Frank Rhodes, Walter P. Chrysler’s great-grandson, has been battling to save the Chrysler brand for years. Chrysler has been battered and abused since the 1970s; its upscale image was diluted with thinly disguised Plymouths, and then the brand was starved of new product—the always-in-the-future Portal and Americanized Grand Commander notwithstanding. The 300 went from being … Read more
Some reacted to news of FCA’s 2020 sales shortfall by pointing out that dealers were short of cars—a situation that is not likely to be improved by the global microchip shortage, which has shut down the Toluca and Brampton plants. Toluca makes the Jeep Compass and until recently produced the Dodge Journey and Fiat 500; … Read more
Based on information posted online, the Dodge brand produced 6,543 Challengers and Chargers with the supercharged Hellcat Hemi during the course of the 2020 model year. This figure does not come from FCA but rather, an inside source who has responsible for all in-depth Hellcat production numbers over the past five years. In other words, … Read more
This morning, the Jeep brand took the wraps off of the long-rumored three-row Grand Cherokee, but this is not simply the current SUV with an extra row of seats. The 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L is all-new and it is far more than just a few more seats. Rebuilt from the ground-up, the Grand Cherokee … Read more
Ford was late out of the gate with their sales summaries, and we could see why: overall sales for 2020 were down 16% from 2019, compared with a 12% drop at GM and Toyota alike. FCA did slightly worse with a 17% fall, but FCA cut their Q4 incentives by 7% from Q4 2019 while … Read more
FCA Canada had a very bad 2020, taking hits almost across the board. As in the USA, the Gladiator, in its first full year, was a bright spot; sales more than doubled, going from 1,950 to 4,481. However, Jeep took a bigger hit in Canada than the USA, dropping by 22% overall; as in the … Read more
FCA US sales dropped by 17% in 2020, compared with 2019. Every brand but Alfa Romeo fell, with Fiat dropping to less than half of their already poor sales. Ram made it through with the least damage, falling by 11%; by comparison, GM truck sales rose, and Toyota trucks fell by around 3%. The ProMaster … Read more
An email from the Jeep brand confirmed what many of us have known for some time now – that a three-row Grand Cherokee is coming to a showroom near you. The email, shown below courtesy of Scott of JeepGarage.org, doesn’t actually state that it is a three-row Grand Cherokee, but the details leave no question … Read more
Jeep has less than a 1% market share in India, where former Willys licensee Mahindra makes inexpensive vehicles that look remarkably like the Wrangler and other popular 4x4s. Jeep’s drive to increase sales is not helped by its global premium-brand strategy. To try to change their current status as a rare niche vehicle, FCA is … Read more
While many racing associations canceled their 2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the crew from the Modern Street Hemi Shootout series managed to hold their entire season. They had to make some date changes to work around local emergency restrictions on crowd-based activities, but in the end, Dan VanHorn and his team were able … Read more
99% of PSA (Peugeot) shareholder votes were for approval of the deal with FCA; 99% FCA shareholders are voted for the merger later in the same day. Existing FCA shareholders will lose their existing double-voting rights, but otherwise, the deal is likely to be good for them. Peugeot has been able to completely stop gasoline … Read more
Jeep is finally set to sell the Grand Wagoneer and Wagoneer in the second quarter; based on the Ram, as the original Wagoneer was created with the Gladiator pickup, it should set new standards of luxury for Jeep, while, hopefully, maintaining strong off-road capability and durability. Jeep is also getting a brand new Grand Cherokee … Read more
If you want 470 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque in a Jeep Wrangler, you may have two choices: spend tens of thousands having a shop put in a big Hemi V8, beefing up the brakes and suspension, and such, or spend tens of thousands having Jeep put one in for you, beefing up the … Read more
According to the Kokomo Tribune, the United States won’t be pumping out 2-liter turbo engines until the last quarter of 2021, rather than starting out in the next few months. The reason is that the transformation of a transmission plant into an engine plant has been delayed. That left FCA trying to get production out … Read more