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Hello Monday! Today we dive into Stellantis’ leadership shuffle as Jeep’s Antonio Filosa takes on this crucial role, Fiat stirs up fun with a cheeky EV campaign, and SpaceX makes history by catching its massive Starship booster midair.
- Antonio Filosa, Jeep’s CEO since last November, is now also stepping into the role of Stellantis North America COO. With a sales slump and dealer frustrations, Filosa faces a challenging balancing act as he takes on this dual role.
- Antonio replaces Carlos Zarlenga, who was COO for just 8 months.
- Dealers' expectations want better inventory movement and product support and Filosa aims to align product delivery and pricing with market needs.
- This change comes as Stellantis made broader leadership changes, including a new CFO.
- "It's no secret that we have work to do," said Filosa on LinkedIn.
- Fiat has launched a playful social media campaign contrasting its small 500e EV with the massive Tesla Cybertruck. The campaign humorously highlights the size difference while promoting Fiat’s electric city car as a charming and practical alternative.
- Video titled "You Say Tomato, We Say Pomodoro" compares the two vehicles as Cybertruck is portrayed as "shock" while the 500e is "awwwww."
- Fiat emphasizes the 500e’s ease of use in city driving.
- Campaign aims to inject humor while promoting Fiat's first electric vehicle for U.S. consumers.
- “Our little cinquecento...embodies what an electric city car should be,” said Stellantis CMO Olivier Francois.
- SpaceX successfully launched and caught its massive Starship booster, marking a historic achievement in spaceflight. The bold maneuver showcases SpaceX's innovation as it works toward its goal of fully reusable rockets for moon and Mars missions.
- Starship launched from South Texas on Oct. 13 where the booster, "Super Heavy," was caught midair by the launch tower’s "chopstick" arms.
- SpaceX continues to make Starship fully reusable for rapid relaunch capability.
- This mission also featured improvements to Starship’s heat shield.
- "A big step toward making life multiplanetary," said Elon Musk after the flight.
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