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GM says it favors fuel-efficiency rules based on historic rates

WASHINGTON — General Motors backs an annual increase in fuel-efficiency standards based on "historic rates" rather than tough Obama era rules or a Trump administration proposal that would freeze requirements, according to a federal filing made public on Monday. The largest U.S. automaker said the Obama rules that aimed to hike fleet fuel efficiency to more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025 are "not technologically feasible or economically practicable." The Detroit automaker said that since 1980, the motor vehicle fleet has improved fuel efficiency at an average rate of 1 percent a year. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said in separate comments that the auto industry is complying with existing fuel efficiency requirements by using credits from prior model years. As a result, even if requirements are frozen at 2020 levels, "the industry would need to continue to improve fuel economy" as credits expire, it added, warning if the government hikes standards beyond 2020 requirements "the situation worsens ... without some significant form of offset or flexibility." Fiat Chrysler and Ford urged the government to reclassify two-wheel drive SUVs as light trucks, which face less stringent requirements than cars. A four-wheel drive version of the same SUV is considered a light truck. Ford backs fuel rules "that increase year-over-year with additional flexibility to help us provide more affordable options for our customers." GM's comments said it was "troubled" that President Donald Trump's administration wants to phase out incentives for electric vehicles. The Trump plan's preferred alternative freezes standards at 2020 levels through 2026 and hikes U.S. oil consumption by about 500,000 barrels per day in the 2030s but reduces automakers' collective regulatory costs by more than $300 billion. It would bar California from requiring automakers to sell a rising number of electric vehicles or setting state emissions rules. The administration of former President Obama had adopted rules, effective in 2021, calling for an annual increase of 4.4 percent in fuel-efficiency requirements from 2022 through 2025. GM has been lobbying Congress to lift the existing cap on electric vehicles eligible for a $7,500 tax credit. The credit phases out over a 12-month period after an individual automaker hits 200,000 electric vehicles sold, and GM is close to that point.

Updated 2021 Chrysler Pacifica enters production

The updated 2021 Chrysler Pacifica entered production in Windsor, Ontario, this week, bringing with it the option of all-wheel drive to a Chrysler-branded minivan for the first time since 2004. While Chrysler, or whatever corporate name it was going by at the time, has offered all-wheel drive on minivans in the intervening years, the 2021 Pacifica offers it in combinations not previously available, most notably pairing it with the company's coveted Stow n' Go folding second-row seats. Offering both of these on the same model required re-engineering the Pacifica's exhaust and fuel system to allow room for the Stow ‘nÂ’ Go seats to fold away into the floor. The 2021 Pacifica's interior has some other noteworthy additions, such as a now-standard 10.1-inch infotainment display powered by the fifth generation of the company's Uconnect operating system. The latest infotainment suite includes upgrades to Amazon Alexa integration along with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The optional FamCam helps you keep an eye on passengers in the rear seats (joining the Honda Odyssey in offering such a feature).  "FCA invented the minivan segment, and the new-for-2021 Chrysler Pacifica continues to drive our leadership and innovation," said FCA's Tim Kuniskis. "Whether itÂ’s all-weather driving capability with Stow ‘n Go seating or more than 80 MPGe and no range anxiety with the only plug-in hybrid minivan in the segment, the new Chrysler Pacifica gives families what they want and options that best fit their busy lives." New for 2021, all-wheel drive is a long-awaited $2,995 option that brings the Touring's price up to $39,535, while selecting the hybrid model bumps that figure to $41,490. Interestingly, the Touring and Touring L models are the only front-wheel drive, non-electrified variants of the Pacifica. Called Limited and Pinnacle, respectively, the next two are only available with one or the other, and they're priced accordingly. The top-of-the-line all-wheel drive Pinnacle is priced in luxury car territory at $54,885, while the hybrid starts at $52,340.  It's worth mentioning the positioning of the all-wheel drive and hybrid models is reversed as buyers move up in the trim hierarchy. Shop for a Touring L, and you'll pay $1,155 more for a hybrid van than for one equipped with all-wheel drive. Step up to the Pinnacle model, and all-wheel drive costs $2,545 more than the hybrid system.

Jeep Cherokee faces on-sale delay

A report in The Wall Street Journal looks at some of the obstacles to the 2014 Jeep Cherokee that go beyond its mootable yet "very contemporary" looks, almost all of them based on Fiat's financial position. Starting with that sheetmetal, in defense of it SRT president Ralph Gilles and Jeep design head Mark Allen said they wanted to "make sure the design still looks modern five years from now."
The WSJ piece doesn't cite longevity as a factor, instead saying that its features originated in a design for an Alfa Romeo, the transformation into a Jeep design meant allowing Chrysler get it to market more quickly and save "hundreds of millions of dollars" in engineering.
The need for Fiat to save money while it weathers the European situation has cut budgets for development, engineering and the pace of retooling the Toledo, Ohio plant to build the Cherokee. In a familiar case of snowballing at work, among the effects will be pushing back the Cherokee's volume sales date and delaying updates to some of Chrysler's other products.