David Zatz

David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.

STLA: big profits, profit-sharing (updated)

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Stellantis financials - earnings - dollars

Thanks to high profits in the United States, around 40,500 union employees in the country will get profit-sharing checks averaging $14,760. It’s a mild increase form last year, and comes as car prices have shot up due to supply-chain constraints.

Stellantis is a new company, still, but the results still set a record with a roughly $18-billion net profit; adjusted margin hit 13%. What’s more, Stellantis became a bigger BEV player with a 41% year-over-year growth, key to fighting Tesla (whose European sales shot up by a factor of ten, but remain small) and Volkswagen. Battery-electric car sales are rising fast in Europe, where fuel is far more expensive.

STLA Eurosales stable, share drops

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Peugeot 5008

Volkswagen, Renault, Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda had hefty sales bumps in January, while Stellantis lost a mere 300 sales; as a result, while Stellantis’ sales in Europe were essentially unchanged, its share fell from 19% to 17%.Volkswagen saw a 12% gain, with all its mainstream brands but SEAT rising. Renault was up a stunning 24% … Read more

Recall Monday: Ford fires, slipping; Ram’s revised recall

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2022 Ford Mustang

The weekly summary of NHTSA recalls brings up Ram’s engine compartment fires, a low-probability but high-damage event caused by bad intake heater grids; Ram announced this last week. It affects 2021-23 Ram pickups and chassis cabs with Cummins diesel engines only—no gasoline engines are affected.

It also brought up some Ford recalls eerily reminiscent of times passed—a combination of rollaway and fuel tank fires which may remind some of the time Tauruses were slipping into Reverse even as Pinto fires were in the news. In this case, it’s the 2023 Ford Transit with poorly welded fuel tanks, compared with two rollaway recalls—one in the 2020-22 Ford Explorer, caused by a computer flaw; and one in the 2022-23 Bronco, Explorer, F-150, Mustang, and Lincoln Aviator (in short, the company’s hottest vehicles and a Lincoln) where a loose bolt in the transmission may let the vehicle just roll away….

Consumer Reports vs JD Power quality rankings

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J.D. Power and Consumer Reports both released the results of their surveys recently, and there’s not much in common. 

The leader in J.D. Power’s three-year dependability study was Lexus, Toyota’s luxury brand, followed by Genesis, Hyundai’s luxury brand, and then Kia. BMW was just about average. 

For Consumer Reports readers, BMW was right at the top, followed by Subaru (well below average by J.D. Power) and Mini. Lexus was at #4, with the same score as Honda—a brand that, by J.D. Power lights, was below average. One key factor: the CR reports include not just reliability but also their own opinions about the cars’ characteristics.

Cummins-based Rams recalled for intake heater grids

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2017 Ram 2500 with Cummins diesel

Last year, Ram recalled 2021-2022 pickups and chassis cabs powered by Cummins diesel engines  because the intake heater grid relay on some trucks may overheat and cause a fire. To date, there has been no injuries or crashes; however, now the company reports that there have been six possibly-related fires.Ram has advised owners to avoid … Read more

STLA shared Super Bowl with anti-Tesla ad

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As always, the Super Bowl attracted its share of car companies; but there was one company which did not advertise, but still got its 30 seconds. That was almost inevitably Tesla, and the ad was from Dan O’Dowd’s Dawn Project.The ad, as you can see, slams Tesla’s self-driving feature. The company has for years charged … Read more

Ram REV shown for real

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2024 Ram 1500 REV

The Ram 1500 REV, a battery-electric full-size pickup, was revealed for the first time today on a Super Bowl ad.At the same time, Ram started a contest to win one of 200 early-reservation codes, normally selling for $100. The contest is running in both the US and Canada, from the Ram web site. The early … Read more

Ram’s BEV to be REV

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2023 Ram Revolution BEV concept

Ram just issued a press release confirming the name for the Ram 1500 BEV. It will be just one letter different from its description: Ram 1500 REV.This pales in comparison to the Ford Lightning name, but is still far above the competing Chevrolet Silverado 1500 BEV.Production is to start next year. Ram promised to provide … Read more

GM has good JD Power Dependability year; Mopars mixed; Ford, VW much worse

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2023 J.D. Power Dependability

GM had a very good J.D. Power Dependability report, which is based on reported problems per vehicle over three years. (It is reported as problems per hundred vehicles to avoid having people make jokes about “two and a half problems per car.”) Stellantis brands were a mixed bag, with Dodge coming in above average, Ram and Jeep at the average, and Chrysler down in VW-Jaguar-Mercedes territory. Ford had an absolutely awful year.

Flashback Friday: the “other” GTX, Super Bee, and Polara

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The Valiant was all very fine, but didn’t cover the whole market. As a result, South American dealers decided to adapt the car to sportier and more luxurious segments, taking names from bigger American cars; that brought the Polara, Coronado, Super Bee, and GTX. (Never mind that two of these names were taken from Plymouth; all were sold under the Dodge name.) 

These weren’t sticker packages; the sheet metal and fascias were changed to make the cars look more like 1968 Chargers than 1968 Valiants or Darts, and they were based on the sportier first-generation “narrow body” Valiants. 

Recall Monday: move over STLA, Jaguar’s hot this week

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Detroit Complex - Mack rendering

Stellantis failed to have any American recalls over the past week, but Jaguar Land Rover has the recall scene covered. The Range Rover PHEVs are both being recalled because their pedestrian warning sound isn’t good enough; so is the Jaguar I-Pace (2021-22).  In the ICE end, 2023 Defender, Discovery, Ranger Rover, Range Rover Sport, and … Read more

Ford underperformed in 2022

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Ford Bronco Raptor

Ford announced that its fourth quarter net income was $1.3 billion, below its 2021 number, though GM posted a hefty increase in profits. For 2022 as a whole, Ford lost $2 billion (adjusted EBIT, or earnings before interest and taxes, was a respectable $10.4 billion.)Ford CEO Jim Farley blamed the problem on execution and supply … Read more