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Stellantis receives proposal to keep Chrysler Dodge Brands alive for Americans
Stellantis receives proposal to keep Chrysler Dodge Brands alive for Americans
Stellantis received a proposal to keep Chrysler’s most iconic brands alive for Americans. Frank B. Rhodes Jr., the great-grandson of Walter P. Chrysler who is the founder of the Chrysler Corporation, is fighting to keep his grandfather’s brand and other popular Chrysler brands alive in the United States.
On behalf of the newly formed Chrysler/Dodge, LLC, Rhodes proposed to “keep [Chrysler/Dodge Plymouth/Mopar brands] in the USA with stockholder and employee control.” The proposal was addressed to Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Chrysler Brand CEO Christine Feuell.
In the proposal, Rhodes enumerates a few missteps Stellantis has taken, which have slowly diminished Chrysler brands in the United States.
“My family were important stockholders in the company since its founding and prior to its bankruptcy. I own a token position since the Stellantis takeover to just be able to keep up with events at the company to keep up with the planned Chrysler brand, and watched its stock see saw. I am not interested in a meaningful stockholder position in the Stellantis brands other than Chrysler/Dodge and Plymouth.
“I watched helplessly as the Jeep and Ram brands received support while the Chrysler Museum was shut down and replaced with the Alfa Romeo engineering center in Michigan. Why here to be replaced with an Italian car brand that has no traction in the USA? That move seemed to me to be deliberate to try and erase the Chrysler name,” stated Rhodes in the proposal.
The proposal also emphasized some moves by Chrysler CEO Feuell that resulted in the death of many iconic names and muscle cars under Stellantis supervision.
“Under her “leadership,” some of the most iconic names and muscle cars such as the Chrysler 300, the iconic Charger IN MANY MOVIES, including FAST & FURIOUS, and the Challenger/ Hellcat were also quietly discontinued.
“All that is left for Chrysler and Dodge dealers to offer, are The Chrysler Pacifica and its brother the plug-in hybrid, (considered as soccer-moms’ cars) and the Durango and Hornet. The Dodge Viper was one of the coolest looking muscle cars, expected of that brand, and one of my friends claimed an early version,” the proposal states.
The proposal also includes thoughts on Stellantis and how it handled employees in the United States, specifically with the United Auto Workers union. The company has laid off many workers in the United States in recent months.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares visited Detroit over his summer break to develop a strategy to improve its North American operations, especially in the United States. However, the proposal presented by Rhodes hints that it might be too late.
Read the full proposal below.
Stellantis Faces Call to Save Chrysler & Dodge by Maria Merano on Scribd
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Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
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Tesla highlights the Megapack site replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
