David Zatz 
The last Plymouth ever made is being auctioned off, and the last time we looked, the high bid was just $14,001. The car has the standard 2.0 liter engine and five-speed (manual) transmission, with 15-inch alloys, a sun roof, gray leather seats, and bright silver metallic paint; but it’s hardly ever been driven, with just …
If you thought the Jeep Renegade was a mistake, you won’t like what comes next—but chances are you won’t ever see one in person, anyway. The Jeep Renegade was originally to share an existing Fiat platform, but Jeep chief (and later FCA CEO) Mike Manley demanded that it be redone to earn a Trail Rated …
Several publications recently ran stories on the death of the sort-of-new Giorgio platform, designed to support medium-sized and large cars and crossovers for Alfa Romeo, Dodge, Jeep, and possibly Chrysler. The reality appears to be different: Giorgio has simply been brought into a new naming system, which simply calls its platforms Small, Medium, Large, and …
How fake is this letter posted to Facebook, “from a Stellantis employee,” which came with a possibly-real Stellantis letterhead? Pretty fake. Let’s look at the issues. First, while there is a semiconductor shortage, it’s not only China that’s the problem; the sudden Texas shutdown meant hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of semiconductors in-process were …
Several sources, including Detroit News, Automotive News, and our own trusted source, have stated that the Jefferson Avenue plant which makes the Grand Cherokee will slow down due to a chip shortage. The root cause is the Texas grid’s lack of preparation for freezing weather, which caused power outages across the state, knocking a semiconductor …
Under Sergio Marchionne, projects changed and shifted constantly in response to CEO whims and market research; and platform names could be confusing and inconsistent (Giorgio, for example, being named largely to give the impression it was created solely by and for Alfa Romeo). FCA was also prone to rushing cars out to market before they …
When the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L, the brand new three-row edition which is based on a new platform, was first launched, dealers could only buy high-end models—Limited and Summit. Now, according to Mopar Insiders, the Laredo, Altitude, and Overland are all also available. Even the Laredo is well equipped, with LED reflector headlamps, 18-inch …
What is Chrysler? What makes it unique? These are questions I have asked heads-of-the-Chrysler-brand, without getting particularly useful answers, much less consistent ones. They can hardly be blamed. Nobody seems to have known what Chrysler is, what makes it unique, perhaps since Walter P. Chrysler was in charge. After all, it was Walter—or WPC—who decided …
Jefferson North is likely to shut down in early May until it gets a new supply of HVAC control chips, according to an article in Automotive News. Jeep supplier JVIS relies on chips from NXP, which makes them in Austin; while JVIS needs 70,000 chips for the plant for the quarter, only around 27,000 are …
One of this site’s writers has written three books, covering the Dodge Viper, Mopar minivans, and four Jeeps (the Wagoneer, Gladiator, Scrambler, and Comanche). There are numerous positive reviews for the Viper book and the minivan book—but so far, nobody has posted a critical or customer review of the Jeep book, as far as we …
The Mopar ’21 Ram 1500 is an option pack for the Big Horn/Lone Star Crew Cab 4×4, limited to 250 units: 210 in the United States and 40 in Canada. Available colors are Billet Silver, Bright White, Flame Red, and Hydro Blue. The new 2021 Ram 1500 Big Horn/Lone Star Crew Cab 4×4 is well-equipped …
Is Dodge Law Enforcement giving us a hint about a future new vehicle, by featuring a brushfire-fighting Wrangler conversion from Reiselt’s Machine Works? The idea of a customized law enforcement or fire-fighting Wrangler is perhaps long overdue. The old Dodge Power Wagon was often converted to firefighting duty, but not by Dodge itself. The company …
