Tesla Battery & Powertrain Tech Could Be the “Life Saver” for Alfa Romeo and Maserati

It is no secret that the requirements for car emissions in Europe are becoming stricter almost every year. It is in Europe that some countries have already announced plans to abandon the sale of cars with internal combustion engines in the foreseeable future.

In addition the European Commission will introduce another interesting rule related to this market. We are talking about the average rate of carbon dioxide emissions for the entire fleet of a particular manufacturer for the year.

Simply put, the average carbon dioxide emissions for all cars sold by a company during the year should not be higher than normal. Thus, those manufacturers that sell as many electric cars or hybrids as possible will benefit. Companies that do not fit the norm will face heavy fines.

The problem is that some manufacturers either still do not have “green” cars in their assortment, or there are too few of them. In particular, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has a problem.

However, EU legislation allows car manufacturers to get out of the situation without changing their fleet. This opportunity is to “unite” parks of different manufacturers. The so-called Pools, can save those automakers who can not or do not want to quickly switch to the production of more environmentally friendly cars.

Alfa Romeo and Maserati, owned by Fiat, are not only unprofitable, but also highly polluting. The company's management does not want to abandon their production, which would certainly lead to Fiat paying huge fines. But, thanks to a deal with Tesla, they get a chance to live.

The British portal AutoTrader in his video talks in more detail about this. The cars Fiat manufactures are not enough to reduce the average consumption of the European FCA fleet to the maximum value of 95 g/km CO2, which will be applied from this year.

According to the declaration on the European Commission website, Fiat Chrysler formed an open Pool with Tesla on February 25, 2019. According to FCA, most of the agreed 1.8 billion euros will be paid this year, and the rest by the end of 2022, when their own cars will be on average low emissions.

In addition, cooperation between FCA and Tesla may also deepen in other areas. Only in November 2019, FCA CEO Michael Manley, realized that Tesla could supply batteries and drives for future Fiat Chrysler electric vehicles. He said, a large-scale electrification initiative will be launched in the future.

Manley said that if the merger with the PSA Group goes through, creating the world's fourth largest automaker, then electrification would happen on a "grand scale" and that further cooperation would make sense. Manley responded to an analyst's question about Tesla's technology by indicating that the company might "buy" rather than "build" basic EV platforms.

"It would be wrong of me to say no," he said, highlighting the potential of such an arrangement to enable FCA and PSA to conserve capital.
"The customer will be agnostic" to certain components, Manley said, noting that batteries and drivetrain would be among them. He added that a company could buy a "skateboard" platform from Tesla, then tune other systems, such as suspension and handling, to suit various brands (FCA already has marques as diverse as Jeep, RAM, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo).

Tesla actually has some history as a supplier to other automakers. Early in its existence, Toyota took a stake in the California company, and Tesla provided Toyota with powertrains. As part of the partnership, Toyota acquired a Tesla stake for $50 million. Toyota later sold its holdings after Tesla 2010 IPO and the relationship ended. Manley also said that FCA's pooling deal with Tesla would conclude in 2021.

"Our relationship with Tesla goes back a long way," Manley said. "It really has helped us. But FCA are absolutely committed to reducing CO2 emissions around the world."