Fiat Chrysler CEO scolded aide for early denial on emissions

Bloomberg

The chief executive of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV admonished a company spokesman in 2015 for saying the company didn’t rig its vehicles with illegal software to pass emissions tests, according to documents filed in a related lawsuit.
An excerpt of the 2015 email from CEO Sergio Marchionne to Fiat Chrysler’s then-head of US communications, Gualberto Ranieri, was revealed in federal court in Manhattan. The spokesman had issued a statement days after Volkswagen AG admitted to cheating on emissions tests that Fiat Chrysler did not use so-called defeat devices.
“Are you out of your goddam mind?” Marchionne wrote. He also said that the spokesman should be fired and called his actions “utterly stupid and unconscionable.”
The communication was produced by Fiat Chrysler in a lawsuit brought by shareholders in 2015 claiming the company misled investors about vehicle safety problems. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan as a class action, claims that Fiat Chrysler failed to comply with US vehicle safety laws and to submit required early warning information to US regulators, delayed recalls, downplayed US investigations and under-reported recall costs. The court has rejected attempts by Fiat Chrysler to dismiss the case. Fiat Chrysler has denied intentional cheating on its diesel emissions.
“It is understandable that our CEO would have a forceful response to any employee who would opine on such a significant and complex matter, without the matter having been fully reviewed through the appropriate channels,” the company said in a statement. “This is particularly true given that the statements were made within only a few days of the Volkswagen diesel issue becoming public, and before a comprehensive internal review and discussions with component suppliers was possible.”
Ranieri went back to Italy in 2016 and continued to work for the company until earlier this year. Marchionne and Scott Kunselman, former head of Chrysler’s vehicle safety and regulator compliance, are named defendants in the suit.
The US Justice Department separately sued Fiat Chrysler in May 2017, alleging the company used illegal emissions software on diesel-powered pickups and SUVs to circumvent US emissions tests.
The government alleged Fiat Chrysler sold nearly 104,000 Ram 1500 pickup and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs with 3.0-liter diesel engines that contained defeat devices.