2001 Chrysler Town & Country on 2040-cars

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Chrysler launches new Ram ads and gears up for Super Bowl XLV [w/videos]

Perhaps no car company has made bigger splashes in the last two years at the Super Bowl than Chrysler, and the automaker's marketing chief, Olivier Francois, said today that he plans to be all over the big game again in February.
Last year, the company made an ad featuring Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood. The spot achieved viral status quickly when pundits charged that Eastwood's lines were politically motivated; meant to appeal to progressive voters/viewers favoring a second term for President Obama. In 2011, agency Wieden & Kennedy burst into the game with a now famous commercial featuring Eminem. Both ads have supported Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit" marketing platform.
Francois briefed reporters Monday at the Detroit Opera House while he also debuted a new series of ads for the Ram brand.

Fiat GIF-based ads make our heads spin

Take a good, long look at the image above. Don't worry, it's completely real; you're not hallucinating. Would you believe that's an actual screencap from an actual ad commissioned by Fiat that's airing on actual television? Believe it.
The commercials started as a series of animated GIFs from The Richards Group for Fiat's Tumblr page, according to Adweek. Chrysler's Chief Marketing Officer reportedly liked them enough that he had them cut into ads for TV. The result is a combination of Internet meme heaven that includes the above horse mask and "Deal with it," animation, experimental filmmaking, cats, a person in a bunny suit twerking on a Fiat 500 and more general bizarreness.
Whatever your opinion on them, you have to admit that the advertising is certainly attention grabbing. Imagine looking up at the TV form your tablet to catch a glimpse of this weirdness. If you don't like them, Fiat is even giving people the chance to do a better job. Its Tumblr is open to submissions of new GIFs, which could lead to some very inappropriate and potentially hilarious results given the way that the Internet often works.

Chrysler's Hurricane engine detailed ahead of 2016 launch

We've been hearing distant rumblings about Chrysler's new Hurricane engine for some time now, but details have been hard to come by. Now, Automotive News is adding some specifics to the scuttlebutt, citing Chrysler documents. According to the industry publication, the Hurricane will blow onto the scene in 2016, but it's not an all-new engine. Rather, it will be rooted in the company's existing 2.0-liter four-cylinder Tigershark powerplant (shown above), albeit with "many new technologies to achieve excellent fuel economy."
It's not clear what sort of technologies Chrysler is referring to, but the Hurricane is expected to continue to use an aluminum block, and the finished product is expected to generate even better figures than the existing 2.0-liter's 160 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque (as found in the Dodge Dart). Automotive News notes that the updated 2.4-liter Tigershark debuting in the entry-level 2014 Jeep Cherokee has its basis in the 2.0-liter lump, but unlike the smaller engine, it's been fitted with MultiAir2 electrohydraulic variable valve timing to realize 184 hp and 171 lb-ft and greater efficiency.
Perhaps the Hurricane will incorporate the latter in its bag of tricks? Either way, we're hoping for a more generous torque curve than the what's in the current 2.0-liter Tigershark, which is something of a slug in the Dart - even for a base economy compact.