2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 2wd Needs Head Gasket? Great For Parts on 2040-cars

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Jeep gunning to build 250,000 Cherokees a year

Contrary to what a certain politician may have said last year about Jeep moving to China, the automaker is in fact doing the opposite, with plans to greatly increase the production capacity at its Toledo North Assembly plant in Ohio. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that there are big plans for the 2014 Jeep Cherokee and Toledo North, as a local union president has informed the newspaper that Chrysler is planning to produce around 250,000 examples of the new midsize utility per year.
To put this number into context, 250,000 units is more than what Jeep Liberty sales totaled here over the last three years combined. Even taking into consideration that the 250,000 units will be distributed beyond US borders, that's an ambitious volume figure full-stop - and that's without taking into consideration the new Cherokee's love/hate design. In its favor, though, Jeep is making remarkable inroads globally as of late, and the Cherokee's size could work well in emerging markets. To get that kind of output from Toledo's Cherokee assembly line, Chrysler will reportedly hire 1,105 new workers - that's in addition to the 200 workers already being hired to build the popular Jeep Wrangler, which is itself expected to top 220,000 units this year.

This American Life spends a week selling Jeeps in Long Island

So you think you know car dealers? Well, maybe you do, but This American Life spent a month at Town and Country Jeep Chrysler Doge Ram in Long Island to give us a behind-the-scenes look (or listen, since it's a radio program) at what it's like to be a car dealer.
Yes, there's a lot of swearing in thick New York accents, frustration, confusion, and generally it's a madhouse at the dealership. But that's understandable when the sales staff has to sell 129 vehicles in October in order to get an $85,000 manufacturer bonus - with several other Jeep dealerships within a 10-mile radius.
The episode, 129 Cars, is worth a listen, but make sure you have 71 minutes to spare if you want to get through it in one sitting. Head here for the unedited version or here for the bleeped version (which is 58 minutes long).

2014 Jeep Cherokee facing production delay

Jeep's bold-faced new direction spearheaded by the 2014 Cherokee is facing some teething issues. According to a report by the Detroit Free Press, production start-up of the controversial new utility vehicle at its Toledo North facility is running about a month behind schedule "due to a wide range of issues." That's according to Mark Chernoby, senior vice president of engineering at Chrysler.
Chernoby maintains that the issues being encountered aren't unusual for the launch of a new vehicle - particularly one with a new powertrain - and he downplayed the delay, telling Jeep dealers that they "will have ample inventory of the midsize SUV by fall." Among the kinks being worked out? Calibrating the Cherokee's cutting-edge ZF nine-speed automatic transmission and refining assembly line tasks to make the process more efficient.
Chrysler expects to start building retail-ready versions of the Cherokee around mid-June, with official sales slated to start in September.