Jeep is recalling nearly 220,000 Jeep Cherokees due to fire risks, with a “park outside” alert for owners. This only affects the 2014-16 models with power liftgate—and only 1% appear to have the defect.The recall covers Cherokees which have already been recalled (twice) for power liftgate short-circuits. All Cherokees made from February 27, 2013 through … Read more
All figures are from ACEA new-car registration reports for April 2023.Stellantis lost market share in Europe (defined as the EU plus EFTA plus the UK), falling from an 18.8% market share to 17.5%. Most of its ground was given up to Volkswagen, which shot up from 24% to 27%; every Volkswagen brand rose or stayed … Read more
Stellantis is keeping its bet on hydrogen even as it builds battery plants with a one-third stake in Symbio, a hydrogen fuel cell company. The other share holders are Faurecia and Michelin, each holding an equal portion.
Peugeot can build the same car with either battery-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell power sources. Symbio plans to start making 50,000 fuel cells per year by 2025 at its Saint Fons plant, which starts production in the second half of this year. Overall, Symbio plans to make 100,000 fuel cell systems per year by 2028, all in France, creating 1,000 jobs in the country.
Zdung Ho’s Go Mango Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat has spent several years serving as the quickest (and fastest) Hellcat sedan in the quarter mile, but on May 6, the record was officially claimed by Colby Davis.
While competing at Streetcar Bragging Rights at Carolina Dragway, Davis’ Dodge Charger laid down a handful of 7-second runs that allowed him to win the Heavyweight class – while claiming the title of the World’s Quickest Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.
Stellantis and LG have stopped construction on the battery-module portion of their massive battery plant in Windsor, Ontario. Stellantis issued the following statement…
Canadian officials said that negotiations are ongoing. Stellantis reported that it is continuing to hold the Canadian government to deliver what it agreed to…
This week was a busy one for the NHTSA. The 2020-22 Ford Explorer had two recalls, one on an “incomplete” computer update that could result in cars rolling away; and one on rear view images not showing up. Land Rover had a recall for the storage compartment latch failing on the 2022-23 Range Rover and 2023 Range Rover Sport, and 2022-23 Ferrari 296 fuel pipes may leak. GM recalled the 2014-17 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, and GMC Acadia because the driver’s airbag inflator may explode.
By far, though, German automakers had the most recalls for the month.
In 1896, Henry G. Morris and Pedro G. Salom, makers of the Electrobat taxi cab, formed the Electric Carriage & Wagon Company. Nobody knew that gasoline was the future of the car then: the very first cars, made in the 18th century, had been steamers. Karl Benz made several copies of a single gasoline-burning car in 1885, but then Thomas Edison had opened the world’s first generating station for commercial and residential buyers even earlier—and electricity seemed like it might be the fuel of the future.
Last week, Ram teased the world about a “new force” coming for May 10. Today, it’s here—but guesses about the news being Hurricane-related were wrong. Instead, there will be new editions of the 2023 Ram 1500 Rebel and TRX—the Ram 1500 Rebel Lunar and Ram TRX Lunar editions, coming in a unique Ceramic Gray color. Both will be available in limited numbers later this Spring…
The Jeep Gladiator was introduced for consumers who wanted a Wrangler-based truck, and Jeep provided pretty much exactly what many people had asked for. The Gladiator looks a great deal like the Wrangler inside and out and is almost as off-road-capable as the Wrangler, so it comes as little surprise that the midsized Jeep pickup has sold very well.
However, since the Gladiator came onto the scene, the Wrangler has gotten an array of new options and/or features that are not available for the Jeep pickup. The most reasonable requests focus on offering the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine and the 4xe hybrid package from the Wrangler. The 4xe package has helped the Wrangler become the bestselling plug-in hybrid in the U.S. market and, having driven the hybrid Jeep, it seems like a drivetrain that would work nicely in the Gladiator. On the more extreme end of things, more than a few Jeepers with deep pockets would gladly pay big money for a Gladiator Rubicon 392, but so far, we have only seen the incredible V8 package in the Wrangler.
Last week, NHTSA published three new recalls covering Stellantis North America vehicles: Ram ProMasters which may slip while in Park, Jeep Cherokees which may lose power or slip while in Park, and Jeep Wrangler 4xes which may stall or have the engine light come on. [Details — click on “More”]
Ram has started showing a video teaser on Facebook (but not on Youtube, where the phrase “a new force is coming 5.10.23” has started becoming a popular search term). There is little to see: the camera accelerates over broken desert ground, finally resolving into this scene—
Opinion. Back in 2019, I wrote about the “Tornado,” as the turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine then being development was coded. At that point, the GME 2.0 turbo, coded “Hurricane,” was still in planning. The code names were based on warplanes, as were the Eagle, Apache, and so forth—not past Jeep engines. The Willys/Jeep Tornado engine was an inline six-cylinder with an overhead cam, an advanced design which did not last long on the market. The Willys/Jeep Hurricane engine, in contrast, was a four-cylinder, replacing the “Go-Devil” engine, made from 1950 to 1971. (There was also a Jeep Hurricane concept car in 2005 which is unrelated.)
Stellantis has a trademark on the name “Dakota,” and is hard at work on a vehicle that would replace the Ram 1200 (Mitsubishi L1200). Compact and midsize trucks are a hot market in the United States now, with the Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado, and Gladiator all fighting it out—but the Gladiator isn’t a practical high-volume truck for Ram.
Could the company create a transitional truck to fill in for a midsize, while it waits for its engineers to finish? It might be a bit expensive, and maybe it wouldn’t work; but it would also be a recession-fighting pickup, if times got worse and pricey pickups suddenly lost their buyers. … [more]
The first quarter of 2023 was good for Stellantis, but not great; while net revenues were up 14% over Q1 2022, with a 7% increase in sales and high net prices, market share fell in North America and Europe. This was somewhat offset by small gains in South America and Africa/Middle East. Globally, low-emissions vehicles sales rose by 25%, driven by the Jeep 4xe series. BEVs were up by 22% year-over-year.
GM’s pretax profit in North America rose by 14% in the first quarter, to $3.6 billion, but the company as a whole saw net income drop by 19%, to $2.4 billion. This was largely due to $875 million for employee buyouts; the company also set aside $99 million to buy out those Buick dealers who are leaving rather than supporting electric cars. Like Chrysler, Buick sees itself as all-electric in the future.
A couple of days ago, photos from the Illinois Toll Road’s social media feed made a stir as a car carrier loaded mainly with new Jeeps was clearly on fire. Two Wranglers were most badly burned, and one of them was a 4xe, which could have stirred some anti-EV hate. An inquiry to Stellantis North America media relations yielded no answers.
