2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit on 2040-cars

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Stellantis and LG announce Canadian EV battery joint venture

SEOUL — South Korean battery giant LG Energy Solution (LGES) said on Wednesday it plans to invest $1.5 billion to set up a joint venture with Stellantis in Canada. LGES owns 51% of the joint venture, tentatively named "LGES-STLA JV" and Stellantis owns 49%, LGES said in a regulatory filing. In October, LGES and Stellantis NV struck an electric vehicle (EV) battery production joint venture, targeting to start production by the first quarter of 2024 and aiming to have an annual production capacity of 40 gigawatt hours of batteries. In a separate regulatory filing, LGES said it plans to acquire a stake worth $542 million in ES America to respond to demand from EV startups in the United States. LGES is considering building a factory in Arizona to meet demand in the United States, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the plant is expected to primarily produce cylindrical battery cells. LGES has its own factory in Michigan and two battery joint ventures with General Motors in Ohio and Tennessee. "We are considering a new production site, but nothing has been decided yet," said a spokesperson at LGES. LGES, which counts Tesla, GM and Volkswagen among its customers, currently has battery production sites in the United States, China, Poland, Indonesia and South Korea. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Green Plants/Manufacturing Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Electric

2018 Jeep Wrangler scores 1 star in European crash tests

The Jeep Wrangler got a full redesign for the 2018 model year, and this Euro NCAP test we have here is the first official independent safety testing we've seen for the new model. Historically, the Wrangler has performed poorly in crash tests. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration awarded the previous generation a three-star rating. Euro NCAP testing puts a lot more weight on driver assistance systems in its testing, an area where the new Wrangler is somewhat lacking. It lost points for not having things like automatic emergency braking and lane-keep assist — the Wrangler doesn't offer either of those things in Europe, even as an option. However, the 2019 model year Wrangler does (2018 does not) offer active braking for the U.S., a $795 package gives your Wrangler the ability to brake itself to a full stop if it senses the risk of a collision. This package includes adaptive cruise control, too, but lane-keep assist is not available. On top of the lack of active driver safety systems, its performance in NCAP's impact testing left a bit to be desired, as well. We did the math to see the raw Euro NCAP scores for a crash without it being dragged down by the driver assistance systems, and adult occupant safety came out to 56.7 percent. Child occupant safety was a tad better at 69 percent. These still aren't great numbers, so it's clear that the lack of driver assistance features isn't the only thing pulling the score down. We aren't particularly surprised by the Wrangler's numbers, but it's information potential buyers should know about the truck. For those wanting an even deeper dive, check out Euro NCAP's full testing results here. The Euro NCAP also released a video of its Jeep Wrangler crash testing, which you can watch above. None of it looks particularly egregious at first blush, especially compared to video of the Fiat Panda, which recently received a whopping zero star rating. Scoring zero stars in a crash test is always a red flag, but customers won't ever buy the Panda in the U.S. anyway. We'll be watching for crash test ratings from the NHTSA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for U.S. market 2018 Wranglers to see if those tests produce different results. Related video:

Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT gets power increase, minor tweaks for 2015

As a brand within Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, SRT may have an uncertain future, but it's pumping out some seriously mean machines anyway. The supercharged Hellcat V8 may be gobbling up most of the headlines with its 707 horsepower, but even the Grand Cherokee SRT is getting some small updates for the 2015 model year.
Most importantly for many enthusiasts, the Grand Cherokee SRT is getting a slight power bump. Don't expect the 700+ hp from the Hellcat, but this SUV sees a modest 5-hp and 5-pound-feet of torque improvement to bring output to 475 hp and 470 lb-ft for its 6.4-liter V8 with an eight-speed automatic. The minor change doesn't change the sprint to 60 miles per hour, clocking in at the same 4.8 seconds, or the tow rating at 7,200 pounds. Still, more grunt is never a bad idea.
Another new addition is the Active Noise Canceling system as a standard feature for this powerful SUV. It adds four microphones around the vehicle and uses the stereo system to nullify extraneous sound. However, Jeep claims that the meaty exhaust note from the V8 still gets through into the cabin for driver enjoyment.