Toyota joins Fiat-Chrysler partnership

Today, Toyota announced that it would be joining the Fiat-Chrysler partnership. In a new deal, Toyota will provide all four cylinder engines over 1.4 liters to the triumvirate, along with its hybrid-electric technology. Chrysler will provide V6 and V8 engines, and Fiat will provide car diesels and small four-cylinder engines. Transmissions will come from each of the companies, with Fiat handling dual-clutch and extralight models, Toyota providing its highly regarded car transmissions for B, C, and D class cars, and Chrysler handling E class and truck automatics.

Fiat will continue to be the A-and-B class car supplier for the three companies, playing to its strengths, while Toyota will take over the C segment. D-class cars (Camry and Avalon) and minivans will be jointly engineered by Toyota and Chrysler at Toyota’s Ann Arbor, Michigan, design center, using a modified Fiat C-EVO platform.

Chrysler will lead engineering for full sized pickups, with the Tundra moving to the Ram platform, while Toyota will share its Tacoma with Ram, replacing the Dakota. The popular Toyota SUVs will continue with Sequoia moving to the Ram platform.

Lexus will continue unchanged and will not share its cars with Chrysler as a new Imperial lineup, contrary to past rumors. Where Lexus is unknown, Lexus models will be sold as Lancias, according to Sergio Marchionne.

Scion will either be dropped or will switch to selling Fiat models at existing Scion dealers, according to Marchionne, who added, “This deal resonates with me, because in addition to being a French-Canadian working for an Italian company after leading a Swiss company, I’m also 1/64th Japanese, 1/32nd American Indian, 1/64th Indian Indian, and 1/64th Armenian.”

Toyota leader Akido Toyoda said in a prepared statement, “Toyota continues to have the highest quality of any automaker in history. However, we believe our expertise can be better shared with the rest of the world by partnering with inferior companies which have some special styling skills in other areas where we have been less than fully successful.”

Toyota will switch to Chrysler and Fiat electronics in all of its retail vehicles, using the Chrysler systems in larger vehicles and Fiat systems in smaller ones. Conflicts between Iveco and Toyota’s heavy truck division have yet to be worked out.

The deal will give Toyota better access to Europe and Canada, where they have been less successful than in the United States, and will give Fiat and Chrysler better access to Asia, where they have failed to make strong inroads.

No stock will be exchanged. “The future is not financial linkups, but product and engineering sharing,” said Sergio Marchionne. “Also, we couldn’t afford Toyota stock.”

Oh… and happy April Fools Day.

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The January 1 Big Event: Lancia UK?

Chrysler UK brought about quite a bit of speculation around Allpar, but after a few days, Mike LAlouette pointed out that, just because they’re showing a picture of the 300C on their web site, it doesn’t mean that they’re going to launch a new 300C.

With that thought, I’ve decided that the January 1 introduction is likely to be the launch of some Lancia models as Chryslers in the UK – where I think Fiat will drop Lancia in favor of the Chrysler brand, which sells moderately well there.

Sergio did say that the use of one brand or the other would depend on current sales, and Lancia’s really only got a handful of countries it’s popular in; I think Chrysler will end up with England, France, and who knows, maybe Germany. So for the UK, it’s a big event: new Chryslers! Designed for Europeans! For us in the United States, it’s also a big event – imagine if Mercedes had sold Dodge Neons as the Smart ForFive back in 1998. It would have signaled a much different future.

Perhaps we should be thankful that didn’t happen – because while Chrysler has been pounded, at least it’s not part of Daimler any more. They could have made it work, but in the long run, perhaps it’s better for everyone that they didn’t. Except, of course, all those who were kicked out of the company, one way or the other. And those who had Chrysler stock. And the owners who got in the way. And those who wanted a lighter, quicker PT Cruiser.

Maybe it’s better not to think about that. Anyway, I’m putting down my bet on a revitalized Chrysler UK lineup, with Lancias helping to flesh out the Chrysler lineup and adding dealerships across the country. Maybe next year the headlines will talk of Chrysler’s doubling its European sales – which would not be as hard as you might think.