Fiat Chrysler has a huge looming problem because it's selling so many trucks
The company is struggling to match increasing emissions standards and may not have the capital to dig itself out, Bloomberg's John Lippert and Jeff Plungis reported:
"Light-duty trucks," which include FCA's Jeep SUVs, Chrysler minivans, and Ram pickup trucks, are the largest selling and most profitable sectors in the entire automotive industry, and have long been the bread-and-butter of American brands.
Bloomberg reported that light-duty trucks comprise 78% of FCA's American sales volume, a proportion that is about 8% lower for rivals Ford and GM.
Ceasing production would probably not be an option for FCA, even as a short-term solution, while the money required to catch up to other car makers' years of research and development may simply be out of reach.
The only other option may be yet another merger for the conglomerate (Fiat and Chrysler were conjoined in 2009), which makes for awkward timing less than a year after CEO Sergio Marchionne unsuccessfully tried to pair up with General Motors.
But FCA's impending emissions woes would certainly help explain why Marchionne pushed so aggressively to make the seemingly hopeless deal work.