Dammit, Carlos Tavares, I just can’t quit you. I’m committed to giving Stellantis a chance to undo all the damage done to the company since it became a company. But just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in. And by “they” I mean “executives with an ax to grind who want to talk dirt about CT.”
Based on traffic this morning, it’s clear the Dodge Charger Daytona review is something y’all want to talk about so I’ll give you another chance in today’s Morning Dump. Sam did his typically thorough job so there’s no shortage of topics worth covering, so it’s worth thinking about the news that Tavares ignored North American execs, combine it with the return of Tim Kuniskis, and consider what could have been… or what might be.
We aren’t going to CES this year and I’m sad because the mood is going to be weird. Every year car execs love to go and talk about the future and then introduce stuff that inevitably flops. This year the talk of CES is going to be less about the far future and more about what happens next year under a new president.
In that context, GM’s latest moves make a lot of sense. You can prepare for uncertainty, believe it or not, and GM is ready for it. Is VW ready for it? The company has been in the middle of a union fight in Germany that’ll involve cutbacks, but here in America, the automaker is offering wage hikes.
So You’re Saying There’s A Chance…
I’ve already written too much about Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares leaving, so I skipped sharing the CNBC article from earlier this week featuring mostly North American employees complaining about the French guy who clearly few of them liked. It was well-reported, but I don’t want to be accused of piling on after basically calling this outcome back in April. It’s unseemly. There’s taking a bow and then there’s grandstanding.
While editing Sam’s review last night it struck me that I probably should reference the article, especially when he went into full detail about how the Charger’s new platform was designed to be flexible enough to take any powerplant. It’s why this version is currently offered as a BEV or a Hurricane inline-six powered model, though a plug-in hybrid is likely.
Could a V8 be likely, too? Let’s refer to the article, which quotes a lot of anonymous people spilling a lot of (probably accurate) tea:
Sources said his perceived arrogance toward some U.S. hourly and salaried employees peaked this summer when Tavares — who lives in Europe and was compensated nearly $40 million last year in salary, stock and other benefits — publicly announced that he would spend time in North America for a few days to fix problems during his summer break. Such a break is a regular occurrence in Europe but not in the U.S., where sources said it rubbed some employees who don’t get a monthlong vacation the wrong way.
Meanwhile, U.S. leaders, due to the time difference, dealt with regular hourslong meetings in the middle of the night — before having to work their full U.S. day — as well as a smug sense of intellectual supremacy from Tavares and a dismissal of opinions, specifically regarding product planning, the sources said.
“When Tavares started, he said the center of the company is somewhere in the Atlantic … but it became very clear to us that the center of the company was in France,” said a former Stellantis executive.
The article mentions the time Tavares took a break from his month-long vacation in August to visit North America for a couple of days to “send a clear signal” that Tavares was serious. Clearly, the message it sent was “this guy sucks.”
More relevant to our interest in the Charger is this section of the article:
Sources said Tavares’ cost-cutting measures also included simplifying vehicles such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee while increasing its pricing above market norms; outsourcing critical engineering work to lower-cost countries and consultants such as France-based Capgemini; and micromanaging budgets and decisions to a point where U.S. leaders felt they had their hands tied behind their backs. A notable one included killing the automaker’s popular V-8 Hemi engines.
“Everybody wanted to keep [Hemi],” said one source. “But it was, ‘You need to be greener’” and there was little to nothing they could do to change the decision.
That’s a strong statement. “Everybody” wanted to keep the Hemi!
In fairness to Tavares and Stellantis, the perceived upcoming CAFE changes would make it hard to sell a V8 given that the company has few offsets in the rest of its lineup at the moment. Still, where there’s a will there’s a way, and that cost can be passed onto consumers. Ford is making it work with the Mustang.
This seems like a huge loss for a brand that became known for V8 power and the return of Tim Kuniskis, the exec most associated with the brand’s muscle image, makes me think the return of the V8 in the Charger isn’t that far-fetched. Most people bought V6-powered Chargers, but they bought them because of the image the big V8-powered version conveyed.
A super expensive, limited edition V8 Charger just makes sense to me.
CES 2025 Will Be Strange
I had to keep the above caption with the image because it’s just too good and is a great intro for what’s coming.
Yesterday I led TMD with the notion that carmakers make bad tech companies, and I didn’t mention the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that occurs in Las Vegas every January. My mistake. The “let’s be tech companies” mania that took over car companies a few years ago could easily be seen with the transition from CEOs making big announcements at the Detroit Auto Show to the similarly-timed CES.
