“Who killed the electric car?” asked a movie, some years ago, implying that General Motors deliberately destroyed the rebirth of electrics. The movie ignored Chrysler’s epic electric car program of the same time—a program which sold cars, rather than leasing them, and was something of a success. Made in Plymouth and Dodge versions, the EPIC … Read more
Stellantis is planning to put more effort into battery-electric cars as it sees hybrid powertrains eventually fading out. The automaker, which includes the 14 brands of the former Chrysler, Fiat, and Peugeot groups, is acting like others on the belief that making mass-market internal combustion engines will eventually be banned in Europe and other regions. … Read more
If you drive a Dodge Dart, Chrysler 200 or Jeep Cherokee, Renegade or Compass with the 2.4-liter TigerShark 4-cylinder engine, there is a chance that you have oil use issues. Some of these engines burn a significant enough amount of oil that owners find themselves regularly adding oil between changes, which is both costly and … Read more
American Axle, one of the largest auto suppliers, will continue to supply Ram heavy duty pickups—that is, the Ram 2500 and 3500—with their axles and driveshafts all the way to 2030. The company’s statement promised that they would provide “our latest and most efficient driveline technologies… for the next-generation of this key vehicle program.” American … Read more
About a week ago, there were reports from two websites – Opposite Lock and Grassroots Motorsports – that the SRT Performance division had been disbanded under the new corporate umbrella. Neither of these reports cited any sources, so we reached out to our contacts at Stellantis for the official world. Unfortunately, that word is not … Read more
Nearly four years ago, I wrote about the “Tornado,” as the turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine then being development was coded (not after the Jeep engine, but the airplane, in line with other Chrysler engine projects). Insiders were certain that the 5.7 Hemi, which was overdue for upgrades—upgrades which had reportedly been at least partly created, … Read more
Canoo came to my attention due to a report that Apple had talked with them about making electric vehicles together. Of particular interest to me was their electric minivan. Like Rivian, Canoo has created a modular platform for making electric vans, cars, and trucks. Like the old body-on-frame cars, which long ago were jettisoned for … Read more
For years, some buyers of 2.4 liter engines have been afflicted by oil use. Not all the engines had problems, which was even more puzzling; manufacturing tolerances are extremely tight, so how could it be that one person would do oil changes every ten months or 10,000 miles and never have to add any, while … 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