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Marchionne wants to nearly double Jeep sales by 2018

Jeep just keeps breaking its own sales records. A couple of weeks ago, the off-road brand announced its worldwide sales exceeded one million units for the first time, marking its third consecutive global record and the fifth straight year of sales increases here in the US. But FCA isn't about to stop there. TheDetroitBureau.com reports that chief executive Sergio Marchionne, speaking to the media at the Detroit Auto Show, has announced a new sales target for the Jeep division: By 2018, he wants to see Jeep sell 1.9 million units in a single year, nearly doubling its all-time record. The expansion will surely encompass new products, with the all-new Renegade just warming up, a next-generation Wrangler on the way and a reborn Grand Wagoneer in the pipeline, as well. But the focus of FCA's preparations to reach the new target is on production capacity. While it's not clear whether the Toledo, OH plant where half of all the Jeeps sold around the world are currently built will continue to host the next Wrangler, FCA is expanding production overseas. The Renegade is already being built alongside the Fiat 500X in Italy, where another 1,000 workers are being re-hired and where another factory is set to start producing Jeeps, as well. A Renegade-based variant for the South American market will soon be built in Brazil, and by the end of this year, Jeep aims to start local production in China.

Jeep Wrangler 'Scrambler' truck spied again, our best look yet

The upcoming Jeep Wrangler pickup truck has been a closely-guarded vehicle for a while, and as a result, quite a few photos have been from quite a distance and sometimes a tad blurry. These new shots are exciting because they're taken much closer and are very clear. Unfortunately, FCA is still being very careful with camouflage, and as a result, there isn't much to see here. We can definitely tell that from the C-pillar forward, the truck is practically identical to the 2018 Wrangler Unlimited, down to the rear doors that are angled to clear the Unlimited's rear wheels. That's not necessary here, so there's a large section of sheetmetal between the door crease and the fenders. We're curious how Chrysler will address that to keep it from looking awkward. We also get another look at the rear suspension. As we previously reported, the rear suspension seems to share more in common with the Ram 1500 than the Wrangler SUV. The shock placement and low anti-roll bar are among the details that are very Ram-esque. Like both the Ram and the Wrangler, the Scrambler will use coil springs at all four corners, and as with the Wrangler, the front axle is solid, too. Other details we expect for the Wrangler Scrambler pickup are the gas-powered V6 and turbo inline-four engines mated to either an eight-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission. It will probably get the EcoDiesel V6, eventually, too. The truck will also probably have a convertible top based both on rumors and spy photos of an older prototype. We expect the Wrangler pickup will be revealed early next year in time for delivery later that year. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Vile Gossip: My Jeep Wrangler dreams

Jean Jennings has been writing about cars for more than 30 years, after stints as a taxicab driver and as a mechanic in the Chrysler Proving Grounds Impact Lab. She was a staff writer at Car and Driver magazine, the first executive editor and former president and editor-in-chief of Automobile Magazine, the founder of the blog Jean Knows Cars and former automotive correspondent for Good Morning America. She has lifetime awards from both the Motor Press Guild and the New England Motor Press Association. Look for more Vile Gossip columns in the future.The new 2018 Jeep Wrangler's model designation is JL, my original initials, as in Jean Lienert. Don't Google that. You'll find I died in 2014 in Pittsburgh at age 85. I take this JL thing as a sign from God that I am supposed to finally buy a new Wrangler, the very first car of my dreams when my dreams included saving $25,000 and living off the grid in a one-room log cabin with all of my cast iron pots and pans. I did live in a tiny log cabin once, but when I discovered there was no line for phone, fax and printer, I trudged down the dirt road a half mile, knocked on a stranger's door and borrowed their phone to call AT&T. So much for living off the grid. And so much for the Wrangler. I bought a truck, which was useful, but it was not a Jeep, a fact confirmed when I landed a job writing about cars. Among the Porsches and Fords and Ferraris and Dodge Power Wagons were Jeep Wranglers. Wranglers meant adventure. Here are two favorites:1981 — Delivering the Pig of Bronze, Car and Driver's over-accessorized 1978 project Jeep CJ-7 (named for its chrome hood ornament), to the police chief of rural Waterloo, Neb. He got it because he wrote the editor a letter asking for it. It was my assignment to drive it there. I plotted as many miles of dirt roads as possible between Michigan and Nebraska, not wanting to waste my first big Jeep adventure on pavement and never questioning the ability of this denim-trimmed orange Jeep and its aftermarket aluminum wheels to get us there.So naive. Somewhere in deepest Iowa with the windshield flipped down to the hood for maximum coolness, the Pig's rear end began to shudder. As we rolled to a stop, the photographer looked back in time to see one of the five fancy extra-long chrome lug nuts plop into the dust. Two others had vanished. The last two had backed off to the ends of their studs.