It’s looking likely that Fiat Chrysler has finally found a merger-mate in Groupe PSA. If this new company is going to survive in this era of consolidation and changing market conditions, it’ll have to come up with some creative uses for the intellectual property and brand value it’s got at its disposal.
Now, it’s important to remember that FCA marrying PSA creates a deep roster of brands. Let’s count them off. PSA’s stable is smaller, with Citroen, Peugeot, DS, Opel, and Vauxhall making up the team. Then we have FCA. Aside from Fiat, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo, they’ve also got Lancia, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram as well. And those are just the brands currently in production. Many more were sacrificed to bring these two companies to where they are today.
Now, the pessimist in me would point out that the two automakers have a lot of products that compete directly against one another and some of them are bound to be axed in pursuit of profits. We already know that Fiat’s brands are going to see some cuts. But what if we took a more charitable (if not grounded) approach? After all, there is some precedent for an imaginative collaboration between the brands of Fiat Chrysler and their counterparts over at PSA.
Back in the ‘70s, two of the brands above actually spent some time related to one another. You might remember this. They built a car called the SM. It’s a Citroen. It’s a Maserati, kind of. It’s possibly my favorite car of all time. And it gave me an idea.
The idea is as follows. You, the Jalopnik commentariat, hold a lot of wisdom about the way cars should be marketed. You’re an unparalleled bunch when it comes to knowledge of motor marginalia and forgotten four-wheelers. And it’s your time to shine. Take a deep look at what the brands above have come up with in the past and, with what you know of the powertrains, platforms and design cues currently employed by the two merging giants in mind, I want you to imagine what kind of products could be made possible by an eventual Groupe FCAPSA.
So what are you imagining? A reborn SM? Do you have ideas to take Peugeot’s handsome sedans and give Lancia a new Thema? Maybe Opel’s due for a Hellcat-powered Manta revival. There’s a lot to play with here. So give it some thought and share your ideas in the comments and remember the details. Maybe the right person will see it and set things in motion. You never know.
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