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Jeep beefs up the Wrangler Rubicon with 2017 Recon Edition hardware

The Wrangler Rubicon Hard Rock is dead. Don't worry; the 2017 Rubicon Recon is heading to showrooms soon to take its place, and judging by what it's packing you'll hardly miss the Hard Rock. Essentially, this is a Rubicon with some beefed-up bits underneath and a few special cosmetic tweaks, a bit like the outgoing Hard Rock. Up front, there's a stronger Dana 44 with strengthened tubes and heavy-duty end forgings. Likewise, the front and rear differentials get stronger cast covers than the Hard Rock's stamped ones. The ratios are the same, with 4.10:1 front and rear ratios, Tru-Lok locking diffs, and a Rock-Trac transfer case. There's also a half-inch lift. Cosmetically, there are new 17-inch wheels exclusive to the Recon equipped with 32-inch BF Goodrich KM tires, and the rock rails have been reshaped to allow owners to fit 35-inch tires without interference. The Recon also adds red seatbelts and stitching, something you haven't been able to get in a Wrangler before, a Jeep rep told us. If that's what you were waiting for to get into a Wrangler Rubicon, well, there you go. There's also the special-edition farkles you'd expect: a dashboard plaque the fender badge, and a unique gauge cluster treatment. The two-door Recon will start at $40,140 and the four door at $43,940 – that's compared to the base Rubicon, which starts at $34,190 in two-door form. So, the Recon represents a nearly $6,000 premium over the base Rubicon and a $1,150 premium over the outgoing Hard Rock. It'll be available in dealers at the end of this month. Related Video:

FCA plants skipping summer shutdown to keep up with demand

Hopefully, some FCA US factory employees don't have big plans for the usual summer shutdown, because the automaker is keeping several plants running this year. Demand is so high that the company wants to keep models rolling off the assembly lines. Four FCA US assembly plants, all the engine factories, and some locations that build transmissions are staying open throughout the summer, according to the Detroit Free Press. Usually, these sites would see a two-week shutdown for the company to retool and perform repairs. This year, factories are staying open for FCA to support its strong sales. The lines that remaining humming through the summer show an inclination toward the automaker's popular SUV's and crossovers. They include the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Michigan that builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango; Saltillo Van Assembly in Mexico that constructs the Ram ProMaster; Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio that produces the Cherokee and Wrangler; and Toluca Assembly in Mexico that makes the Dodge Journey and Fiat 500. Related Video: News Source: The Detroit Free PressImage Credit: Bill Pugliano / Getty Images Plants/Manufacturing Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM FCA dodge journey fca us ram promaster Jefferson North Assembly Plant

Fiat Chrysler dumped 40,000 unordered vehicles on dealers

In a move that echoes recent history, Fiat Chrysler has been making more cars and trucks than dealers in the U.S. are willing to accept, with Bloomberg reporting that at one point the automaker had built up a glut of around 40,000 unordered vehicles. That’s led some dealers to accuse FCA of reviving the dreaded “sales bank” accounting practice of obscuring inventory to improve the balance sheet. The company reportedly began building up its inventory of unordered cars this summer despite an industrywide slowdown in sales and an eagerness by some dealers to thin their inventories because rising interest rates are making it more expensive to hold unsold cars. The inventory build-up also coincided with Fiat ChryslerÂ’s efforts to find a merger partner, first with Renault, which fell through, then last monthÂ’s announcement that it will merge with FranceÂ’s PSA Group. FCA denies any such scheme and tells Bloomberg the rising inventory is down to a new predictive analytics system designed to better square supply with demand from dealers that is helping the company save money and narrow the numbers of unsold vehicles. The company recently agreed to pay a $40 million civil penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a complaint that it paid dealers to report fake sales figures over a span of five years. While no one is suggesting that FCA is in dire financial straits — the company saw higher than expected earnings in the third quarter and record profits in North America — the practice has strong historical precedent by Chrysler, which built up bloated inventories in the run-up to its two federal bailouts, in 1980 and 2009. It was also common at GM and Ford during the 2000s, when all three Detroit automakers struggled with excess manufacturing capacity and plummeting sales in the lead-up to the Great Recession. Back in 2012, CFO Magazine wrote about a report that explained automakersÂ’ rationale for the practice and how it works: Say fixed costs for a given factory are $100, and that the factory can make 50 cars. Consumers, however, demand only 10. Under absorption costing, if the company makes all 50 cars, its cost-per-car is $2. If it makes only up to demand, or 10 cars, the cost-per-car is $10. Although each car adds variable costs for steel and other parts, if those costs are low, the company still has an incentive to make more cars to keep the cost-per-car down.