Ontario’s Windsor plant, home of the minivan since 1983, and Illinois’ Jeep Cherokee plant, former home of the Neon and Patriot/Compass, will be down for around a week due to the global chip shortage, which has also affected GM, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, and others. Last week, Ford had to slow production of the F-150 in … Read more
Bruce Springsteen and Jeep star in the two-minute “The Middle,” which will appear just once on TV, during the Super Bowl—ten years after “Imported from Detroit.”[Dodge has removed this video from public view]Springsteen worked with director Thom Zimny, writing and producing the original score with frequent collaborator Ron Aniello. Olivier Francois came up with the … Read more
Stellantis today announced that the 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, a one-year, 710-horsepower limited edition, has started production.The big SUV runs from 0-60 mph in just 3.5 seconds and can run a muscle-car-humiliating quarter mile of 11.5 seconds, and the entire production run was sold quickly.The hot Durango lists for $80,995 plus $1,495 destination, and … Read more
Ram is recalling a mere two dozen (24) 2021 Ram 1500 Classic trucks, all SLT models, because someone forgot to add the clip that secures the brake master cylinder pushrod to the brake pedal assembly.Ram has asked owners to avoid driving the trucks until they are inspected and, if needed, fixed. The fix is to … Read more
This morning, Ford Motor Company introduced the 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor, the truck which will serve as the key competitor to the Ram 1500 TRX. Many Ford fans insisted that it would be powered by the supercharged V8 from the Shelby GT500 Mustang. Those Ford fans were sure that the Raptor would have upwards of … Read more
A popular meme claims shows Dodge engineers shoving a Hellcat into every Dodge, and not stopping there. Since they now sell the Pacifica as a Caravan in Canada, will we see a Hellcat Caravan, as pictured below (credit to abimelecdesign and reposted by Ralph Gilles on his Instagram feed)?In short, well, no. Ralph Gilles’ reaction … Read more
This is part 5 of my review series of the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX. If you missed the first part, explaining why we are doing a review series and looking at the one downside to the TRX, click here. If you are familiar with the series, here is a look at how the quickest, fastest … Read more
This is part 4 of my review series of the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX. If you missed the first part, explaining why we are doing a review series and looking at the one downside to the TRX, click here. If you are familiar with the series, here is a look at the real world performance … Read more
The urbane Pietro Gorlier, a man willing to patiently sit and answer any question a journalist might have for hours (while sipping fresh espresso), has been put in charge of Stellantis’ global part and service.While at Chrysler, Gorlier read every letter addressed to him, righting wrongs, investigating claims, and generally cleaning up any messes left … Read more
This is part 3 of my review series of the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX. If you missed the first part, explaining why we are doing a review series and looking at the one downside to the TRX, click here. If you are familiar with the series, here is a look at the stunning interior of … Read more
The fact that the Dodge Durango Hellcat is a one-year phenomenon should tell you something about how long we can expect these trucks to last.The Durango started out on a truck platform and stayed there for years before becoming a longer, less off-road-tuned version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Rumors at Allpar and Mopar Insiders … Read more
This is part 2 of my review series of the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX. If you missed the first part, explaining why we are doing a review series and looking at the one downside to the TRX, click here. If you are familiar with the series, here is a look at the real world fuel … Read more
I recently had the extreme pleasure of spending a week with a 2021 Ram 1500 TRX in my driveway. I was also invited to the media testing program late last year, where we spent much of the day rocketing around an off-road race course. It was one of the most exciting drive programs that I … Read more
On January 16, 2021, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Peugeot Société Anonyme (PSA Group) merged, and the new company – now called Stellantis – was officially born. This new name effectively represents the fifth era of Chrysler ownership history and with this new corporate umbrella, we are likely to see some changes to the American-based … 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, but … Read more
The Dodge brothers generally didn’t make trucks; they made cars, and the Graham brothers turned some of them into trucks. Chrysler, acquiring both companies, focused on Dodge for the truck market, which was still too small for more than one corporate brand (Fargo, the Plymouth truck division, was relegated to export duty).Dodge made four wheel … Read more
