2008 Chrysler Sebring Limited 3.5l, Gold, Fully Loaded, Very Low Mileage on 2040-cars

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Volkswagen Routan dead one last time

Volkswagen halted production of the Routan minivan in late 2012 due to low sales volume, but there were reports swirling around that it would live on and continue production alongside the closely related Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan. But now VW says that it will indeed stop Routan production for good, The Detroit Bureau reports.
As of our report in March, VW hadn't built a single Routan in 2013, and we can't imagine things have gotten much better for the minivan since then. The Detroit Bureau reports that VW produced some 2014 Routans, but they aren't for sale to the public - they are fleet-only affairs.
VW originally intended to sell between 45,000 and 50,000 Routans per year, but since it was introduced for the 2009 model year, annual sales of the minivan have averaged only 11,500 units. VW has sold 57,683 Routans total.

Junkyard Gem: 1950 Chrysler Windsor Club Coupe

In 1950, shoppers in Chrysler showrooms had a choice between the low-end Royal, the midgrade Windsor, and the top-of-the-line New Yorker. This 1950 Windsor coupe managed to outlast nearly all of its contemporaries, finally coming to a halt in a wrecking yard just outside of Chicago. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. I stopped by this yard, Ashley's U-Pick-A-Part in Joliet, while I was working at the 24 Hours of Lemons Chicago race. When it comes to junkyard ambience, this one is nearly impossible to top (though Martin's Salvage in northeastern Colorado comes close), especially given its location: right across the street from the now-closed Joliet prison, best-known for its role in the opening sequence of " The Blues Brothers." Set on the grounds of an ancient, decaying factory, a large part of Ashley's inventory lives indoors in Rust Belt splendor. The star of the Chrysler section, this '50 Windsor has a place of honor and sits separate from your humdrum Avengers and Grand Cherokees. Because this is the Upper Midwest, the floors are more air than metal and big bites out of the rest of the car have been inflicted by the Rust Monster. Note the airbags inside the coil springs. The interior has long since been gutted, probably to live on in other, less rusty early-1950s Chrysler cars. The Windsor— and the body number makes it clear that this car did start life as a Windsor— came with a 251-cubic-inch Chrysler flathead six-cylinder engine. The New Yorker had a straight-eight flathead. V8s weren't available in Chryslers until the advent of the Hemi V8 the following year. This car may have had many engine swaps during its lifetime, but we have no way of knowing the details. Atop the rust and body filler, some lovingly applied stenciled-on flames. Someone felt proud of this car, even at the very end. Related Video: Featured Gallery Junked 1950 Chrysler Windsor in Illinois wrecking yard View 20 Photos Auto News Chrysler Automotive History Coupe 1950s

Fiat Chrysler, surprise, had to buy a lot of emissions credits

The world of carbon emissions uses some unusual units of measure. Take, for example, 8.2 million megagrams. Who needs to know how much that is? Someone at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, that's who. FCA had to buy that many greenhouse-gas emissions credits from greener automakers, Reuters says, citing a report from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Because its vehicles' collective fuel economy continues to trail the industry average, FCA purchased the emissions credits at of the end of 2014 in order to meet US emissions regulations. About two-thirds of those credits were acquired from Toyota, while the rest were purchased from Tesla and Honda. Daimler and Ferrari, not surprisingly, were among the other automobile companies that had to acquire emissions credits in order to meet US greenhouse gas regulations. Because the price for these credits is set privately by the companies, the EPA didn't disclose how much FCA had to pay to stay on the green side. The reason for the millions FCA likely spent is because the company is making a slow progress building and selling cleaner cars. The company did increase average fuel efficiency by about one mile per gallon to almost 22 mpg for the 2015 model year, but it wasn't enough. Such a performance likely only put the automaker in a last-place tie with General Motors. The emissions credits purchased from Tesla are notable because that California-based maker of electric vehicles has long generated substantial revenue by selling various credits to its less-electrified counterparts. In 2013, Tesla sold more of California's ZEV credits than any other automaker, but Nissan took that title in 2014. While these are not the same as the EPA's GHG credits, they do offer another way to track which automakers are meeting the targets and which need help. Related Video: News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Flickr/Ian YVR Government/Legal Green Chrysler Fiat Fuel Efficiency mpg