Stellantis improved its business in China during 2021 calling it a solid foundation for long-term expansion. In an announcement that foreshadows details on Stellantis’ plan for the Chinese market that will be announced as part of a global strategic plan on 1 March 2022, the French conglomerate said Dongfeng Motor* sold more than 100,000 vehicles in 2021. This doubled the annual sales volume of 2020. Of these more than 100,000 Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën derived vehicles, about 9,300 New Energy Vehicles (NEV) were sold, which has made DPCA a net contributor of NEV and CAFC (Corporate Average Fuel Consumption) credits of Stellantis in China.
It also noted that the Jeep brand’s Wrangler had record sales in 2021 but neglected to mention that overall Jeep sales of 20,357 (-49%) declined for the fourth straight year. The Jeep product lineup, however, was recognized as No. 1 in APEAL and Vehicle Dependability (VDS) and No.2 in Initial Quality (IQS) by JD Power’s study among mainstream brands in China. Continue reading
Bad Airbags – Kia Recalls 411,000 Model Year 2017-19 Vehicles
Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling ~411000 2017-2019 model Sedona, Soul, Soul EV, 2017-2018 Forte, and 2017 Forte Koup vehicles for defective airbags. The Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) cover can contact a memory chip on the printed circuit board and damage the electrical circuit. Circuit damage may result in deactivated air bags that will not deploy in a crash. Some owners will have no warning that there is a problem. Non-deployment of airbags where deployment is necessary increases the risk of injury or death, of course.
In the required filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Kia claimed that “variances in the manufacturing of the ACU” can cause contact between the ACU cover and the Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) chip on the ACU’s Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and cause damage to the EEPROM’s soldering joints resulting in an open circuit. Continue reading →