Will Stellantis Survive—or Saab It?

Issue #116

Happy Tuesday!

I’m (Bernard) currently living in the UK for the next months. My wife and I have seen plenty of car brands that disappeared from the US.

What’s a brand you miss? As you’ll read later, I’m a Pontiac fan.

Market News

• Toyota contacted Nissan after the merger with Honda failed. Here’s what we know.

• Dodge trims the 2026 Charge EV lineup to just one: this one. 

• RAM trucks are expensive, but this buyer made a great move on one. 

• Here’s the only way Alfa Romeo can produce an iconic sports car like the 33 Stradale. 

• Toyota is finally making an EV that the US market needed. 

• BMW CEO states this about an EV-only strategy, and it’s critical.

• There are currently only two new cars worth less than $30,000. Here’s why they are important. 

• This robotic car salesperson will change how we view dealerships. 

• Here’s how customizing your Hummer EV can void your warranty. We’ve discussed extended warranties before, here’s our article. 

• Last week, we covered Ford’s employee pricing. It’s been a hit, so here’s what Ford is doing. 

Safety and Recalls

• Thousands of F-150s could lose steering, here’s why. 

• GM recalls Express and Savana vans for improperly welded head restraints. 

• Toyota recalls 433,000 Tundra pickups for this issue. 

Car Culture

• You can rent a Wrangler with rubber ducks inside it, and that’s no joke. 

• Does driving a luxury car mean you’re rich? It depends. 

• Gen-Z will change how we drive, here’s why. 

• This most recent barn find is VIN 001 of this iconic American sports car. Can you guess what the buyer paid for it? 

• The BMW inline-6 engine is so famous that other cars have used it. Here they are. 

• What went wrong at Nissan? The company’s new CEO explains (and blames the past).

• From cheap minivans to BMW killer, here’s the story of a mysterious Chinese car company. 

• Repairs and Tesla aren’t two words that get along, here’s why. 

• The 80s weren’t known for horsepower, but companies still produced some impressive vehicles such as these. 

• Small SUVs are becoming more popular. Here are the best three-row options. 

Video Of The Week

Here are three cars that were so bad the customers gave them to this mechanic. 

Power On The Go

The 2nd Best Gift I’ve Ever Given My Dad (Hands Down)

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That’s why I joined Bluetti’s affiliate program. Their lineup of solar generators is incredibly solid—and they’ve got models for everything from emergency home backup to road trip charging stations.

Personally, I have the EB3A. It’s compact, perfect for camping or tossing in the car to charge phones and laptops. But if you want to power bigger stuff—like a fridge during an outage—you’ll want one of their larger units.

👉 Check out the current Bluetti deals here.

Yes, that’s an affiliate link. No, it doesn’t cost you anything extra. But every click helps support this newsletter and keeps the content coming. Win-win.

In The Know

When you look at Stellantis, think of Saab. 

I have a soft spot for Pontiacs, not just the GTO and Bonneville of the glory years, and the quirky A-body styles, such as this one.

No, I'm talking about the 2000s front-wheel-drive, V6-powered, plastic-laden "sports" sedan that handled like a bag of bricks. I loved them and I might be in luck, as GM renewed the Pontiac trademark. 

Not only that, I loved many of the GM brands of that era.

Back then, General Motors had 14 brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Opel (European market), Vauxhall (Europe), Hummer, Holden (Asia), Daewoo (Asia), and Wuling (Asia).

Excluding Daewoo and Wuling, all these brands had at least one model that stood out, an "icon" of sorts, at one point in their history. 

Do you know which was the first mass-market turbocharged car?

That's why we loved them: because they had potential. We clung to the idea that GM would eventually produce a killer car that managed to replicate the '60s and '70s icons.

Perhaps it's because I was a teenager, and we all go back to what we loved as teens. 

But why am I talking about GM when this newsletter is all about Stellantis? Because of one quirky fact. 

Guess how many brands Stellantis currently owns?

That's right: 14. 

They are Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, and Vauxhall.

Like GM in the 2000s, Stellantis owns brands with huge potential and loyal fans. Following the same path as GM twenty years ago, it's at a crucial crossroads. 

We've previously discussed how the company's numbers aren't great after Carlos Tavares' stint as CEO. 

After his departure (and a $26 million payout for tanking the company), the company has no clear direction, only pausing things. 

So, there's a need for a new CEO, and some names are gaining strength. 

The leading candidate is Antonio Filosa. He might not be a household name for the automotive community (yet).

Still, he's got a big role as the head of the American division. Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and RAM are all under his guidance.

These are also the most recognizable brands in this side of the world (sorry, FIAT and Alfa Romeo, although the Giulia is impressive).

Filosa (ironically, his last name means sharp in Spanish) has stated he's not afraid to trim the company. That's a good thing because, as this article states, he must do it. Stellantis is simply too massive and not performing well enough. 

Most of its models fail to offer anything special, even if, as we said before, they had potential. Lackluster sales force the company to cut back on innovation, and the cycle continues.

As this video explains, even its most elite brands are just pimped-out versions of cheaper models with overly complicated additions. 

It's a lot like GM back then. What did GM do? Slim down. 

I know. Other factors were at play when GM had to take drastic action, leading to the disappearance of Saab, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. 

Saab had been, for decades, a brand that stood out with an inexplicable aura. You drove a Saab, and it said a lot about you, but no one could pinpoint exactly what. Yet, if you ask around Saab fans, they'd love for the brand to return. (It tried, but failed)

Ironically, General Motors sold Opel and Vauxhall to PSA, a key company that would eventually become part of Stellantis. 

There was a massive financial crisis back then that derailed the US economy. The government enacted bailouts that saved the automotive industry. Its effectiveness has been discussed for years, such as in this article. 

Stellantis is not in the same position. The government isn't rushing to save it, so it needs to save itself, and it might with products like these.

How? I'm not an expert, but ditching many of its brands might help. However, that's not all it needs to do.

If I buy a car, I want it to be reliable, and I can't think of many Stellantis products that give me that vibe.