On Monday, FCA US announced that it would be making a 1.6 liter turbocharged engine for use with hybrid powertrains in two American vehicles. This engine appears to be a new edition in the established EP6 series.The first EP6 four-cylinders had rather public issues with the valve timing; when these were fixed, PSA assigned the name … Read more
With Stellantis in charge and apparently eager to move beyond past mistakes, FCA US entered a guilty plea to conspiracy charges in federal court last two months ago. Today, the sentence came down: the company must pay $300 million for misleading federal regulators about the diesel emissions systems on 101,000 vehicles (Ram 1500s and Jeep … Read more
The NHRA big leagues head to Kansas on August 12th for the Menards Nationals after a three-race swing to the West Coast that couldn’t have gone much worse for Matt Hagan. After qualifying in the top spot at the Dodge Power Brokers Mile High Nationals, he qualified in the bottom half of the ladder at … Read more
When the 2022 Jeep Cherokee eliminated the 2.4 liter four-cylinder, the writing on the wall became easier to read. The old “Tigershark” version of DaimlerChrysler’s World Gasoline Engine was now only used in the Jeep Compass and Ram ProMaster City.When we first wrote about this, weeks ago, we believed the 2.4 had around one or two … Read more
Dundee will get a new lease on life as Stellantis builds a new-to-us 1.6 liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine for use with hybrid-electric vehicles there. The relatively new engine plant currently makes 2.4 liter WGE four-cylinders and Pentastar V6 engines; the 2.4 is only used in two vehicles now, and many believe it is in its … Read more
Reading the recalls at Stellpower, people may get the idea that Stellantis recalls its cars at an unusual high rate. In fact, every automaker issues numerous recalls, as cars are exceedingly complex systems made with a bewildering array of option groups to maximize both sales and profits.We don’t have a lot of Toyota stock images.It … Read more
Today, Chevrolet introduced the 2023 Colorado, which has seemingly gotten a whole lot better with the generational change. The bland, boring styling of the current Colorado has been replaced with a far edgier, more aggressive design. Sure, it looks a great deal like every other new Chevy across the front end, but some people like … Read more
Jessica Lafond, the former leader of STLA North American engineering technical centers, is leaving the auto industry.She is being replaced by Mark Champine, head of North America customer experience since 2021 and head of quality since 2018, is being promoted to lead North American engineering technical centers. He reports directly to Harald Wester, head of corporate … Read more
Three events are being planned to release new “electrified” cars, which may include both hybrids and battery-electrics.It is clear now that Dodge is bringing back the fratzog, at least for electric vehicles; it will have two previously announced releases in August. Sometime in September, there will be a new Jeep 4xe day showing off that … Read more
Stellantis posted record profits for the first half of the year, with adjusted earnings before tax and interest rising by 44% to $12.7 billion. North America, which is dominated by the former Chrysler brands, was responsible for nearly half of all sales, and had a record margin of 18.1%. Overall, Stellantis’ margin rose from 11.4% in … Read more
Jeep has confirmed that the Wagoneer L and Grand Wagoneer L, long-wheelbase versions of its luxury full-size vehicles based on Ram 1500 platforms, will start production later this year, with deliveries beginning within 2022.The Grand Wagoneer L was shown at the New York Auto Show earlier this year. It includes a standard twin turbo Hurricane … Read more
The Senate passed the CHIPS and Science Act, which provides $52 billion in subsidies for United States-based semiconductor production. $2 billion of this was allocated for older chips used in automotive applications. In theory, $81 billion more is earmarked for National Science Foundation research, equipment, and education over five years; and $10 billion for the … Read more
Recently, Stellantis announced that it would be consolidating the manufacturing part of Trenton Engine in the South plant and likely using the North plant for materials handling and possibly other purposes.Today, we will go into some of the details. First, though, it is important to note that Trenton Engine has two buildings, North and South, … Read more
Stellantis is investing billions of dollars into its two Ontario assembly plants, Windsor and Brampton, but first there will be a workforce reduction to increase efficiency.According to AM 800, the company is starting with retirement packages for eligible workers in both plants, with a two-week decision period. After that, the company will announce layoffs. The … Read more
Today, the NHTSA announced that it is probing safety issues in around 2 million domestic cars, more than half of which were built by FCA US.The Jeep Cherokee investigation covers 1.3 million 2014-20 Cherokees, because leaking water may cause the electric parking brakes to suddenly activate while the car is in motion; 80 people complained … Read more
Back on June 23rd, the Dodge announced that the brand would host several days of new product debuts during the week leading up to the Woodward Dream Cruise. Dodge Speed Week technically runs for more than a week, beginning with the media preview for Roadkill Nights on Friday August 12 and including Roadkill on the … Read more
