Jeep News & Rumors
•Watch for turbocharged versions of the new Pentastar V-6 down the road, which is the name of the engine in the '11 Grand Cherokee. Which means the Grand might see various versions of this engine in the near future.
•Jeep says there are 250,000 Jeep fans on Facebook and 60,000 user-generated YouTube Jeep videos.
•Jeep is talking about creating a "broad Jeep Club" to help interact with customers. A club just for broads with Jeeps?
•The ENVI program at Chrysler, which brought us electric Jeeps, has been absorbed into "traditional engineering efforts," or powertrain and vehicle development.
•Jeep recall: Looks like more than 160,000 '07-'08 Wranglers with the auto trans are affected by this lack of a tranny-fluid temperature warning system. A "Hot Oil" warning light and chime will be enabled on the dash.
•BusinessWeek has named the "50 ugliest cars of the past 50 years." Hey, Compass, how you doin'?
•And related to that, as part of the Chrysler/Fiat game plan, Chrysler will focus on electric stuff as well as engines larger than 1.8L; Fiat will tackle the technology for diesel as well as engines smaller than 1.8L.
•Will the Jeep badge soon be the only Chrysler-based one in Europe?
•Chrysler has trademarked the Jeep Mojave name.
•Camp Jeep showed up at the Arizona International Auto Show. Or as it was billed, "the ultimate indoor off-road driving test." My, Camp Jeep, how you've grown-in the curious Benjamin Button way.
Industry News
•Miller Electric has launched DYI eNewsletter, which will arrive eight times a year with articles and videos about welding, as well as special offers, project ideas, new-product info, and more. You can get a free subscription at millerwelds.com/newsletters.
•Robby Gordon and navigator Andy Grider won the '09 SCORE Overall Point Championship and SCORE Trophy-Truck Championship, which was a first for Toyo Tires.
•Psych-the Viper is dead after all. Only 500 more will be built.
•Poison Spyder Customs will produce an Access Army version of the Rocker Knocker and Ricochet Rocker rocker panels. The limited-edition rockers are part of a fundraising effort between Poison Spyder and the Access Army movement to fight for recreational access to public lands.
•Chrysler-brand vehicles have a new logo.
•Yokohama has in the U.S., too.
•Ford is adding never-before-seen seatbelt airbags to the '11 Explorer. They're a new blend of, well, seatbelt and airbag.
•BFGoodrich has added six sizes to the All-Terrain T/A(r)KO line. They range from 235/80R17 to 275/70R18.
Includes Iceland Formula Off...
Includes Iceland Formula Off Road.
•Trucks Gone Wild Vol. 8: Cappa says the people behind this series of videos make pretty cool movies, even though none are Jeep related. We believe him because he is the boss. But also because carnage is boss.
Quote Without Story
"It was all about the unions. The unions didn't want to have their very generous contracts renegotiated, so we put $80 billion into both General Motors and Chrysler, and anybody believes that Chrysler is going to survive, I'd like to meet them."
-John McCain to the Detroit News
This Month's Edition of "We Don't Know How This Announcement Ends"
"Motherproof.com shows women how to roar with 3 cougar cars."
Auto Graphs
•The Rubber Manufacturers Association did a survey of 7,000-plus vehicles and discovered that more than 11 percent of them had at least one bald tire. RMA says in this economy, people are delaying maintenance.
Balding. The tire, that i...
Balding. The tire, that is.
•Remember how last issue we told you about the whale penis interior of the Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition vehicle? They've made another announcement: "We just looking for most expensive products for this car-and that's why we choosed whale penis leathure when we checked it is most of most. After wave of protest we realised our mistake and make a decision not to use natural leathure at all." Yeah, uh, what they said.