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Jeep Cherokee faces on-sale delay

A report in The Wall Street Journal looks at some of the obstacles to the 2014 Jeep Cherokee that go beyond its mootable yet "very contemporary" looks, almost all of them based on Fiat's financial position. Starting with that sheetmetal, in defense of it SRT president Ralph Gilles and Jeep design head Mark Allen said they wanted to "make sure the design still looks modern five years from now."
The WSJ piece doesn't cite longevity as a factor, instead saying that its features originated in a design for an Alfa Romeo, the transformation into a Jeep design meant allowing Chrysler get it to market more quickly and save "hundreds of millions of dollars" in engineering.
The need for Fiat to save money while it weathers the European situation has cut budgets for development, engineering and the pace of retooling the Toledo, Ohio plant to build the Cherokee. In a familiar case of snowballing at work, among the effects will be pushing back the Cherokee's volume sales date and delaying updates to some of Chrysler's other products.

2014 Fiat 500 1957 Edition takes retro even further

It's been 57 years since the "new" Fiat 500 was introduced in 1957, and to celebrate this iconic inspiration for the current 500, Fiat has revealed a new commemorative model at the LA Auto Show. The 2014 Fiat 500 1957 Edition will only be offered in North America, and it goes on sale next spring.
Paying tribute to the "Nouvo Cinquecento," this special-edition Fiat 500 has a throwback styling with its 1957-era wheel design and Fiat logo. The 1957 Edition also comes in a limited color palette consisting of classic hues including light green and baby blue with two-tone white roof and mirrors or a solid all-white paint job.
We think it's pretty cute, and you can judge for yourself after viewing our high-res image gallery above. If you'd like, Fiat's official press release can be found down below.

Just 45% of Fiat dealers are profitable, and they're angry about it

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On average, Fiat dealers have only been selling about 17 cars a month.
We've been wondering for some time how Fiat dealers in North America have been getting along with just one model range in their showrooms up until recently. Franchisees spent millions building, stocking and manning sleek new 'studio' showrooms, only to have but a single model to sell, the cherubic 500. And even with its many derivatives, the Cinquecento is still an inexpensive model with its attendant lower margins. Perhaps it should come as no surprise then, that just 45 percent of US Fiat dealers are said to be profitable.