2014 Jeep Cherokee Latitude on 2040-cars

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Fiat Chrysler CEO says final merger talks with Peugeot going well

BRUSSELS — Fiat Chrysler's chief executive Michael Manley said on Wednesday that merger talks with Peugeot owner PSA  to create the world's No. 4 carmaker are progressing well and he hopes to have a deal within 12-14 months. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of an industry meeting, he said he doesn't expect any major obstacles that could delay a final agreement. "Talks are progressing really well," Manley said about negotiations with the French carmaker ahead of a briefing by the European automotive association (ACEA), of which he is president. His comments come a month after the two carmakers agreed to a binding deal worth about $50 billion to combine forces in response to a slowdown in global demand and mounting costs of making cleaner vehicles amid tighter emissions regulations. Manley's timeline for completing the deal by early 2021 is in line with a forecast made by the companies in December. Fiat and Peugeot are now getting into the details of how the merger will work, including choosing which vehicle platforms — the technological underpinnings of a vehicle — will fit which products in a combined company. Because customers in different locations still prefer vastly different cars, there is room for multiple platforms in a combined group, Manley said. "That global platform is an elusive beast," he added. "This concept of a massive global platform in my mind is almost a myth, but that doesnÂ’t mean to say weÂ’re not going to recruit significant volume." Related Video:    

2017 Jeep Compass ads navigate life for Millennials

Jeep kicked off an advertising blitz Thursday for the 2017 Compass, pitching the attractive compact crossover directly at the Millennial generation. The first broadcast spot, called Recalculating, shows young people navigating life's changes, including marriage, children, job moves, and more. A narrator intones "recalculating" – like a GPS – at each life moment during the 60-second ad. Naturally, a Compass would be a logical ride for all of these milestones, Jeep suggests. "We expect its message of life's journey moving us in many directions to resonate with our Millennial audience while staying true to the Jeep brand's core value of freedom," Oliver Francois, Fiat Chrysler's chief marketing officer, said in a statement. The campaign will be shown during Saturday Night Live, Modern Family, and other popular television shows. Print versions will also appear in national magazines, and the campaign will include digital, cinema, and experiential elements. The blitz began in North America, but it will be a global marketing effort as the Compass is sold in a wide range of regions. The ads will be customized for local audiences. Four more 30-second spots are planned for launch in May. An FCA US spokesperson declined to provide a monetary value for the campaign. The Compass will also be a featured vehicle at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in June in Tennessee. Additionally, FCA US will showcase the vehicle outside its headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., with a multi-story wrap on the building (replacing the current Chrysler Pacifica hybrid wrap). The Compass, which is on sale now, is receiving positive reviews for its updated styling that echoes the Grand Cherokee, increased storage space, and off-road capability. Hawking the Compass toward the Millennial generation, which is young people in their 20s to mid-30s, is a logical move for Jeep, as the group is beginning to display increased buying power. The Compass is one of Jeep's entry points. Customers could then theoretically stay with the brand as they age and their families grow, moving up to larger and more expensive vehicles, a longtime strategy employed by automakers. Related Video:

Making the Compatriot the Jeep we want - and deserve

If you're one of the hottest brands in the world, and you need to replace two vehicles that sell at a rate of nearly 200k a year, what exactly are you going to do? Do you take the safe route and attempt to mirror what has largely kept you a success thus far, or do you improve on the formula, and better sort your lineup? After 10 years with the Jeep Compass and Patriot, it is time for both to hang up their jackets and go in for the long dirt nap. And what a strange 10 years it's been. Born of the age of Diamler-Chrysler, the "Merger of equals," the Compass and Patriot were brought into this world to shore up sales of Jeep worldwide, pull on the heartstrings of former Cherokee owners, and make sure teenage girls had an affordable crossover to buy in just a few years. As much as I like to throw shade at each model on both subjective and objective basis, I truly find the purpose of each vehicle to be relatively endearing. For less than $22,000, you could (that is, if you could find one) walk out of your local Jeep dealer with a 4x4 crossover, with a manual gearbox, decent all-weather performance, and somewhat respectable fuel economy. This of course ignores the fact that they weren't packaged all that well, based on the outrageously terrible Dodge Caliber, and used all those shared bits and bobs with Mitsubishi that should have been shelved by 2010. Yet, the twins lived on, and on, and on. We've heard stories as far back as 2012 that they weren't long for our world, and then we get news that they're making it through 2017. Just in time for the "Compatriot" to arrive. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what Jeep intends to do with the Compatriot. As far as most blogs seem to know, we're getting a Compass and Patriot replacement that is based on the already well-received Renegade. A little bit of a stretch on the chassis will certainly aid in ride quality, and the Grand Cherokee styling cues will give it a much more upscale demeanor. Even the interior has looked very well executed, with a positively huge uConnect screen set in the middle of the dash. Could Jeep actually be trying to take their Compass and Patriot replacement significantly more up the product chain? I certainly hope so. If you pilot your browser over to the Jeep configurators, you might be surprised by how low the base prices are on almost all of their products. Less than $30k for a new Cherokee? A Renegade for just under $18k? What a deal!