Jeep News & Rumors
•Word is there won't be a Wraat (Wrangler/Fiat) mongrel. But don't be shocked if there is a Wraat-sized vehicle with a Fiat badge.
•Speaking of Fiat, when its fullsize SUV is being built in the U.S., its assembly-line neighbor will probably be the Liberty.
•Maybe plans for a diesel-powered Wrangler aren't dead after all. But brace yourself for it to be a Fiat-powered Wrangler.
•Chrysler saw a sales increase of 25 percent in the U.S., its best year-over-year percentage sales improvement in nearly five years. Compass sales were notably up: 1,443 were sold in April versus only 712 in April 2009. Patriot sales for the same time period were up 21 percent, while the Liberty was up 6 percent.
•Meanwhile, Chrysler Canada has had its highest sales since June 2008.
•Could Chrysler one day become only Fiat, Ram, and Jeep brands?
•Will the Dodge crossover SUV be nothing more than a Grand Cherokee?
•The '42 Jeep Warrior was spied at the Autorama in Detroit, and we hear it'll be used for recruiting.
•Could Jeeps get Fiat's six-speed dual-clutch tranny?
•The Bonneville Salt Flats '85 Comanche sold for $8,800 at the RM Auctions Classic Car Auction of Michigan.
•Do our taste buds detect a hint of SRT for the new Grand Cherokee?
Industry News
•Your Jeep need new seats? Help Corbeau design a new seat and you could win a set complete with brackets and harnesses absolutely free! Go to corbeau.com/bestrs for more info.
•You can check out three new videos about installing products from OR-Fab and trail master suspension on the Performance Automotive Group's website, blog, or YouTube channel. Start at
perfautogroup.blogspot.com to track 'em down.
•Continental Tires has a new distribution center in Redlands, California. It's 500,000 square feet of space on a 27.5-acre plot of land.
•GM will be upgrading five of its North American plants in order to build more fuel-efficient V-8s. The price tag is estimated at $893 million.
•BFGoodrich, working with United Four Wheel Drive Associations and Tread Lightly!, has announced five new trails for its Outstanding Trails program. They are: Rausch Creek in Pennsylvania, Drummond Island in Michigan, Washington's Yacolt Burn (this one is kinda new), Johnson Valley in California, and Holy Cross in Colorado.
•Passenger cars and light trucks will be required to get an average of 35.5 mpg in 2016 (average meaning that the government knows pickups will get lower mpg than that).
•Chrysler is working with Tread Lightly! and membership will now include a discount on Jeep, Ram, and other Chrysler vehicles. Your $25 membership in Tread Lightly! also gives you a $100 rebate from Goodyear and even a discount on insurance. Visit treadlightly.org or chrysleraffiliates.com for more details on both.
•Warn nabbed its third consecutive Global Supplier award from Ford.
•Radflo Suspension Technology's owner, Glenn Classen, showed up at April's King of the Hammers competition in Johnson Valley to discover 12 out of 100 teams were running Radflo dampers. Stoked barely covers it.
•There's a new website with do-it-yourself repair kits:
permatexrepair.com. Right now kits range from chips in windshields and stripped threads to cloudy headlights and torn vinyl and leather. There's also a Suggest a Kit sweepstakes going on for which you can win a $100 gift card to an auto-supply store or score Permatex products.
Quote Without Story
"I'd love to do [a pickup] as well, but it must be the right time. It is not imminent."
-Jeep head honcho Mike Manley to The Detroit News
Quote Without Story 2
"I have been waiting 12 years for someone at Daimler to admit that Daimler's quest for absolute control was a primary factor in the failure of DaimlerChrysler. That fact was only too obvious to the many people who worked at the company and tried to make it a success."
-A letter to the editor of Automotive News from Thomas Stallkamp, a former president of Chrysler and the American chief of DaimlerChrysler