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2015 Jeep Renegade

It's no secret that the midsize crossover segment is one of the most hotly contested battlegrounds in the automotive industry. Long have vehicles like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 duked it out for those ever illusive consumer dollars. For many customers, though, even something like a Nissan Rogue is too big, whether in terms of price, fuel economy or just plain size.
For those customers, a growing market segment seems poised to fulfill their needs. Compact crossovers and tall wagons like the Nissan Juke and Kia Soul offer the high-riding driving experience with all the utility that comes from their two-box layout. It's an underrepresented segment among manufacturers, with big names like Toyota, Ford, General Motors and Honda lacking a true competitor.
To capitalize on this growing class, Chrysler's Jeep brand has readied this: the Renegade. That's right. Not Jeepster - Renegade. This diminutive off-roader, which rides on Fiat Chrysler's new small-wide 4x4 architecture, represents Jeep's first foray into the subcompact CUV segment as we know it, and it's making its official debut this week, on the floor of the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. Join us as we take a close look at one of Jeep's most important products in some time.

Weekly Recap: Ferrari looks to reclaim old success with new manager

Clearly, Ferrari doesn't race for fourth place, and this week, major changes continued at the Scuderia. It was a rough year for Ferrari, and the Scuderia conducted its season-ending tests in Abu Dhabi this week with a view toward a fresh start in 2015 with new leaders and a new ace driver. Though plenty of other Formula One teams were disappointed with their finishes in 2014, Ferrari was perhaps the most eager to put this season in its rear-view mirror. The Scuderia finished a distant fourth in the Constructors standings with 216 points, well behind No. 1 Mercedes (701 points), and Ferrari failed to win a single race as the Silver Arrows dominated the grid. It was an especially bitter pill for a team that claims 16 Constructors championships and 15 Drivers titles – the most in history – and is the only surviving team from F1's first season, 1950. Clearly, Ferrari doesn't race for fourth place, and this week, major changes continued at the Scuderia. Ferrari named Philip Morris executive Maurizio Arrivabene as team principal. He replaced Marco Mattiacci, who held the job for only seven months after taking over for Stefano Domenicali, who resigned in April amid the Scuderia's early-season struggles. Phillip Morris (through its Marlboro brand) is a key Ferrari sponsor, and that played a role in Arrivabene's ascension. Still, he's no stranger to F1, and has been intimately involved in the Ferrari-Marlboro partnership. He also has served as the sponsors' representative on the FIA's F1 Commission since 2010. In a statement, new Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne said: "We decided to appoint Maurizio Arrivabene because, at this historic moment in time for the Scuderia and for Formula One, we need a person with a thorough understanding not just of Ferrari, but also of the governance mechanisms and requirements of the sport." Arrivabene's background is primarily in marketing and communication, and most recently he held the title of vice president of consumer channel strategy and event marketing for Philip Morris. He has been with the company since 1997. Arrivabene now leads a team that's rife with change. Marchionne took over in October when longtime boss Luca di Montezemolo quit in a disagreement about Ferrari's future, and the company itself will be spun off from parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2015.

Jeep hackers return to take over your steering wheel

Last year, security researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek made headlines by remotely hacking a Jeep, killing the transmission and applying the brakes while Wired reporter Andy Greenberg was behind the wheel and driving in traffic. The hack led to a 1.4 million-vehicle recall for Fiat Chrysler and new jobs at Uber's Advanced Technology Center for Miller and Valasek. Despite the cushy new gigs, the two of them apparently aren't done hacking Jeep Cherokees for sport. In their latest exploit, the pair can gain even more control over a vehicle, but it would also be extremely difficult to pull off in a real-world setting. Here's the harrowing part first: Miller and Valasek can do more than just apply the brakes at low speed or cut the transmission this time around. Now they can turn on the parking brake, mess with the cruise control and hijack the auto-parking system to jerk the steering wheel a dangerous 180 degrees while the car is in motion. It looks about as frightening as it sounds: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Although it's not hard to see how that would make for a very terrifying drive, there's a big grain of salt that comes along with it: Miller and Valasek actually used the same model 2014 Jeep Cherokee as the original demonstration, but without the software patch applied. Or, as Wired put it, "imagine an alternate reality," where a fix had never been made. Unlike before, the latest hack requires a physical connection plugging their laptop into the Jeep's OBD-II diagnostic port under the dash. The team also had to update the Jeep with their own firmware to disable some of the car's built-in safety checks before they could get much control. In other words: In order to get hacked, Jeep owners would first need to roll back their car's firmware to an older version, invite someone to remove security features and then also let them ride shotgun with a computer. Or, as Engadget's resident security expert Violet Blue wrote on Twitter, it's sort of a non-threat. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. That said, The Verge points out that it may still be possible to exploit OBD-connected wireless dongles like the Metromile Tag, Automatic Link or other similar devices currently marketed by insurance companies.