2012 Chrysler 200 Touring on 2040-cars

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Chrysler's next-gen minivans will get more expensive

Chrysler introduced the value-oriented Great American Package on the base model Chrysler 300 in 2005. That morphed into the American Value Package available as an option on the Dodge Grand Caravan in 2012, which made it the lowest-priced minivan in the country, now with an MSRP of $21,395. Automotive News reports that Chrysler is going to kill the value package when the new Town & Country arrives for 2017, because the new platform and technology of the coming minivan make it "a difficult price point to get to." AN says the next-generation haulers will come in around $26,000 and can go beyond $45,000 with options; clicking every "Add" button we could find on the Town & Country build page, we couldn't get past $43,000 for today's model. That entry pricing in 2017 would eliminate the first three trims on the Dodge option, the American Value Package, the SE that starts at $24,195, and the SE Plus that starts at $24,995. This makes us think the next-generation haulers will take a sizable step upscale in terms of feel, content, and trim, a la the Chrysler 200. In this writer's opinion, if they do as good a job as they've been doing recently, the extra money will be worth it. There have been spy shots and a lot of rumors about it, like the Caravan minivan going away and becoming a crossover, but we'll see it revealed at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Chrysler Dodge Car Buying Minivan/Van chrysler town and country price dodge grand caravan

Jeep in St. Louis hacked from Pittsburgh

One of America's most popular vehicles contains a security flaw that allows hackers to remotely commandeer it from anywhere on the planet. Cyber-security researchers Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller say they've accessed critical vehicle controls on a 2014 Jeep Cherokee that allowed them to remotely control critical vehicle functions like braking, transmission function, and steering. Automakers have downplayed the possibility a car could be remotely compromised, but the significance of the findings detailed Tuesday could cause them to reevaluate the threats posed to hundreds of thousands of vehicles already on the road. A key finding – the pair needed no physical access to the Jeep to pull off the attack. Valasek and Miller accessed the controls via a security hole in the Sprint cellular connection to Chrysler's UConnect infotainment system. In the course of their research, Valasek sat in his Pittsburgh home and remotely manipulated Miller's Jeep as he drove along a highway outside St. Louis. If you know a car's IP address, they say, a hacker could control it from anywhere. "We didn't add anything, didn't touch it," Valasek told Autoblog. "A customer could drive one of these things off a lot, and they'd have no clue it had these open attack surfaces." Remotely, he disabled brakes, turned the radio volume up, engaged windshield wipers and tampered with the transmission. Further, they could conduct surveillance on the Jeep, measuring its speed and tracking its whereabouts. They conducted the experiments over multiple breaches. They made their findings public on the same day the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency in charge of vehicle safety, released its latest report on the readiness of government and automakers to fend off these sorts of cyber attacks. Later today, two US Senators are expected to introduce legislation that would help consumers better understand the potential risks of car hacking. In the early stages of their research, Valasek and Miller found a security flaw in the car's wi-fi that allowed them to remotely manipulate controls from a range of about three feet. But in recent months, they found another vulnerability in the Sprint cellular connection in the UConnect system. That was a key breakthrough. "Lo and behold, we found we could communicate with this thing using cellular, and then more research, and 'Holy cow,' we're using the Sprint network to communicate with these vehicles," Valasek said.

Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot unveil burgeoning Stellantis supergroup's new logo

Stellantis, the entity formed by the merger between Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and PSA Group, has revealed its logo. It's as anonymous as the name of what will become the world's fourth-largest carmaker. Executives explained the logo symbolizes the rich heritage of the group's founding companies, and the unique combined strengths of the new conglomerate's 14-brand portfolio. While that's certainly one way to look at it, finding an iota of heritage in the Stellantis logo requires an unusually vivid imagination. It consists of the company's name in a sans serif font on a blue background. Designers removed the horizontal bar from the letter A, and they surrounded it by four rows of increasingly small dots vaguely arranged like stars in a galaxy. Chrysler helped NASA develop and build the Mercury-Redstone rocket, but we doubt that's what the galaxy-shaped logo is trying to remind us of. Nothing about it suggests Stellantis bundles some of the oldest and best-known car manufacturers in the world. It wouldn't look out of place in an ad for a credit card company, in a brochure for a frequent flier program, or on an over-the-counter pain reliever box, and that was likely intentional. It's a corporate logo that's going to appear on pens, name tags, coffee mugs, and a wide variety of paperwork, so it doesn't need to be eye-catching or ignite excitement — it'll never show up on a car. Stellantis Charger Hellcat? Nope. Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Stellantis Edition? Not happening, either. Chrysler, Peugeot, Dodge, Opel, Vauxhall, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Ram, Citroen, Fiat, Maserati, and the other odds and ends that will be dumped in the Stellantis melting pot will carry on with their respective identities and naming systems. Stellantis it is, then. Expect the new logo to appear on employee payrolls and other official letterheads after the $38 billion 50:50 merger is finalized. Both sides said they plan to complete the merger in the first half of 2021.