French Leave

I should have known it was too good to be true.

When Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot (also known as PSA) merged earlier this year, forming a new company called Stellantis - sounds like the name of a sunken continent, doesn't it?  - Carlos Tavares, the Peugeot chairman who shepherded the merger and became the head of the new Stellantis company, was planning to bring the Peugeot brand back to the United States.  I was looking forward to this, as Peugeot is the only French car brand I ever liked, and I was especially looking forward to hopefully checking out the new Peugeot 308 hatchback (below), assuming Peugeot would even bother with hatchback here, or at least a sedan based on the 308's platform.  Such a product, I thought, might tempt me away from Volkswagen - which VW has made a lot easier of late with its rotten product choices for the U.S. as it leans more and more toward SUVs.

When Tavares realized that he suddenly had more brands in the company than he knew what to do with, he concluded that offering one more European Stellantis brand in the United States at a time when Fiat is failing and Alfa Romeo is barely hanging on seemed to be a bit too much. So he canceled plans to bring Peugeot back to the States and has decided to concentrate on the future of the new company's four American brands - the amalgam of brands once known as the Chrysler Group.

Are you kidding me?

I mean, consider the four brands in question.  There are Jeep and Ram, the macho light-truck brands that offer pickups and SUVs that I don't want, and Dodge and Chrysler, which offer boring cars I don't want or, in the case of Dodge, muscle cars I wouldn't dare touch.  Jeep and Ram are obviously profitable for Stellantis, but Dodge and Chrysler have been starved for new product of late.  Tavares is particularly interested in rejuvenating Chrysler, which had been the flagship marque of the eponymously named company that created it before devolving into a nameplate mainly for luxury minivans, an oxymoron if there ever was one.    

Needless to say, I am bummed about Peugeot not coming back to the U.S. after all, because Peugeot has some really interesting  product with more to come in the future.  Also, the quality of Peugeot cars has improved dramatically since the brand quit the U.S. market in 1991, and if the quality of its cars is as good as my Peugeot bicycle - I particularly revere my own Peugeot ten-speed road bike, 26 years old and still going strong - I was definitely ready to consider a Peugeot as my next car.  So this news is a disappointment that has curdled into utter disgust.  Once again, I've found myself waiting for a moment that just won't come.

Okay, maybe Tavares can resuscitate Chrysler and give it better and more interesting product (no word on what happens to Dodge, though I assume its current positioning as a performance brand will be strengthened).  With a new administration in the White House focusing on increasing fuel economy, we might get smaller cars similar to the Peugeot 308, and with the growing importance of developing electric cars - the reason Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot merged in the first place, so, as Stellantis, they could afford to develop them efficiently - we could get electric vehicles from Dodge and Chrysler that puts Volkswagen's ID lineup to shame.  And yes, Tavares does plan to build up Alfa Romeo's presence in the U.S. (Fiat, I really don't care about.)  But I am not optimistic about how this is all going to turn out, particularly with Dodge and Chrysler.  Previous efforts at strengthening those brands haven't worked out so well.

I guess we won't get Opel back either.  

This is a shame, because the Corsa (above) is really cool.

But, Mr. Tavares, could you at least please start selling Peugeot bicycles in America again?

Hail Stellantis! 😠

Peugeot was supposed to come back to the U.S. in 2026.  Hopefully by then I'll be Paris checking out Peugeot cars on their home turf.  But I wouldn't bet on that either.