years prove to be successful for FCA. For those consumers looking for a hassle-free, car buying experience - NowCar is here to help. We have an amazing selection of new vehicles and a trusted team to help you every step of the way. For more updates, follow us on social media.