Some time ago, neighbors reported strange odors coming from the new Mack Avenue assembly plant, officially named Detroit Assembly Complex – Mack. The state investigated and found that there were indeed odors, from this and one other plant. Stellantis hired a specialist company to do source sampling, and over 13 days, that company took 152 … Read more
Months ago, Automotive News published an article noting that analysts thought the Belvidere (Illinois) plant, currently home of the Cherokee, would switch to making the company’s forthcoming BEVs around 2023, and that Brampton (Ontario) would lose its large-car monopoly and possibly be converted to making batteries. The article worried (and still worries) people working at … Read more
We’ve seen the results of the muscle truck race, where the Challenger beat Mustang (U.S.) sales for all of 2021 in a surprise upset. But what about two bigger, if less visible, sellers? In pickups, Ford invariably takes the #1 spot, partly due to a wider variety than other automakers. #2 was fought over by … Read more
With buyers desperate for cars this past year, FCA US dealers seem to have successfully cleared out their remaining supplies of unpopular or long-discontinued cars, which might have been used as loaners or demonstrators, or for internal purposes. The dead-but-sold cars include nine Jeep Patriots (only one was sold in 2020, but nine were sold … Read more
FCA Canada reported a 10% fall in sales over 2021, compared with 2020. Jeep gained in retail sales by 20% for the full year. The Grand Cherokee, which recently added an “L” three-row variant and a new generation of the two-row model, gained in fourth-quarter retail sales by 56% to be the best selling full … Read more
Where is the Ram BEV? According to Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, “It is now being adjusted every month to improve our specs and capabilities.” The adjustments are being made based on what competitors are doing; the target date for production is in 2024. He reminded the audience that 2021 was a record year for Ram—for … Read more
During a meeting with Morgan Stanley, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares clarified today’s Amazon-Stellantis announcement. The deal with Amazon has three major facets: Stellantis will leverage Amazon’s operating systems in infotainment (an effort which will include the Foxconn partnership); Stellantis will use Amazon’s cloud services (e.g. AWS); The company will sell Amazon “a significant number” of … Read more
Stellantis reported retail sales similar to 2020, and total sales around 2% below 2020. FCA US LLC had sales of 411,513 vehicles in the fourth quarter and 1,777,394 vehicles in all of 2021. By comparison, GM sales dropped by 13% year to year; Honda rose 9%; Hyundai rose 22%; and Ford has not yet reported … Read more
GM’s massive 43% drop in sales caused the company to lose its position as the best selling automaker in America—for the first time in 90 years. While Hyundai/Kia ended the year with a sales record in the United States, reaching sales of 701,416 cars across the company’s three brands (Genesis is the third), the Korean … Read more
According to the Detroit Free Press, millions of Ram, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo cars and trucks will be getting a software update to enable emergency vehicle (EV) alerts. The system will start out in North America, but would be enabled anywhere in the world it is supported by EVs. The news comes after … Read more
At the risk of becoming, as one site called Stellpower, “an engine blog,” it may be worth clarifying what is going where. The Pacifica, according to at least one source, is not switching over to the “Tornado” inline six-cylinder; it’s going to stick with the Pentastar V6 for quite some time, and possibly get a turbo … Read more
Back in January, we first brought up the “Tornado” GME T6 engine—but, as I pointed out at the time, I’d also written about the inline six back at allpar, years ago. Now, other publications are starting to discover the story, in some cases providing credit and more information, and in others simply denying it could … Read more
When Fiat Chrysler joined with Peugeot to form Stellantis, it suddenly became possible for Dodge and Chrysler to bring sedans and coupes other than the L-cars back. Peugeot’s various brands, including the upscale DS, have been profitably selling sedans in Europe even as most buyers turned towards crossovers. While it seems most likely that Chrysler … Read more
While nobody at Stellantis has talked about the new straight-six engine, the turbocharged “Tornado” six is actually listed in the company’s list of manufacturing plants. As Stellpower reported weeks ago, the engine will be made in Saltillo, which is currently home of the Hemi—every Hemi. The new inline six-cylinder engine, possibly the last completely new … Read more
Possibly missed in the avalanche of Direct Connect news last week is the return of the technical hotline, which helps performance-minded people to get specific questions answered. The hotline is available at a toll-free number: (800) 998-1110. It is, as one might expect, only meant for questions about Mopar performance parts. Direct Connection, like Mopar … Read more
The 2022 Chevrolet Silverado pickup’s turbocharged 2.7 six-cylinder engine has gotten a power bump, to 310 horsepower and 420 pound-feet—an hefty increase over its 2019 rating of 348 pound-feet. This engine is replacing the old 4.3 liter V6 and the 5.2 liter V8 alike (the 4.3 was rated at 285 horsepower and 305 pound-feet of … Read more