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2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Long-Term Update | Keeping things fresh

We're big fans of our long-term 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. In the few months we've had it, we've racked up quite a few miles. We have some road-trip stories coming later on (including a 2,500-mile round trip to New England), but I wanted to highlight a small but interesting feature on our Ocean Blue people mover, the "Fuel and Oil Refresh Mode". From the owner's manual: Since it is possible to operate this vehicle for extended periods of time without running the gas engine, the fuel within the vehicle's fuel tank can become stale. To prevent engine and/or fuel system damage due to stale fuel, as well as, maintaining internal engine lubrication, this vehicle is equipped with a "Fuel and Oil Refresh Mode". The vehicle will automatically enter into the Fuel and Oil Refresh Mode to minimize potential for stale fuel, and to ensure lubrication of internal engine components. When operating in this mode, the gas engine will run to provide vehicle propulsion (electric only operation is inhibited). A message will be displayed in the instrument cluster whenever Fuel and Oil Refresh Mode is active. The vehicle will automatically exit the Fuel and Oil Refresh Mode when conditions have been satisfied. If the vehicle enters Fuel and Oil Refresh Mode, due to fuel which has been in the fuel tank for a long period of time (becoming stale fuel), the engine will run whenever the vehicle is operational (no electric only operation) until the low fuel level warning is activated. It is possible to exit the Fuel and Oil Refresh Mode sooner by adding new fuel to the vehicle's fuel tank. Basically, the engine will automatically cycle on to help burn fuel and lubricate the engine if the Pacifica has been running on pure electricity for an extended period of time. This may sound wasteful, but fuel does go stale and it's not good for the Pacifica's V6 to go without circulating oil every once in a while. A message pops up on the instrument cluster and the engine runs until the computer decides its cycled enough. In our experience, it's not run for more than a few minutes at a time. Since most of us live within 15 or so miles of the office, we can usually make it home and back without expending the Pacifica's 33-mile electric range, even if we make a trip to the store or go out for dinner. The refresh mode has kicked on a few times already, and we expect it to kick on quite a few more times before our loan is up. Related Video:

Peugeot's American future looks dead, but Stellantis intends to keep all brands alive

The years-old promise of a Peugeot return in the U.S. is looking bleaker by the second. Peugeot said the French brand would come back to sell cars in the U.S. five years ago, but now that FCA and PSA have transitioned to one Stellantis, that promise is looking a lot shakier. This news comes via a report from Car and Driver. When queried about Peugeot, Carlos Tavares, Stellantic CEO, offered this in response: “For the time being, I don't think that is part of the things that we want to prioritize for the next time window," Tavares said. "I think it's better that we funnel the talent, the capital, and the engineering capability of our Stellantis company to the existing brands to improve what needs to be improved and to accelerate where we need to accelerate, because we already have a very strong presence in this market." Tavares hasnÂ’t ruled it out entirely, but any kind of a Peugeot American renaissance is being pushed onto the backburner.  In good news for American brands, though, Tavares expressed great interest in keeping them all. Chrysler was the most worrisome of the bunch, as it only sells the aging 300 sedan and Pacifica minivan variants. Nevertheless, Tavares sees Chrysler as one of the “three historical pillars of Stellantis” and is eager “to give this brand a future.” Specifically, Tavares sees a high-tech future for the once-great American car company. Motor Trend reported on what Tavares spoke about in a call with the media. "It needs to rebound,” Tavares said. “We could think about what could be the next technologies in the automotive industry.” The obvious hint here is electrification and greater autonomy. Chrysler could theoretically become StellantisÂ’ electric showcase brand. ItÂ’s partway there with the Pacifica Hybrid PHEV minivan, but thereÂ’s still a long way to go for it to become the conglomerate's tech pillar. And then thereÂ’s Dodge and its powerful but emissions-heavy lineup. "We have the technology to deliver the torque, dynamics, and acceleration feeling, while also dramatically reducing the emissions," Tavares said. The Hellcat canÂ’t have a window-shattering 6.2-liter supercharged V8 forever, but it looks like Stellantis is at least committed to keeping the performance of DodgeÂ’s current lineup. Related video:

Share price falls on skepticism of Chrysler-Fiat five-year plan

Following this week's Fiat Chrysler extravaganza, where the Italian-American manufacturer announced its plans for the next five years, the Autoblog staff was cautiously optimistic of the company's future. Investors? Not so much.
Fiat saw its shares tumble 12 percent in Wednesday's trading, falling from 8.67 euros ($12.06 at today's rates) to 7.44 euros ($10.35) as of this writing, with blame partly going to the Italian half of the FCA marriage, which recorded a pretty significant drop in profits during the first quarter of this year.
The plan, which will cost around $77 billion over the next several years, is facing criticism from investors thanks in part to a 1.4-percent drop in Fiat's first-quarter profits, to 622 million euros ($862 million). That figure is also short of Bloomberg analysts' projections, which predicted $1.18 billion in profits before taxes, interest and one-time items.