SubscribeElsewhere on Autolust: Jeep | Dodge Charger | Dodge Caravan | Ford Mustang | Dodge Challenger | Mitsubishi Motors | Jeep Grand Cherokee | Dodge | Dodge Viper | Ford Motor Company |
# 2 News Source
Motor Trend Blog
Motor Trend Blog (blogs.motortrend.com) has great Chrysler news, photos, videos and more
Friday, Nov 13
BMW X6: Should it have been hybrid only?
I initially hooted the ActiveHybrid down as the most ridiculous application of the shared two-mode hybrid system jointly developed by GM, BMW and then DaimlerChrysler (it is striking how different the final products -- Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, the late Dodge Durango/Chrysler Aspen Hybr...
2010 Car of the Year - The Year the Car Biz Changed
BUICK LACROSSE CHEVROLET CAMARO FORD FUSION FORD MUSTANG FORD TAURUS HONDA INSIGHT HYUNDAI GENESIS COUPE KIA FORTE KIA SOUL LEXUS HS 250H MAZDA3 MERCEDES-BENZ E-CLASS COUPE MERCEDES-BENZ E-CLASS NISSAN 370Z NISSAN CUBE PORSCHE PANAMERA SUBARU LEGACY SUZUKI KIZASHI TOYOTA PRIUS
Friday, Nov 6
Enthusiasts On GM's Board Saved Opel
IG Metall was striking Opel's four German factories as General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson gave us half an hour of his time at a Detroit journalists' Q&A Thursday morning. Opel's workers are upset that GM reversed itself and pulled its European unit from the market before Magna Intern...
Wednesday, Nov 4
Payoff for GM as it Posts its First Year-Over-Year Sales Increase Since January
At Chrysler, which reveals its five-year product plan Wednesday, sales fell 30 percent compared with October '08, though up 6 percent over September '09. The Honda brand, down five units compared with the previous October, outsold all of Chrysler Group by about 10,000 units. Combined wi...
Tuesday, Nov 3
GM Keeps Opel!
The press release credits GM's all-new, government-approved board of directors for the retention. That $4.4-billion restructuring will involve negotiations with IG Metall, which will make the United Auto Workers negotiations look like a walk in the park. If GM can pull this off, it will...
Monday, Nov 2
Healthy, After All: Ford Earns Nearly $1 Billion in 3rd Quarter
Of course, Ford was okay where it was at, last year. It turned down federal loan guarantees -- reserving the right to ask for them later, if necessary. It was the only major American automaker to do so. It already had successfully negotiated extremely low-interest loans upward of $23 billion...
Wednesday, Oct 28
"Sweet Life Geely Drive" Behind Ford's Plans to Sell Volvo
Even with interest rates very close to zero and revenue and profit margins up from the depths of the Lehman Brothers collapse, Ford needs the cash it didn't get from the federal government. Geely began making refrigerators in 1986, but didn't enter the car biz until 2002. It was the first Chi...
Tuesday, Oct 27
American Car Quality Improves, but Asians Still Dominate
Acura, in fifth fell three spots. Mitsubishi, in sixth, was up three and Lexus, in seventh, fell two spots. The bottom four brands are #30, Jeep, #31, Dodge, #32, Cadillac and #33, Chrysler. Of 142 American models, 17 percent are "above average," 42 percent are "average" and 41 percent are "b...
Friday, Aug 21
Press' Retirement is Latest Step in Chrysler's Fiatization
That "special advisor" title was tagged on when Fiat took over management control of Chrysler, with a minority stake, following the American automaker's June bankruptcy reorganization. It sounds like the kind of title Toyota might have given him had he stayed there until 65, about thre...
Thursday, Aug 20
Magic Bus: Back to Nature in the Modern-day Microbus
Our 4.0-liter V-6 had no trouble shouldering its load and returned 21.0 mpg for the 1250-mile trip, an impressive result given that we were loaded to the max gross vehicle weight rating with the aerodynamic compromise of that rooftop carrier. A few of the donor platform's shortcomings shon...
Tuesday, Feb 3
"We Feel Good": Chrysler's Press Touts New Models, Fiat Deal, Reduced Inventory
Meanwhile, Chrysler will gain access to Fiat's European sales channel to sell Chryslers, Dodges and Jeeps there. Chrysler is by far the least global of the Detroit Three, a lingering problem since the Carter-era loans to Chrysler contained a provision to maintain North American jobs at...
Tuesday, Jan 20
Alfa Romeo MiTo vs. Fiat 500; What the Chrysler Alliance Means for You
Fiat might also find it economical to build one or more of its four-cylinder engines in a North American Chrysler factory. There is a big business advantage in this for Chrysler, which can keep its factories humming without trying to grab more market share. While the alliance with Fiat will...
Wednesday, Jan 7
Bush Punts CAFE to Obama, Makes Life Even More Uncertain for Automakers
Think of it this way: if Chrysler is around long enough to launch its next-generation Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger, the two cars will probably have to be the last RWD, Hemi-powered 300 and Charger, replaced by lighter FWD four-cylinder hybrid models by the mid 'teens.
Wednesday, Dec 10
The Drama Continues: House Takes Up $14-Billion GM-Chrysler Loan Bailout First
DETROIT - The House was expected to vote on the short-term, $14-billion loan guarantee bailout bill for General Motors and Chrysler LLC by Wednesday evening. The bill is a tweaked version of the draft bill I posted here on Tuesday. We know how that vote will go; Democrats have a 236-198 advan...
Wednesday, Dec 3
Opinion: $34 Billion for the Detroit Three; Options on Table For Saab, Pontiac, Saturn
DETROIT - Turns out that General Motors, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Company need $34 billion to get through the worst U.S. auto market in 50 years (measured by per capita sales). The base price is $19 billion, consisting of $12 billion for GM ($4 billion of which it needs right now to get throug...
