Tag: news

Fiat, Chrysler Now Totally Merged: The Ambitious Five-Year Plan Calling the merger of Fiat and Chrysler “a completely new book,” company CEO Sergio Marchionne unveiled the company’s latest five-year plan—including a full-size luxury SUV for Jeep, a shift in philosophy for Dodge, and even a plug-in hybrid minivan for the Chrysler brand.

 

The company, now called Fiat Chrysler Automobile or FCA, plans to make each brand more specific in terms of what it manufactures. The Chrysler brand will now be home to FCA’s family sedans such as the refreshed 300C and new 100C compact sedan, as well as FCA’s minivan line; the Dodge Caravan slides into history, as a new Chrysler Town and Country minivan will take its place with a plug-in hybrid option available. The new Chrysler 200 will be refreshed in 2017 as well as the launch of [...]

Dodge is said to bring the all-new 2014 Dodge Durango to the 2013 New York Auto Show, according to Autoguide.com. It is said to be debuting a 3.0-liter EcoDiesel engine. This might ring a bell, because it is same engine that has recently been introduced in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Although there have not been many details released, it is rumors that the 2014 Dodge Durango will feature an eight-speed transmission in addition to the EcoDiesel engine.

The Durango is also rumored to feature similar looks and design styles as the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It is anticipated that 2014 Dodge Durango will showcase an 8.4-inch LCD touchscreen Uconnect media hub system, as seen in the 2013 Dodge Dart.

The Dodge Dart will soon be here, and we are looking forward to its release. It has been an exciting story following the Development of this ground breaking car. With so many industry firsts, it is hard to describe the excitement around the size efficient car.

If you click on the link below, it is a video with the Dodge Dart project manager, Cyril Benitah. He describes the trials and tribulations as well as the achievements and successes. It was very interesting to watch!

To follow some of the excitement follow the link here: http://blog.chryslergroupllc.com/entry/1769/_dodge_dart_the_inside_story_from_the_inside_guy

Chrysler Group LLC has received nine awards in Consumer Guide Automotives 2012 list of Best Buys and Recommended Picks.

Six Chrysler Group vehicles received Consumer Guides prestigious Best Buys for the 2012 model year, while three models grabbed Recommended Picks in the 2012 list.

Chrysler Group vehicles that received Consumer Guide Best Buys for the 2012 model year are:

• Chrysler: 300, Town & Country
• Dodge: Charger, Grand Caravan, and Journey
• Ram: 1500

Models that received Recommended Picks by Consumer Guide for the 2012 model year are:

• Jeep: Grand Cherokee
• Dodge: Durango
• FIAT: 500

We are honored and thrilled to have nine vehicles named as Best Buys or Recommended Picks by Consumer Guide Automotive, said Reid Bigland, President and CEO  Dodge Brand and Head of U.S. Sales. Chrysler Group launched an unprecedented 16 all-new or substantially-refreshed vehicles in 2010 and 2011, models that continue to resonate with both consumers and objective, third [...]

The Detroit News
General Motor Co. reported flat vehicle sales in October – up just 2 percent from the same month last year – while crosstown rival Chrysler Group LLC saw a 27 percent spike in sales.

For Detroit-based GM, retail sales were up 3 percent and accounted for 77 percent of all sales, the carmaker said Tuesday morning in a news release.

“Chevrolet led the way for GM in October, driven by the continued success of the Cruze and Equinox,” said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations, in a statement. “Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC have all performed well this year, which has set the stage for our transition to a higher mix of 2012 model-year vehicles. Combined with the launches of several new fuel-efficient cars, including the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick LaCrosse eAssist, we are very well positioned going forward.”

GM sold 186,895 vehicles in October and Chevrolet did the all [...]

Within this article you see compiled reviews on how reliability is viewed for many all the cars brand with the highs and lows distinguished. Consumer Reports, who is active in almost every industry, does a very complete look at the car industry for the past years models. I would wonder how “reliability” is measured. Is it in terms of repairs or maintenance needed? Or is it a personal feeling of how dependable the car is? If the rating is an opinion, I think the overall brand image before/during/after the purchase has a lot to do with how the car is measured. The article does mention part of the rating comes from readers “reported problems” with the cars, but that seems pretty vague.

How important is this rating?
Reliability is an obvious point in the car buying decision, but how much would this type of ranking sway you? I would say that a very high [...]

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/best-new-car-deals-for-october.html

Automakers seem to have missed the news that the nation was still suffering from a recession last month, as new-car sales continued to swell, with some brands posting record numbers. Concurrently, incentives on some vehicles are becoming slimmer and in many cases nonexistent, particularly among smaller and more fuel-efficient models that continue to be in demand among fuel-price-sensitive shoppers.

This month we are seeing the first real round of model-year 2012 sales incentives, particularly on larger cars and SUVs that have fallen off many consumers shopping lists. Even better bargains can be found on closeout 2011 models that sit like ticking time bombs on dealer lots racking up financing costs while current model-year rides usurp their positions on showroom floors. As an example, the richest incentive we could find this month was a $10,000 additional dealer discount on the limited production 2011 BMW Alpina B7, which is the ultimate expression of the full-size 7 [...]

Shift in Car Companies Priorities lead to Rapid Industry Turnaround

As I scan the car company’s websites over the last month or so you can’t help but notice the news they are projecting on us that they are seeing “record sales” or other drastic increases in sales numbers from this same time a year ago. It would be hard to convince us that the success is from a drastically improved economy, because of the still depressed economy we see still. But instead I have to credit the car dealers and manufactures on these successes because of how they are marketing and designing their cars around what people want.

“Build it and they will come”?not so fast

Back in the golden days of car sales and a great economy the car companies could make anything they wanted, throw it out on the lot, have one good advertisement campaign and they would sell out. They were in [...]