DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley will run operations in the Americas when his company merges with France’s PSA Peugeot early next year.

FCA Chairman John Elkann announced Manley’s new post on Friday in a letter to employees. Manley’s role in the merged company had been a mystery.PSA CEO Carlos Tavares will run the overall company, to be named Stellantis. Shareholders of both companies will vote on the merger Jan. 4 to seal the deal creating the world’s fourth-largest automaker. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of March.

PSA will get six seats on the new company’s 11-member board, which will be chaired by Elkann.

The Americas, especially the U.S., are key to the new company’s success. Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep and Ram brands are highly profitable, and Tavares has long wanted to sell PSA vehicles in the U.S.

Manley has been the Italian-American automaker’s CEO for 2 1/2 years, taking over when Sergio Marchionne died in 2018.

Stellantis will have the capacity to produce 8.7 million cars a year, just behind Volkswagen, the Renault-Nissan alliance and Toyota.

MILAN — Shareholders of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot decisively voted Monday to merge the U.S.-Italian and French carmakers to create world’s 4th-largest auto company.

Addressing separate meetings, both PSA Peugeot CEO Carlos Tavares and Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann spoke of the “historic” importance of the vote, which combines legacy car companies that helped write the industrial histories of the United States, France and Italy.

Before the merger is finalized, shares in the new company, to be called Stellantis, must the launched. It will be traded in Milan, New York and Paris.

The marriage of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is built on the promise of cost-savings in the capital-hungry industry, but what remains to be seen is if it will be able to preserve jobs and heritage brands in a global market still suffering from the pandemic.

The deal will create the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, with the capacity to produce 8.7 million cars a year, behind Volkswagen, Toyota and Renault-Nissan, and create 5 billion euros in annual synergies.

“We are fully aware of the fact that together we will be stronger than individually,'' PSA CEO Carlos Tavares told a virtual gathering of eligible shareholders. “The two companies are in good health. These two companies have strong positions in their markets.”

The new company will put together under one roof French mass-market carmakers Peugeot and Citroen, top-selling Jeep and Italian luxury and sports brands Maserati and Alfa Romeo - pooling companies that have helped define the industry in the United States, France and Italy.

While the tie-up is billed as a merger of equals, the power advantage goes to PSA, with Tavares running Stellantis and holding the tie-breaking vote on the 11-seat board. Tavares is set to take full control of the company early this year, possibly by the end of January.

Fiat Chrysler chairman John Elkann, heir to the Fiat-founding Agnelli family and Fiat Chrysler’s biggest shareholder, will be the Stellantis chairman. Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley will head North American operations, which is key to Tavares' long-time goal of getting a U.S. foothold for the French carmaker he has run since 2014, and the clear money-maker for Fiat Chrysler.

Such a deal was long wanted by Fiat Chrysler’s long-time CEO Sergio Marchionne, who had predicted the necessity of consolidation in the industry. He was unable to find a deal before his sudden death in July 2018.

Tavares comes into the new role with a reputation as a cost-cutter and skilled manager, qualities he put to use as head of Nissan’s North American operations from 2009 to 2011 and in integrating Opel and Vauxhall into the PSA Peugeot family after buying them in 2017. Experts say he is likely to follow a blueprint that showed little tolerance for vehicles or ventures that didn’t make money.

That could put into the crosshairs any of the 14 car brands that Stellantis will house, five from PSA and nine from Fiat Chrysler. The two companies also have significant overlaps in their manufacturing and engineering operations in Europe.

PSA said in a statement to the AP last week that decisions on brands would be communicated after the deal is closed. Fiat Chrysler said in a statement that there are no plans to close any plants.

Analyst Patrick Hummel from UBS bank said he expected “immediate action to be taken right after closing, for example by bringing FCA’s European product on the PSA architectures.”

Still, analysts point out that gaining cost-savings is only the first of many that the new company will face. Both PSA and Fiat Chrysler enter the new union with poor records and infrastructure in China, and both are lagging in electrified powertrains, requiring investments that will off-set some of the savings.

PSA has set a goal of having all-electric or hybrid powertrains on its entire model range by 2025, while Fiat Chrysler has committed to electrifying 30 of its models by 2022.

Meeting those challenges will take more than restructuring prowess, said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Center for Automotive Research in Germany.

“Carlos Tavares is a restructuring guy. He knows how to restructure, but he has no ideas for a new tack,” he said.

MILAN — While running Nissan’s North American operations from 2009 to 2011, Carlos Tavares had a reputation for closely watching costs with little tolerance for vehicles or ventures that didn’t make money.

