Archive for the ‘Dodge’ Category

The coveted Top Safety Pick designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) used to be quite exclusive—and a way for safety-conscious shoppers to narrow down their possibilities to a few top-rated vehicles in a segment. But since 2007, the number of Top Safety Picks has roughly doubled each year, going from just 23 vehicles then to 94 models—a huge portion of the new-car market—for 2009.

That’s slated to change beginning with 2010, as the IIHS requires that vehicles be rated ‘good’ in its new roof strength test in order to be named a Top Safety Pick.

The result—at least so far for 2010—is that the Institute’s 94...

For a very long time in this country, about 20% of all sales came in the form of trucks.

Not what the industry calls “trucks” (i.e., SUVs), but actual pickups. That figure always astonished me; we simply don’t have that many contractors, painters and plumbers and there are fewer actual “farmers” living here each day.

The only reason for high truck sales was image, and as if to prove this fact, a walloping recession has seen truck sales (as a percentage of all light vehicles) shrink in 2009 to what will be about 10% of the total by year’s end, replaced by the likes of more crossovers that get superior mileage such as the Toyota RAV4 and ...

Last week, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne unveiled the company's five-year recovery plan. This week, we've received details about Chrysler's electric vehicle program, which has been given a fairly extreme makeover and a new direction.

Most notably, Chrysler's EV development initiative -- known as ENVI -- has been "absorbed into the normal vehicle development program", according to a Chrysler spokesperson. That doesn't mean that electric vehicles are off the proverbial table, however; as many or slightly more workers will be dedicated to EV programs, but in organizational terms, the ENVI team has been split and rolled into Chrysler's...