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Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango to lose color options temporarily

In the market for a Jeep Grand Cherokee or Dodge Durango? Well, if you fancy a more expressive color for your new SUV, you'd better get your order in, or plan on waiting until well into 2015.
The SUVs will be limited to just four monochromatic shades - black, white, silver and gray - until at least February, thanks to an upgrade to the paint shop at the two vehicles' Jefferson North factory. For the Grand Cherokee, that means it's losing more than half its color palette while the Durango is dropping two-thirds of its color catalog.
The loss of colors is inconvenient, but the upgrade will have a slightly bigger effect on the overall supply of SUVs, as Chrysler will need to end its relentless build pace at the factory for a three-week shutdown starting on December 22. The good news for fans of the SUVs is that once the work is completed, we should see a gradual expansion of the color palettes for both the Durango and Grand Cherokee, beyond even what's offered now.

Jeep shows off Moab Easter Safari concepts crawling the red rocks

While most brands are busy showing off in New York, Jeep headed out to Moab for the Easter Jeep Safari with the company's fleet of 2013 concepts. This year saw the Grand Cherokee Trailhawk II, Wrangler Mopar Recon, Wrangler Stitch, Wrangler Sand Trooper II, Wrangler Flattop and Wrangler Slim Concepts tackle the rocks and sand, and Jeep was kind enough to bring along a camera crew to film the machines rolling over a few obstacles. The result is the video below, though don't expect to see too much hardcore off road action.
Instead, the quick clip features more than a few interviews with Jeep executives, including Jeep Head of Product Design Mark Allen, explaining what makes the Easter Jeep Safari so important. You can check out the quick clip below for yourself, and be sure to thumb through our galleries of the concepts as well.

Jeep idles second shift it hired a month ago for 2014 Cherokee

In an unusual move, Chrysler is idling its recently hired second shift of 2014 Jeep Cherokee builders because, Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in a statement, it already has built the "critical number of vehicles we need to stock dealerships once containment is released," Automotive News reports.
After the "critical" 9,430 Cherokees were built, the layoff was enacted so as not to strain the automaker's logistics partners before the Cherokee is actually released. Chrysler says the temporary layoff will last about two weeks, with 500 workers out of work and another 600 reassigned at the Toledo Assembly Complex where the sports utility vehicle was being built. The second-shift workers were hired on August 19.
Chrysler previously insisted that it would release the Cherokee to dealerships by the end of the third quarter, and it initially planned to start selling the SUVs in mid-August. Apparently the Cherokee needed a software fix before hitting showrooms, which is how Chrysler explains why the release schedule is out of whack. We're thinking that this software fix addresses the "powertrain calibration" issue that delayed the first media test drives of the model. According to the Toledo Blade, Chrysler has admitted it is doing "extended quality validation testing" but refused to provide more information.