Experts say that means Tavares, currently the head of PSA Group, is likely to follow that blueprint when he becomes leader of a merged PSA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The low-performing Chrysler brand might get the axe as could slow-selling cars, SUVs or trucks that lack potential.

Already the companies are talking about consolidating vehicle platforms — the underpinnings and powertrains — to save billions in engineering and manufacturing costs. That could mean job losses in Italy, Germany and Michigan as PSA Peugeot technology is integrated into North American and Italian vehicles.

“You can’t be cost efficient if you keep the entire scale of both companies,” said Karl Brauer, executive analyst for the iSeeCars.com auto website. “We’ve seen this show before, and we’re going to see it again where they economize these platforms across continents, across multiple markets.”

Shareholders of both companies are to meet Monday to vote on the merger to form the world’s fourth-largest automaker, to be called Stellantis. The deal received EU regulatory approval just before Christmas.

Tavares, who for years has wanted to sell PSA vehicles in the U.S., won’t take full control of the merged companies until the end of January at the earliest.

He likely will target Europe for consolidation first, because that’s where Fiat vehicles overlap extensively with PSA’s, said IHS Markit Principal Auto Analyst Stephanie Brinley. Europe has been a money-loser for FCA, and factories in Italy are operating way below capacity — a concern for unions, given Fiat’s role as the largest private sector employer in the country.

“We are at a crossroads,’’ said Michele De Palma of the FIOM CGIL metalworkers’ union. “Either there is a relaunch, or there is a slow agonizing closure of industry, in particular the auto industry, in Italy.”

Italy’s hopes lie with the luxury Maserati and sporty Alfa Romeo brands, but De Palma said investments are needed to bring hybrid and electric technology up to speed. Fiat’s Italian capacity stands at 1.5 million vehicles, but only a few hundred thousand are being produced each year. Most factories were on rolling short-term layoffs due to lack of demand, even before the pandemic.

The merger is likely to also hit white collar workers, as Tavares is unlikely to keep engineering centers in Paris, Turin and Rodelsheim, Germany, where the Opel brand he acquired in 2017 is located, according to analysts.

FCA’s North American operations, led by the popular Jeep brand and Ram pickup, are hugely profitable and likely will be left untouched for a while, Brinley said. Tavares just three years ago stated his desire to sell PSA vehicles in the U.S. within a decade. He said any global automaker has to sell in the U.S. market.

In December the companies announced that Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley would run Stellantis’ operations in the Americas.

Larger Jeep and Ram trucks and SUVs are unique to the U.S. and generally don’t sell well in Europe, so Brinley expects those to be designed by Fiat Chrysler in Auburn Hills, Michigan, north of Detroit. Eventually some cars and some smaller SUVs, though, will move to PSA underpinnings, she said.

PSA has a wider array of fuel-efficient smaller engines, and Fiat Chrysler will need those to meet government fuel mileage and pollution requirements worldwide. The PSA Group’s goal is to offer its all models with electrified powertrains by 2025, an area where Fiat Chrysler also has lagged.

Analysts say the Chrysler brand could be in jeopardy in the U.S., where it has only two models, the aging 300 sedan and the Pacifica minivan. U.S. sales of the brand were off 19% through October.

The two companies have yet to announce any decisions on brands. Fiat Chrysler, in a statement from Michigan, said one of Stellantis' greatest strengths is its historic brands, including 10 from FCA, adding that there are no plans to close any plants. But PSA said in a statement from Paris that it hasn't announced any plans for the brands. “We will communicate in due on this matter, as the EGA (shareholders' vote) is not the closing date, neither the announcement of a strategic plan,” the statement said.

Brauer said U.S. consumers aren’t likely to see Peugeot vehicles, though. Instead, smaller vehicles will be built on French or German underpinnings with bodies and interiors designed in Michigan.

While the tie-up is billed as a merger, the advantage goes to PSA, which will control 6 of the 11 board seats with Tavares the tie-breaker.

Fiat Chrysler’s brands range from powerhouse Jeep to the performance Abarth marquee and the historic Italian brand Lancia, which currently produces just one model, the Ypsilon, targeting female drivers. “I don’t expect cutting brands that still make volumes, even if they are focused on very specific market segments, like Lancia,” said Francesco Zirpoli, director for the Center for Automotive and Mobility at Venice’s Ca’ Foscari University. But Stellantis will have too many factories in Europe making similar vehicles. “These overlaps have to be resolved,” he said.

Stellantis also will face a major challenge in Asia, in particular China, where both PSA and FCA are weak.

“The big market of the future is Asia. Asia will dominate the car business,’’ said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, of the Center for Automotive Research in Germany. Already it is 45% of global sales. “They merge, OK. They find synergies, OK. They reduce headcount, OK. But they are missing the most important point in the car business."