CES is coming up and I’m a little sad I’m not going because I love awkward vibes. According to this Automotive News preview, the vibes seem Tim Robinson-levels of uncomfortable:
The annual technology showcase occurs in the twilight days of one administration and on the precipice of the next one, and the latter is expected to bring seismic shifts in transportation policy that reverberate across the auto tech landscape.
“That’s going to be the shadow hanging over CES,” said Jeffrey Hannah, chief commercial officer at consulting firm SBD Automotive.
Oh, hey, Sam is quoted in this one:
Pre-COVID, the technology showcase became a de facto auto show, as car companies sought to recast themselves as technology and mobility companies.
More recently, “I don’t think they felt like they were getting the return on investment they were hoping for in terms of changing that perception,” Abuelsamid said.
Does this mean the January Detroit Auto Show is going to be good?
GM’s Subtle Restructuring
If I had a nickel for every time someone mentions that GM has been ahead of the curve with some product or idea only to back down I’d have at least enough money to buy a nice dinner.
Is that fair? Few of the people who run GM now were running the company back when it killed the EV1 or abandoned the Corvair Turbo. This current iteration of GM’s leadership did prematurely end the Bolt, and that’s bad, but right now the company seems to have been slowly reforming its business to prepare for an uncertain future.
In that light, the abandonment of Cruise isn’t GM backing away from another good idea but, instead, the company getting ahead of big changes in the automotive industry.
At least that’s the story the Detroit Free Press is peddling this morning:
“When I first saw the news, I thought, ‘Oh thank God! It’s the new GM,’ “ Mike Ward, managing director of research at Freedom Capital Markets, told the Free Press Wednesday. “The old GM would have been stubborn and kept throwing billions at it. GM can’t compete with Waymo. GM doesn’t need to be in the robotaxi business. This move shows capital discipline. What got GM into bankruptcy in 2008? Undisciplined capital allocation, plain and simple.”
It’s the new GM!
VW Workers In Tennessee Offered 14% Wage Increase
Being a global company, Volkswagen is simultaneously threatening to close plants in Germany and offering to raise wages in the United States. Why? The UAW, high on the success it had in Detroit, finally managed to unionize Volkswagen’s plant in Tennessee.
VW quickly recognized the union and has been bargaining with the UAW for months. The company’s most recent offer is a 14% wage hike plus profit sharing and better healthcare options for hourly workers.
What does the UAW think of this offer? They don’t love it.
UAW-VW Bargaining Committee member Yogi Peoples criticized the offer.
“We’ve been bargaining for months, and VW is still not taking our demands seriously. With the record profits they’ve made and the dividend schemes they’ve used to pad the pockets of shareholders, there’s more than enough money to meet our demands for a record contract,” Peoples said in a statement.
So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I remember flipping through the channels as a teenager and seeing a rerun of the 1978 “Austin City Limits” featuring Tom Waits. I had no idea who Tom Waits was before this moment. Was this jazz? Blues? Or maybe some sort of bizarro world where Harry Connick, Jr’s life went real bad, and he got punched in the throat a few hundred times by a cigarette vending machine? I was captivated and have been a fan ever since. It’s the holidays, so please enjoy “Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis.”
The Big Question
How long before we see a V8 in the Charger again?
Top image: Setllantis/FCA
Yeah! Coulda had a V8! Mopar or no car…EV’s are TRASH and not real cars. Gasoline forever!
Even as someone who is very pro EV I just could not understand the death of the HEMI. They could have kept the Challenger going as a HEMI car. The trucks could have had it. To be fair the new straight six has more power and better fuel economy but lacks the noise. They could also do a new Challenger that is smaller and more competitive as a true performance vehicle with the new straight six.
Carlos is Portuguese, not French.
Of course he’s fluent in French, did all his education in France, etc. But he’s Portuguese and lives in Portugal.
A little trivia. The actor Jon Reep (That thing got a Hemi?) had no idea what a Hemi was when he took the commercial. But he nailed the part.
Hey, I get it. I’m a messy ‘lump who lives for drama.
Also, give us the Hellcat Pacifica we deserve, you cowards.
“ What got GM into bankruptcy in 2008? Undisciplined capital allocation, plain and simple.”
That is do wrong.
Mark Hardigraw seem to be the go-to interview when someone wants to talk about Mr. Pictured Above.
https://youtu.be/Lb_mSTnnEaQ?si=bC4rzv3kWwOpz9rL
Maybe the “hemi” could be re-done for things that aren’t pure hp. Love the lazy 4.6l mod motor and maybe they could find the same feel for daily driving, saving the hp version for the top end models where people pay for it. Maybe this should have been done like 20 years ago not 2025.
