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Chrysler to accelerate production of 2013 Ram and V6 engines

Chrysler is adding a third shift at its Warren Truck plant to meet demand for the new 2013 Ram pickup. And with tight supplies of its Pentastar V6, the company is also boosting output at its Mack Engine plant.
The expansions will add 1,250 jobs and are part of a $238 million investment by Chrysler in the Detroit area. Warren's third shift will begin work sometime in the spring, a Chrysler rep told Automotive News. Mack's increased Pentastar production a could include both 3.6 and 3.2-liter engines.
The company says it also plans to invest $40 million in its Trenton Engine plant to allow for production of a 3.2-liter V6 as well as the Tigershark inline-four for the upcoming Jeep Liberty replacement.

Germany threatens to ban FCA vehicles over diesel emissions dispute

Germany is threatening to ban sales of FCA products over diesel emissions. According to the newspaper Bild Am Sonntag, Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority found evidence of a so-called defeat device that shuts down certain emissions controls after running for 22 minutes. A standard diesel emissions test in the European Union reportedly takes 20 minutes to complete. FCA denies the allegations. "We believe all our vehicles respect EU emissions standards and we believe Italian regulators are the competent authority to evaluate this," the company said in a statement. The latter part of that statement drew ire from German authorities, especially after FCA declined to meet with German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt to discuss the issue. Graziano Delrio, the Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, vowed to work with German authorities on behalf of FCA. According to EU law, FCA is required to homologate its vehicles in Italy because that's where its regional operations are based. When will the diesel-scented soap opera end? We wish we knew, but our Magic 8 Ball is covered in soot. Related Video: News Source: Financial TimesImage Credit: Giuseppe Aresu/Bloomberg via Getty Government/Legal Green Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Emissions Diesel Vehicles FCA

FCA explains, updates sales reporting in wake of investigation

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for possible misappropriation of monthly sales. Not only that but a dealer group filed a lawsuit against the auto company for allegedly bribing dealers to falsify sales reports. In the wake of these mounting pressures, FCA released a report explaining their old sales reporting methods, as well as introducing the method they will use now. The report explains that sales will break down into three main categories. The first category is simply sales made by dealers in the United States that were purchased by your typical consumer. The second group is fleet sales that were purchased directly from FCA. The final group is a mix of various sales including sales by Puerto Rican dealers, cars used for marketing, and vehicles delivered to FCA employees and retirees. The original method of recording these sales relied mainly on the New Vehicle Delivery Report (NVDR). This system allowed dealers to report new car sales at the time of sale. These sales were used to create and report a total at the end of each month. Dealers also had the ability to "unwind" sales. What this means is that a dealer could cancel the sale of a car that was reported as sold in the event that a customer couldn't purchase the car or wanted a different vehicle. This would also return factory incentives to Chrysler and end the warranty period. Fleet and other sales were not recorded through this system, and were rather included in a separate "reserve" of vehicles. FCA explained that it did not know why this was the case, but the company speculated the reason may have been to avoid reporting vehicles that hadn't made it to road use yet. FCA also emphasized that their retail sales reports do not reflect quarterly earnings. The company explained that those earnings are based on vehicles purchased from FCA, which includes sales like the cars dealers buy for their local inventories. The new method also shows FCA's long run of sales increases wasn't as long as first thought. FCA has adopted a new system for calculating sales in light of concerns and confusion. This system retains the categories listed above, but changes how it counts them. The dealer reported numbers will now only include sold vehicles and will deduct sales of unwound vehicles that month.