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Several hundred Chrysler minivans are stuck indefinitely on a piece of prime Detroit real estate, unable to be transported across America. The reason? The fossil fuel boom in Canada and the United States is hogging much of the available rail capacity needed to transport the vans. Citing a report by the Associated Press, the Windsor Star reports that railway capacity – which is normally transport new vehicles – is being eaten up by deliveries of oil from both the Alberta Oil Sands and the Bakken shale formation in the United States. According to the AP, just 9,500 railway carloads of...

IMHO!    Some personal faves... 1970 Plymouth GTX More at Reaganite Republican...

This month marks the fifth anniversary of the Chrysler bankruptcy. President Obama will doubtless mark the occasion by talking about how his intervention saved the auto company. More noteworthy, however, is how the lawlessness of that intervention created tremendous uncertainty, which still chills the economy today. Todd Zywicki has written an excellent summary of President Obama’s actions in the Chrysler bailout. A shorter version goes like this. Starting under President Bush and continuing under President Obama, the federal government used TARP funds to keep Chrysler afloat. This gave the government effective control over Chrysler. As a result, the Obama administration...

Fiat and Chrysler announced plans Saturday to build three new Jeep models in China for that market, the biggest for the vehicles outside the United States, as they attempt to boost sales in a country where they lag behind their competitors. The automakers said they will expand their joint venture with China’s Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd., and increase the portfolio of Jeeps, which are currently imported to China. Production is expected to start in late 2015 in Guangzhou, the companies said in a statement, adding that they are considering a Jeep model “uniquely designed for China.” …

I'm liking what Fiat is doing with Chrysler more and more, even their choice of ad agency and marketing campaigns. This is a startling, hilarious and cool ad commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Dodge and announcing the 2015 Challenger.

Chrysler Group is recalling 18,092 Fiat 500L cars in the U.S. because the transmission shifter can be delayed or stop working. […] According to documents posted Saturday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, cold temperatures can affect signals sent between the car’s main computer and the gear shifter. If that happens, the shifter may not shift out of park or the response may be delayed, increasing the risk of a crash. …

The original Dodge Viper revealed in 1992 was a beast of a machine — an attempt by then-Chrysler exec Bob Lutz to revive the spirit of the Shelby Cobra and give Chrysler a world-class sports car. Powered by a massive V-10 with 400 hp, the early Viper's brute force overwhelmed many drivers. Today, the power that made the Viper a legend appears to be at the heart of an order from Chrysler to dozens of trade schools, demanding the immediate destruction of some 93 early Vipers, including a preproduction model that could likely fetch a couple hundred thousand dollars at...

The original Dodge Viper revealed in 1992 was a beast of a machine — an attempt by then-Chrysler exec Bob Lutz to revive the spirit of the Shelby Cobra and give Chrysler a world-class sports car. Powered by a massive V-10 with 400 hp, the early Viper's brute force overwhelmed many drivers. Today, the power that made the Viper a legend appears to be at the heart of an order from Chrysler to dozens of trade schools, demanding the immediate destruction of some 93 early Vipers, including a preproduction model that could likely fetch a couple hundred thousand dollars at...

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers' membership and dues are down sharply from just six years ago. In another sign of weakness, the union suffered a stunning defeat this month when it tried to organize a Tennessee factory run by labor-friendly Volkswagen. The rejection, by a close vote, was a major setback in the union's effort to expand in the South, where non-union, foreign companies such as VW, Nissan and Hyundai are rapidly growing. But instead of relief, Detroit's three automakers — Ford, Chrysler and General Motors — are increasingly anxious about the 78-year old union's future. For them, it's...

Chrysler dealers from around the U.S. seem revved up by the purchase of the U.S. carmaker by Italy’s Fiat SpA. […] “I think it’s well deserved,” said Pamela Burger of Carl Burger Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram World in the San Diego suburb of La Mesa, Calif. “They picked us up out of bankruptcy when we couldn’t even be bought, and have grown us over five years. … They helped us grow instead of stripping us of money and assets.” And, she said, “The quality gets better and better.” Fiat has been running Chrysler since 2009 and owned nearly 60 percent...

