1966 Dodge Coronet 500 2 Dr Hard Top on 2040-cars

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FCA cuts powertrain warranties to 60k miles

FCA US is cutting back the mileage of its powertrain warranty on some 2016 model year vehicles. Rather than the current five years/100,000 miles of coverage, the new amount is five years/60,000 miles for gasoline-fueled models from Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram. In March 2015, General Motors made a similar switch to five-years/60,000-miles of coverage for Chevrolet and GMC, and FCA US seems to be citing this as part of the reason for the shift. "Following changes already made by competitors, FCA US is adjusting powertrain warranty coverage for 2016 model year vehicles to be more consistent with industry practices," the automaker said in a portion of its statement. The bumper-to-bumper warranty for these vehicles is unchanged at three years/36,000 miles. According to Automotive News, Fiat's warranty is remaining at four years/50,000 miles. When it changed the mileage limit, GM also halved the number of free service visits for Chevy, GMC, and Buick to two from the previous four. The automaker claimed that the reason for the adjustments to its coverage was that a long warranty was seldom a reason for customers to buy a vehicle. Related Video: Response to Query: 2016MY Powertrain Warranty Adjustment Following changes already made by competitors, FCA US is adjusting powertrain warranty coverage for 2016 model year vehicles to be more consistent with industry practices. For 2016MY, Chrysler, Jeep®, Dodge and Ram Truck vehicles with gasoline engines will be covered by a 5 year/60,000 mile powertrain warranty. The basic coverage, also known as "bumper to bumper," remains at 3 years/36,000 miles. # # # News Source: FCA US, Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Car Buying Maintenance Ownership FCA warranty fca us powertrain

Dodge adds fire-breathing Durango SRT for 2018

The playbook for Dodge right now is pretty simple. Wring as much power out of as many things as humanly possible. Now comes the 2018 Dodge Durango SRT. Packing 475 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque, this seven-seat school bus will scoot to 60 miles per hour in just 4.4 seconds. Since the latest Durango launched for 2014, Dodge has unabashedly called it a three-row Charger. This beefy SUV makes that aggressive claim even more legit. "It does all the things we want a performance car to do," says Mark Trostle, head of performance, passenger, and utility vehicle exterior design. "It really is our three-row Charger." The 6.4-liter (392 cubic inches) Hemi V8 is considerably stronger than the already-potent 5.7-liter Hemi V8, which is rated at 360 hp and 390 lb-ft in the most powerful Durango available now. The SRT powertrain includes the TorqueFlight eight-speed automatic transmission used in the lesser Durango models (and many other FCA US vehicles), though it's calibrated specifically to the sportier demeanor of the SRT model. A similarly retuned full-time all-wheel-drive system rounds out the powertrain. Despite the fact this is a hot-rod SUV, it can still tow 8,600 pounds with a trailer, 1,200 pounds more than the most capable 2017 Durango (the rear-wheel 5.7-liter variant). View 9 Photos The Durango SRT is an obvious move for Dodge. The Jeep Grand Cherokee, which is built on the same platform in the same factory in Detroit, already has an SRT model. With rumors of a Hellcat-powered Grand Cherokee swirling and another Demonic Challenger on the way, the Durango was overdue for an engine upgrade. "When we launched the Durango in 2014, this is the one we really wanted," says Tim Kuniskis, head of FCA US' passenger car brands. There's no doubt this is an enthusiast-oriented SUV. Dodge even went to the trouble of certifying the Durango SRT's 12.9-second quarter-mile time with the NHRA and tested it a Virginia International Raceway. Buy a Durango SRT, and you get a full day at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. When's the last time anyone did all of that with a three-row ute? It certainly looks the part. The hood bulges with new air-ducts to help keep the big Hemi chilled appropriately. There's a new front fascia with more air vents and LED fog lamps. Plus, the grille takes on a menacing new glare with a mesh pattern, and the body gets wider wheel flares. Click through the gallery, it really does look like a Charger from some angles.

FCA seeks partner to keep building Dodge Dart, Chrysler 200

Mere weeks after FCA announced it was shutting down production of the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200, new hope emerges to give the sedans a stay of execution. Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show last week, Sergio Marchionne said that the company was looking for a partner "who is better at it than we are and who has got capacity available" in order to continue building the models on its behalf. "There are discussions going on now," said Marchionne, according to Motor Trend. "I think we will find a solution. We continue to talk. It's both a technical solution and an economic one. We need to find a solution that works economically." Contracting vehicles to be manufactured offsite is more common practice among European automakers than it is with American ones. Chrysler's former patron Mercedes, for example, has the G-Class built for it by Magna Steyr in Austria, the A-Class by Valmet in Finland, and the R-Class by AM General in Indiana (even though it's no longer sold in the US). This arrangement would, on the surface at least, appear more similar to the deal that Toyota struck with Mazda to build the Scion iA, drawing on the contractor's expertise and capacity to build the small sedan on the client company's behalf. Only rather than basing a new model on one of the partner's existing ones, this deal would ostensibly continue building FCA models on FCA platforms using FCA components. We'll have to wait to find out with whom FCA strikes up the manufacturing deal, but we wouldn't be surprised to see Marchionne turn to a partner he already knows. The company is, after all, at the center of an intricate web of joint ventures and manufacturing contracts. The Fiat 124 Spider, for example, is built by Mazda. The Fiat Sedici that preceded the 500X was built by Suzuki. Models like the Dodge Stealth and Eagle Talon were built in Illinois at the Diamond-Star Motors joint venture before Mitsubishi took it over altogether. And Dodge continued selling the Mercedes-made Sprinter long after DaimlerChrysler split. The Ram ProMaster, though built by FCA in Mexico for the North American market, stems from a partnership in France with PSA Peugeot Citroen. And the ProMaster City is built in a joint-venture plant in Turkey, from which it's also sold by GM as an Opel in Europe and a Vauxhall in the UK. With all those deals coming and going, after all, what would one more add to the complexity?