The Stellantis name will be used only at the group level as a corporate brand. — Reuters
NEW YORK: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Peugeot maker PSA Group paged through Latin dictionaries before they landed on a name for their combined car-making group.
The name Stellantis draws from the Latin verb “stello,” which means “to brighten with stars,” the Italian-American and French manufacturers said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The moniker will be used only at the group level as a corporate brand.
Fiat Chrysler and PSA billed the announcement as a major step towards completing their merger by early next year. More meaningful matters to overcome include finalising terms that have irked some PSA investors — namely, a planned dividend to be paid out to Fiat Chrysler shareholders — and getting through a European Commission antitrust probe.
Assuming the merger goes through, a name change will be nothing new for Chrysler, whose name has survived in one form or another since its founding in 1925.
When Daimler bought the American automaker in 1998, it dubbed the combined entity DaimlerChrysler. After their split in 2007, Cerberus Capital Management renamed the US carmaker Chrysler LLC.
The name Chrysler Group LLC emerged from the company’s 2009 government-backed bankruptcy, which then gave way to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014.