BEV Charger with a V8 Hemi range extender? I mean, it’s right there in the name: charger!
“Hemi” describes the combustion chamber… Not the number of cylinders. They could literally make a one cylinder Hemi.
My understanding is that the engine they call the Hemi hasn’t had hemispherical combustion chambers for quite a while.
It’s like the Turbo Porsche EVs.
It’s not a true Hemi, but it takes the core benefits in an era where compression ratios are higher. From the combustion charges perspective at TDC, the chamber is basically a hemi.
The main benefits of a 2 valve Hemi is good valve arrangement, room for two spark plugs, and a compact combustion chamber without too much surface area or convolution. The modern Hemi adds to that two quench pads for extra turbulence, a good thing.
The massive domed piston you’d have to run to get the same compression ratio in a true Hemi is actually worse from a combustion perspective. It creates a thin combustion chamber that takes longer to burn. That’s not good for power or emissions.
Even easier. Just call whatever you want a Hemi. Call the electric motor a Hemi! We live in a post truth world.
Is anyone from the AMC team that shoehorned the straight-6 into the XJ Cherokee still at Chrysler or are they all retired?
I think they started selling that around 1988. So the engineering probably started in 86? So a 24 year old in 86 would be 62.
When I left in 2022, there were still people there with time at AMC working on XJs. I even saved a few AMC branded 3 ring binders from the trash for storing my Jeep documents when they were cleaning out the offices post COVID.
I’ve seen Waits perform live many times covering pretty much all his phases/personas. I would think he best be described as a contemporary Kurt Weill.
Why is a plug-in hybrid Charger still only “likely” at some point in the future? Why wasn’t that part of the initial roll out? If anything, that should have been maybe given a higher priority than the pure EV version
My arrogance may be showing, but I didn’t think there was any overlap between Tom Waits and Foo Fighters fans.
The first time I really ‘tuned in’ to Tom Waits was in a tattoo shop in college. Blood Money had just come out and they were playing God’s Away on Business. I was enamored.
Absolutely no room for a V8 — didja see how smol that optional frunk space is between the shock towers? A not-so-whopping 1.5 cubes! Also a strong likely as to why it’s only a straight six ICE shoehorning into that narrow engine bay space.
Did you note how frickin’ wide that car is? It’s like a townhouse. They could shove a V8 in there transversely! Maybe even a straight 8.
Ropedrive is a bad engine and should stay 100 years ago.
I say again, take a look at that engine bay — shock towers visibly intrude well over a foot into each side of the car’s flanks and who knows how much farther the unibody goes under that frunk’s cowling.
https://youtu.be/ZHqWHu9hv24?t=838
No V8 methinks. The cars will either sell not well enough to put more money in, or sell well enough without it. By the time Tim gets around to it it will be a different landscape around.
Me: I’m getting a ’25 Coulda.
Brother: A ’25 Cuda??
M: Coulda.
B: Cuda? In 2025?
M: Coulda, not Cuda.
B: …? Barracuda?
M: What’s on second, I Don’t Know’s on third.
I think making the Charger platform support both ICE and BEV was a mistake. I’m guessing that is why the car weighs over 5700lbs,and we all were just dunking on the M5 for weighing a comparatively light 5300lbs so much. It is heavier than the Plaid or a Ionic 5N. The I6 version is still likely going to weigh nearly 5000lbs. If they did go with a ICE only platform I think it could’ve worked even without the Hemi. They could’ve tried to position the Hurricane I6 as an American 2JZ or Barra engine which could’ve been cool, but I think the platform will be too heavy to do meaningful numbers as anything but an EV.
I can’t seem to find this answer but it’s a good bit of the BEV weight because of the battery?
A good bit of weight is the batter but the entire structure still needs to be beefier because it must hold the weight of the battery, I’m guessing all of that isn’t just going to go away for the gasoline car.
First saw Tom Waits on PBS’ Soundstage my freshman year in college. It was during the Christmas break and instead of partying with old friends I had to undergo surgery. Late at night, floating on painkillers, I turned on the TV and settled on PBS. Soundstage was on and there was this weird cat who sounded like he gargled glass growling about sausage and eggs. Surreal. Thought it must’ve been the drugs, but it wasn’t; it was just Tom.
I bet the new Charger runs on a different electrical architecture that will make the HEMI integration difficult to achieve fast, maybe in 2 years we will see it on a limited edition. At least they are not using a 4 cyl engine like the Mustang. Inline 6 cyl engines run very smooth in general and have a good sound.