Grand Cherokee Making Room for New Crossover

By Marty Padgett August 13th, 2008

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Say good-bye to the Jeep Grand Cherokee--at least in its current, stand-alone architecture form.

Both the Detroit News and the Wall Street Journal report today that Chrysler president Tom LaSorda confirms his company will spend almost $2 billion to retool its Jefferson North plant to build a new crossover vehicle.

The $1.8 billion investment will go to develop a new car-based crossover vehicle that will replace the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Journal quotes LaSorda. The money will go to building a flexible line at the plant and to new tooling, and likely includes development costs for the new vehicle also.

The News adds the vehicle will sport a version of Chrysler's in-progress Phoenix V-6, for better fuel economy.

The current Grand Cherokee rides on its own unibody architecture. What form the new vehicle will take isn't clear, or from what car platform it will be derived, but LaSorda says retooling will be complete by the end of next year and the new crossover will be in production early in 2010.

Posted in : 2010, Chrysler, Crossover Vehicles, Jeep, Manufacturing

Consumer Reports Likes Murano, Tiguan

By Marty Padgett August 5th, 2008

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Newbies such as the Volkswagen Tiguan and Nissan Murano fare well, but it's the Infiniti EX that gets Consumer Reports' "recommended" rating in the magazine's newest ranking of crossovers and SUVs.

The Volkswagen Tiguan and the Nissan Murano both were rated by the magazine's testers as "very good" in a comparison of two-row SUVs for the September issue. Since both are in their first year on sale in the United States, though, Consumer Reports won't give them the top ranking until they prove their reliability.

CR tested the Tiguan and Murano against a diverse and lovely group of crossovers that also included the Land Rover LR2 and the Infiniti EX. They liked the Tiguan so much, they now consider it their third-favorite in the class, after the Subaru Forester and the Toyota RAV4. The LR2 got a "good" rating, which is still the lowest of all the compact crossovers tested by the magazine, while the EX got a "very good" and the coveted "recommended" rating.

In the test of larger SUVs, the Nissan Murano rated "very good," as did the Touareg. The Grand Cherokee has a "good" rating. However, both the Touareg and Grand Cherokee are not recommended because of reliability issues.

There's more over at the Consumer Reports Web site, but you'll have to pay to get in.

Posted in : 2008, Infiniti, Jeep, Land Rover, Nissan, Volkswagen

New Grand Cherokee Arrives in ’11

By Marty Padgett March 9th, 2008

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Chrysler LLC is preparing to spend $281 million to renovate the Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit where the company now builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Commander.

The automaker hasn't said anything publicly at the future Grand Cherokee but privately Chrysler officials have confirmed that the money is being spent to produce new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, starting in the summer and fall of 2010.

The Jeep Commander, which also is built at Jefferson North, will probably be dropped as Chrysler reduces the number of models it builds as part of the effort to right-size the company for its shrunken market share, analysts have suggested.

While the Commander gets decommissioned, the new Grand Cherokee--one of the Chrysler's signature vehicles--will come with an optional diesel engine made by Daimler AG or with an optional two-mode hybrid system, which Chrysler has developed jointly through a joint venture with General Motors, Daimler and BMW, Chrysler officials indicated privately last week.

In addition, the 2011 Grand Cherokee will be one of the very first vehicles engineered and sourced under the tough regime being installed by Chrysler's new chief executive officer Robert Nardelli and vice chairman and president Jim Press. Both Press and Nardelli are taking a direct role in decisions on the new Grand Cherokee, Chrysler sources said.

Key supply contracts will be awarded in the next few months but the new purchasing regime installed by Nardelli is having a huge impact. At the same time, the influence of Daimler's product development system on Chrysler decisions is rapidly diminishing.

The new Grand Cherokee, however, will have to be developed for export, which probably means it is being developed for both right and left-hand drive markets.

"Developing foreign markets is a priority for us," noted one Chrysler officials.

Nardelli said back in January that as Chrysler expands its overseas sales operations, it also plans to do more design and engineering work in places such as China and Eastern Europe.

Posted in : 2008, Chrysler, Jeep, Shoppers, Sport-Utility Vehicles

What’s the Best Used Car Out There? The Accord, Forbes Says

By Marty Padgett February 28th, 2008

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The capitalist tools at Forbes have spoken--and when it comes to used cars, the Honda Accord really gets them excited.

Of all the cars available through "certified pre-owned" programs, Forbes says, it's the Accord that topped its survey, which was largely based on reliability data from Consumer Reports magazine, along with safety performance and available warranties. Running just behind the Accord were the Toyota 4Runner, Acura TL, Subaru Impreza and Lexus GS.

The worst of the bunch, Forbes says, are vehicles like the Saturn Relay, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Pontiac G6, VW New Beetle and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

Certified pre-owned (CPO) vehicles are taken back on lease or in trade by auto dealers when they look to be in sound mechanical shape and have low miles. The makers refurbish them if needed and re-sell them to the public, often with a limited warranty included. J.D. Power and Associates says that the practice is booming, with CPO sales up 46 percent since 2000.

Honda Accord tops 'Forbes' best certified used car list - USATODAY.com

Posted in : 2008, Acura, Honda, Jeep, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Pontiac, Saturn, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen

IIHS Crashes Cars, Video Servers, While Murano Looks Good

By Marty Padgett February 26th, 2008

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Car crashes make for good viewing fun--how else to explain TruTV's nightly lineup? But they also make good fodder for car shoppers--and today's results from the latest crash tests from an insurance industry research group gives SUV and crossover shoppers some vivid video to study.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says that in its latest tests of nine four-door mid-size SUVs and crossovers, the big winner is the new Nissan Murano. The Murano gets the IIHS's "Top Safety Pick" award because of its performance in front, side and rear crash tests.

In the second tier, Mazda's CX-7 and CX-9 utes and the Mitsubishi Endeavor got good ratings in the front offset crash test. However, the IIHS says their overall ratings suffered because neck injuries in rear-end crashes were a concern.

Near the bottom of the pack were the Jeep Liberty and four-door Wrangler, both of which were rated "marginal" for performance in side-impact crashes. And bringing up the bottom of the list was the Kia Sorento, which got the IIHS' lowest rating of "poor."

You can see the full results of the tests at the IIHS Web site. In the meantime, some video footage from IIHS, because crashing cars is fun:

Posted in : 2008, Crossover Vehicles, HUMMER, Jeep, Kia, Nissan, Shoppers, Sport-Utility Vehicles, Videos