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
The original Avenger was a Hillman—and since Hillman became Chrysler Europe, re-using the name was perfectly fine. The first Dodge Avenger was a two-door coupe, based on the Mitsubishi Galant platform. For the 2008 model year, the old four-door, midsized “cloud-car” platform was replaced by a new JS platform, based on the Mitsubishi GS platform, … Read more
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
Chrysler is down to just one traditional car now, but at one time they had a reasonably full lineup, from the Windsor up to the 300 letter-car. The Windsor was introduced back in 1939, to be one level up from the base Royal model; it started roughly where the top DeSoto left off, while the … 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
