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Fiat Chrysler wins top Total Quality Award for first time

The Strategic Vision Total Quality Awards are 20 years old in 2015, and Chrysler has never topped the awards before. Until now, that is. Fiat Chrysler takes the overall award on the corporate level with six segment leaders from Fiat, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram. The Fiat 500 won Small Multi-Function Car, the 500e won Small Alternative Powertrain, the Dodge Challenger tied at the top in the Specialty Coupe category alongside the very un-coupe Mini Cooper Countryman, the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited took the Entry SUV category, the Dodge Durango won in Mid-Size SUV, and Ram took the overall in Best Non-Luxury Brand. The accolade means FCA has gone from one segment winner in 2010 to overall victory in five years. Cars have gotten so good, says Strategic Vision, that it is harder than ever to win. In fact, says the group, 18 years ago 85 percent of all vehicle brands had more than half a problem per vehicle. This year, no brand has more than half a problem per vehicle. The organization measures "over 155 specific aspects of the customer's experience," and scores are based on input from more than 46,000 customers. Other notables in and near the winner's circle include Volkswagen and General Motors, who tied for second place on the corporate scale, one point behind FCA. The Mini Cooper Roadster scored the highest of any model, the Corvette Stingray Convertible and Coupe scored the second- and third-highest. The Chevrolet Colorado is the first domestic Standard Pickup winner in more than ten years, and the Nissan Titan carried the Full-Size Pickup category. The press release below has all the details on how winners and losers are selected, and the full list of automakers and how they finished. "The Customer's 'Total' Experience Defines Quality, Fiat Chrysler Scores Highest in Total Quality," says Strategic Vision The 2015 Total Quality Awards® SAN DIEGO, Friday, July 17, 2015 — Unknown to many, when some consumer research firms rank a car company's quality performance they often do so by simply "counting problems." In the past, this may have been acceptable, but in today's modern and efficient manufacturing world the difference between the worst brand and best brand is LESS than half-a-problem per vehicle. Thus, any "quality ranking" based on this method is severely lacking in the complete picture of the "Total" Quality experience that customers actually use to judge their product ownership.

Catching up with Chrysler's EV catch-up plan

At your home or office? Those are the key words for how Chrysler and its Fiat affiliate want to narrow the plug-in vehicle sales gap between themselves and more plug-in-centric companies like Nissan and Ford, according Wards Auto. When the gap will narrow is anyone's guess. The US automaker, long a laggard in electric-powertrain development, is working on an wireless, inductive charging system with Qualcomm and which could spur sales of plug-in vehicles for personal use. A wireless system would allow for hands-free charging for vehicles like the Fiat 500e, the company's only plug-in vehicle being sold to the public in the US as well as a plug-in hybrid minivan that's in the works for 2016. On the business front, Chrysler is working with nonprofit NextEnergy on developing a reverse-power-flow system. That would allow for fleet-owning businesses to draw power from their plug-in vehicles' batteries during mid-day peak-energy times, when electricity rates are highest. Chrysler and NextEnergy ran a one-month test of a reverse-power-flow system with four Fiat 500e vehicles last year, and the companies found that they could cut power usage enough to save $1,200. Chrysler extrapolated those numbers to estimate that such a system with just a dozen plug-in vehicles could save a company as much as $27,000 a year. Get more details over at Wards Auto. Featured Gallery 2013 Fiat 500e: Review View 40 Photos News Source: Wards Auto Green Chrysler Fiat Technology Emerging Technologies Electric wireless charging inductive charging inductive

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.