We will not see the Peugeot name come back to the United States anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean Peugeot is completely sidelined.
Stellantis just appointed Larry Dominique the Senior Vice President of Alfa Romeo North America – we was President and CEO of PSA (Peugeot) Groupe North America. He desperately wanted to get PSA back to our shores. With this announcement, which was first reported by Automotive News (subscription necessary), we get a better picture where Stellantis is heading. That’s at least, in the near future.
We know that, for now, Ram, Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Maserati and Alfa Romeo will remain intact. No word on Fiat yet. It’s safe to assume that they will need to address the lowest performer on FCA’s portfolio. Right now, Jeep is about to introduce a slew of new models. On top of that, Ram just came out with the wildly successful TRX. Dodge is still cramming Hellcats into all of their offerings, and Chrysler is largely propped up by the Pacifica.
Maserati and Alfa Romeo both offer new-ish crossovers, which may have helped their prospects. In fact, it looks like, with Dominique’s recent appointment, they are serious about lifting up Alfa Romeo – which is boon for Italian performance-lovers. The Alfa Romeo Stelvio has proven to be the most popular Italian vehicle sold in the United States. A larger model is slated for the near future.
Peugeot isn’t out of it quite yet.
As we have noted in the past, PSA has some modern, green tech that could still be incorporated into Stellantis’ fleet of vehicles, even if it doesn’t wear a Peugeot badge There is a heck of an opportunity to electrify (in more ways than one) Chrysler and Dodge. PSA has a lot of experience with plug in electric hybrids (PHEVs) and has built some notable examples overseas. Why not use that expertise, platforms and slick interiors to build new Chryslers?
That’s just a thought — we’ll see what happens.