At the beginning of 2014, Detroit may be bankrupt, but they’re cheering the five-year-old U.S. auto bailout in Italy. That’s because after being the beneficiary of billions in U.S. taxpayer largesse, Fiat, the leading Italian auto company, is going to buy its final stake in Chrysler from that other big bailout recipient, the United Auto Workers (UAW). “Chrysler’s Now Fully an Italian Auto Company,” reads the Time magazine online headline. But wait a minute! Wasn’t the bailout supposed to be about saving the American auto industry? As Mark Beatty and wrote in The Daily Caller in November 2012, after presidential...

Italian car manufacturer Fiat announced on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to acquire the remaining shares of Chrysler for $3.65bn to a union-controlled trust fund. Fiat already owns 58.5% of Chrysler's shares, with the remaining 41.5% held by a United Auto Workers trust fund that pays health care bills for retirees. Under the deal, Fiat will make an initial payment of $1.9bn to the fund, plus an additional $1.75bn upon closing the deal. Chrysler will also make additional payments totalling $700m to the fund as part of an agreement with the UAW. The deal is expected to close...

Chrysler is recalling more than 142,000 pickup trucks and SUVs worldwide because of software glitches that could affect instrument cluster lighting and braking systems. Around 132,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs and 10,800 Ram pickup trucks from the 2014 model year are affected. …

Contrary to what you hear from liberals, the biggest flaw conservatives have is being overly tolerant. Really? Seriously? We're "overly tolerant?" Absolutely. Conservatives will listen to a Hollywood star trash us as intolerant and then we'll go watch his movie anyway. Musicians will openly support Obama and call us racists; yet we'll still buy their albums. Corporations will bend over backwards to undermine everything we hold dear and then we'll turn right around and buy their products. Conservatives make up 40% of all Americans and if we start letting our values dictate where we spend our money, we can transform...

Fiat has a new ad out (ignore the advertising crap at the end, I couldn't find a clean version). Actually, I found two versions of the same ad. In the version I saw on TV, it ends with a girl saying "This is going to be so much better than the Tea Party".When I went looking for it, I found a different version that ends with the girl saying "This is going to start a revolution".

The IRS scandal that revealed targeting of conservative groups by the Treasury Department has reopened speculation that the Obama-orchestrated auto bailouts unfairly targeted Republican-leaning dealerships for closure. Republican Congressmen Mike Kelly (PA) and Jim Renacci (OH) have penned a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requesting documentation so that an investigation can determine what criteria was used to shutter dealers that appear to have had one thing in common: their political affiliations. The outrageous behavior of the IRS in targeting non-profit organizations with conservative roots, like the Tea Party, for extra scrutiny came at around the same time that General...

Is Motor City getting its mojo back? After years of losing loyal customers frustrated by quality and reliability problems, domestic automakers are showing a new-found focus on customer service that is winning back skeptics – boosting sales, market share and profits.

When the state-imposed manager of Detroit, Kevyn Orr, starts the job on Monday he will wade into a city of crumbling neighborhoods where police fail to respond to some calls, arson fires burn out of control and residents scour charred buildings for scrap metal to sell. Except for the business district and a cultural area including a university, museum and some theaters, the city of Detroit, population 700,000, is in bad shape. Orr, a Washington, D.C.-based bankruptcy lawyer, will have the official title of "Emergency Financial Manager." But his remit as an unelected administrator will range far beyond money. His...

Chrysler is reportedly having a hard time ramping up production of its 2013 Ram 1500. According to The Detroit News, only 16 of the 58 trucks built at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant during the model's first hour passed final inspection. While quality eventually improved over the course of the day, just over half of the units built on Thursday were approved for shipment. Even with workers ordered to stay late to fix their mistakes, some 1,078 units remained outside the facility with defects. The problem, according to workers at the plant, is morale.

(WXYZ) - Every year the automakers produce some of the most talked about ads that are aired during the Super Bowl. This has been especially true over the last few years, where Chrysler produced ads featuring both Clint Eastwood and Eminem to highlight their progress as they emerged from bankruptcy.