The company formerly known as Chrysler is now Stellantis

James Riswick
·2 min read



Introducing Stellantis. Talk to your doctor before using Stellantis as side effects may include model redundancy, the overwhelming urge to apply Dodge badges to Peugeot crossovers, and weak stream.

Honestly, how can you not poke just a little fun at the name chosen for the new multi-national corporation that will result once the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Peugeot S.A. (Groupe PSA) is completed in the first quarter of 2021. According to the press release, "Stellantis is rooted in the Latin verb 'stello' meaning 'to brighten with stars' ... The name's Latin origins pay tribute to the rich history of its founding companies while the evocation of astronomy captures the true spirt of optimism, energy and renewal driving this industry-changing merger."

The "Latin origins" of the French company Peugeot and the Italian Fiat are obvious. Chrysler, on the other hand, was founded by a man born in Kansas whose father was a Canadian-American of German and Dutch ancestry (thanks Wikipedia). His mother was also of German ancestry. So yeah, the name Stellantis is really only related to the Peugeot and Fiat bits. The Americans are just along for the ride with their Jeeps and Hellcats.

And it should be noted that we will henceforth never write "Stellantis" in ALL CAPS as the corporation does because it's silly and we don't do it for Hummer, Mini, etc. Admittedly, Fiat could go either way since it's literally an acronym, but Fiat doesn't even bother doing that any more.

The name Stellantis will only be applied at the corporate level, so effectively in place where you previously would've said Fiat-Chrysler or FCA. There won't be a Stellantis Challenger.

We produced a list last year of all the cars that are currently made by the brands within Stellantis.

Here's also a list of all the names that the company we generically know as "Chrysler" has gone through over the years.

Chrysler Corporation (1925-1998)

DaimlerChrysler (1998-2007)

Chrysler LLC (2007-2009)

Chrysler Group (2009-2014)

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (2014-2021)

Stellantis

Plymouth Laser
Plymouth Laser

There have also been secondary corporate entities. There was Diamond Star Motors from 1985 to 2015, a manufacturing joint venture between Mitsubishi and whatever Chrysler was called at the time. It resulted in the Plymouth Laser, above, amongst other automotive diamonds. There was also Eurostar Automobilwerk from 1990 to 2002 between Chrysler and Austria's Steyr-Daimler-Puch Fahrzeugtechnik that basically produced Chrysler minivans for Europeans (mostly diplomats), but dabbled in PT Cruisers at the end.