A Fox affiliate in Michigan recently issued a story about the death of a mechanic during a Jeep’s oil change—and how the mechanic’s family was suing the owner of the Jeep, rather than the dealership. The original story implied that the Jeep was defective, with the writer noting that it leaped forward when the clutch … Read more
Yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and a number of other dignitaries, Stellantis officials, and Unifor union reps unveiled a major investment in Canadian factories and R&D facilities. Together, these will keep thousands of jobs in Canada, adding a number of research positions and restoring, if all goes well, second and third … Read more
Two years ago, Mopar Minivans, the first biography of the Chrysler minivan which went deeply into the origin story, hit the stands. It was succeeded a year later by a revised version which went up to the Pacifica, The Rise and Reinvention of Chrysler Minivans. 2022 brought a revisiting of the Mopar Minivans book, Mopar … Read more
No April 26 would be complete without at least one Hemi Day story. The 426 (as in 4/26) Hemi was created solely for racing. At the time, the ingenious Mopar cross-ram wedge engines were winning on the street, but failing in NASCAR. In 1963, executives approved engineers’ plan for putting Hemi heads, which were part … Read more
You may wonder how you can stay in touch with Stellpower’s latest Mopar reporting. There are two easy ways. First, you can sign up for email notifications of new stories. Those appear right in your mailbox; the signup is near the bottom of the page (so keep scrolling!) on phones, and in the right side … Read more
The current version of the Jeep Cherokee is near the end of a normal car’s lifespan—though, to be fair, it is not quite as long in the tooth as the still-surprisingly-competitive Charger and Challenger. Meanwhile, the Chrysler Airflow, whatever its final name ends up being, is getting closer to actual production. The Airflow is likely … Read more
Stellantis is still a distant #2 to Volkswagen in Europe, with both companies losing sales in the double digits, for both March and the first quarter of 2022 overall. In January-March 2022 (the first quarter), Volkswagen sales dropped from 775,074, a 15% fall, with Seat, Skoda, and Volkswagen all falling by around 20%, but Audi … Read more
The 2022 Jeep Cherokee dropped all but one front wheel drive configuration, raised the specs of the base model, and eliminated the 2.4 liter four-cylinder. At the time, Chrysler didn’t make a fuss about dropping the 2.4, which is also used by the Jeep Compass and ProMaster City. The Compass and Renegade are both rated at … Read more
On media days, it’s hard to know what an auto show will bring the paying customers. The New York Auto Show has opened to the general public, but their web site says it’s too early to show an exhibitor map, and the printed one we were given on media days is probably not accurate (for … Read more
We’ve covered the launch of the Wagoneer and the Airflow Graphite, and have the Grand Cherokee High Altitude on the schedule—but what of everyone else? The New York Auto Show this year is being dominated by Ford, Toyota, and—Vinfast. The lower level, usually dedicated to trucks, is now a BEV (battery-electric vehicle) test track, with … Read more
Even before the new Airflow was shown, New York Auto Show media saw this Chrysler Pacifica PHEV with a new logo projected onto the drapes behind it (we’ve artificially lowered them to be closer to the minivan). The new logo appears to be taken from the hoodline and a bit of the headlights, combined with … Read more
The US version of the Tonale was shown at the New York Auto Show yesterday, but most people would never know it. After the unveiling, TV people, influencers, video bloggers, and plain old photographers and writers were clustered around the Wagoneer Ls and Airflow for hours; but the Tonale sat alone and forgotten amidst two … Read more
Camp Jeep, a brief but exciting loop outside the Javits Center in Manhattan, has been toughened up quite a bit for the 2022 New York Auto Show. For most of the time since its dawn in 2004, Camp Jeep has been challenging, but still accessible to the non-Rubicon-capable Renegade and Compass. This year, the Jeep … Read more
The 6.4 Hemi, or “392” (by cubic inches), is a reasonably efficient and powerful engine; it has a well-engineered cylinder deactivation system, cam phasing, and a 485 horsepower rating in the Grand Wagoneer. Why would a mere inline six-cylinder engine be better? Jeep just released the gas mileage of the twin-turbo Wagoneer, and now we … Read more
The Chrysler Airflow concept is old news now; the electric crossover was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show and made the papers a while back. But today, a new Graphite Airflow concept added to the story—mostly in ways that aren’t related to the car itself (whose details you can find in our original story). The … Read more
Jeep chief Jim Morrison introduced the Grand Wagoneer L and then took questions. Among the things we learned during his talk was that the Hurricane would be standard on the Grand Wagoneer L, and optional on the short wheelbase (if you can call it that) Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. This is presumably where the $2,000 … Read more