2014 Chrysler Town & Country Touring-l on 2040-cars

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Next Jeep Wrangler to get hybrid option?

This may the year a Jeep hybrid is officially announced. Really. The Chrysler division may finally be making plans for its first gas-electric powertrain to help boost the group's fuel economy, says UK's Auto Express, citing Mike Manley, CEO of FCA's Jeep division. The guinea pig of sorts may be the Wrangler, which moved almost a quarter-million units in the US last year. The Wrangler could get a hybrid drivetrain by the 2017 model year, as Jeep executives look to maintain the model's feel and torque while boosting its fuel economy. The Wrangler gets a pretty paltry 18 miles per gallon combined out of its six-cylinder mill, so the bar's set pretty low. Of course, we've heard this talk before. In late 2013, Chrysler Asia-Pacific product planning manager Steve Bartoli told Australia's Drive that a Jeep hybrid was pretty much inevitable, though not much has been mentioned since. FCA could use all the help it can get in the fuel economy department. The group brought up the rear among automakers when it came to fuel efficiency, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in its EPA Trends report released last October. The FCA models combined for a 21.1 miles per gallon average for the 2014 model year, compared to the 24.2 mpg overall industry average. The group's only electric vehicle in the US is the low-volume Fiat 500e, though the company may start selling a plug-in hybrid version of its Chrysler Town & Country by the end of the year. Featured Gallery 2014 Jeep Wrangler Polar Edition View 9 Photos News Source: Auto Express Green Chrysler Jeep Fuel Efficiency Hybrid

Chrysler and Fiat offering $1,000 rebates to VW owners as Marchionne gets tough

The throw-down between Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and Volkswagen has heated up in earnest. According to Bloomberg, Fiat and Chrysler are now offering current Volkswagen owners in the US $1,000 rebates to trade in their ride. It's the latest in a series of shots Marchionne has taken at his German rival. As you may recall, the Fiat executive entered into a spat with Volkwagen board chairman Ferdinand Piëch and CEO Martin Winterkorn in October after the duo called for Marchionne's resignation from presidency of the European Automotive Manufacturers Association (AECA). At the time, the Volkswagen executives were quoted as saying Fiat would not survive the European economic downturn.
In response, Marchionne called the German executives "reprehensible," and accused Volkswagen of using a pricing strategy that has created created a "bloodbath" in the EU. Volkswagen has taken to steep discounting to carve out ever-larger slices of market share in Europe, but the company has a much smaller foothold in the US. Marchionne may be trying to hit Volkswagen where the manufacturer is weakest with the new Fiat new incentive program.
Late last week, the Fiat executive was voted to a second term as ACEA president.

Chrysler may be testing a Hellcat 300

Another day goes by, and another mysterious, undisguised SRT prototype comes out of FCA. This time we have a Chrysler 300 SRT that looks nearly stock except for its footwear. Our spy photographer got up close and personal with this machine, and found that it has the same wheels with 315-mm tires that were on the early Dodge Demon prototypes. The only difference is the wheels on this 300 have Chrysler-branded center caps. All that extra width means these wheels stick pretty far out from the wheel wells, which would suggest that any production car running this setup would have flares to cover the wheels. Behind those wheels are four-piston Brembo calipers and slotted discs that looks similar to those on the current 300 SRT. We doubt that Chrysler is building a Demonized version of the 300, but the tires do suggest that this is a much more potent 300 than the current SRT, which was discontinued in the US in 2015 but is still sold in the Middle East and Australia. That's not all we have to go on, though, since our spy photographer says it sounded like it had Hellcat power under the hood. Equipping a 300 with a Hellcat engine would be a breeze, too, since the engine is already in the Charger, which is virtually identical mechanically. What you may be wondering is why Chrysler is adding a Hellcat version of the 300 SRT when that model hasn't been available in the US since 2015. One possible reason is that this would finally allow Aussies access to the 707-horsepower machine. Dodge is not a brand offered Down Under, so it doesn't get the Charger Hellcat, leaving the 300 as the only V8, rear-drive Mopar available. And for the Middle East, if the normal 300 SRT was selling well, it would only make sense to offer another variant. It shouldn't cost Chrysler too much to develop this model either, since the 300, mechanically, is virtually identical to the Charger. Related Video: Featured Gallery Chrysler 300 SRT Hellcat Widebody Spy Photos View 16 Photos Image Credit: Brian Williams Spy Photos Chrysler Performance Sedan chrysler 300 srt8