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Jeep Wranglers - the latest generation of the basic Army Jeep - will go into postal duty next year, with a special series of right-hand-drive models. Built in Toldeo, Ohio, the new Jeeps let postmen easily put mail into rural mailboxes without leaving his seat. It will be an automatic with full doors, a hard top, and rollup windows, with the six-cylinder (4.0) engine to assure quick getaways under full loads. Amenities for the postmen include a four-speaker cassette stereo and cloth seats. For severe weather, all-terrain tires, a Dana 44 heavy-duty locking rear axle, and full size spare are included. The cost is under $21,000 per vehicle, and it will be available in different colors.
While right-hand drive Jeeps were used by the Postal Service since just after World War II, the first postal model was built in 1955, and was called the Dispatcher. It was based on the CJ3A Jeep Universal of 1949, and was available until 1964, still equipped with an outdated but cheap flat-head four-cylinder engine. The DJ5 Dispatcher lasted until 1983, with a CJ5 base and various improvements for postal use. Until 2001, a specially adapted Cherokee was available for postal use.
Since engineering for a right-hand drive Jeep was already in place for export models, the fleet models made sense - they keep the factory running at a higher capacity, and help to pay for fixed costs.
The Bush administration has finally come to a decision on fuel economy, calling for car gas mileage to remain the same and for truck/SUV/minivan mileage to rise 1.5 mpg by 2007. This should be incredibly easy for the industry, given that clean diesel fuel will be mandated by 2006, and that a diesel version of a large truck with 10-12 mpg can average 18-20 mpg now. Making new small cars conform to the definition of "trucks" also works - as in the Chrysler PT Cruiser and the Chevrolet SSR (which at least has a truck chassis). The measure is still far more than most people had expected - in that it not only raises gas mileage requirements, but even keeps them in place. However, the final bill may well contain loopholes which make the measure pointless - such as the proposal (defeated this year) which would allow pickup trucks to be exempted, as a class, or the current "heavy duty vehicles are immune" rule which allows big pickups and SUVs to be excluded from average gas mileage figures.
Dan Minick pointed out that Chrysler is buying out General Motors' share of their joint venture, New Venture Gear. The company made, among other things, the manual transmissions for the Cavalier and Neon. GM will retain the Muncie plant, wtih DCX receiving the rest. Dan pointed us to http://www.auto.com/reuters/2002-12-12T142...1Z_01_N1235.htm for details.
Camp Jeep®, one of the nation's largest and best-attended ownership gatherings, expands to two locations and dates next year, and will be open to not only Jeep owners but to the general public for the first time in the event's nine-year history. New dates and locations will be announced to consumers on the Jeep.com website and at 1-800-789-JEEP starting December 11.
Camp Jeep 2003 will be held at the Oak Ridge Estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Nelson County, Va., Thursday, June 26 - Saturday, June 28. Camp Jeep California will be held at Gardner Ranch in the Santa Inez Mountains north of Santa Barbara, Calif., Thursday, August 14 - Saturday, August 16.
For the first time, Camp Jeep will open its doors to the public on the Saturday of each event at both locations. "People really have to see Camp Jeep and experience it for themselves to believe it," said Bell. "The pride our owners have for their vehicles and the fun they have is amazing. It begins with their passion for the outdoors and continues with the camp environment and music. We want to show 'non-Jeepers' what the fuss is all about!"
One of the most popular highlights of the event is the Jeep 101 courses, designed to teach attendees basic off-highway driving and safety skills, and to demonstrate capabilities of the Jeep Liberty, Grand Cherokee and Wrangler. Participants are paired with experienced guides as they negotiate steep downhill grades and encounter large rocks, log-crossings, sand and other off-highway obstacles. Once they have mastered the Jeep vehicle's capabilities, they can navigate various levels of 4x4 trails in their own Jeep vehicles.
Jeep owners also can visit the Engineering Village and participate in roundtable discussions with Jeep engineers and other guests to learn more about what distinguishes a Jeep brand vehicle from any other four-wheel vehicle in the world.
Camp Jeep 2003 and Camp Jeep California also will feature numerous lifestyle and family activities, live musical performances and a fireworks finale. Details will be released in a separate announcement.
Jeep also sponsors Jeep Jamborees, which began in the 1950s. From the Maine Mountains to the famed Rubicon Trail, approximately 7,000 owners participate in the more than 30 Jamborees held each year. The excellent response to Camp Jeep led to the spin-off of Jeep 101. Jeep 101 driving courses are offered in cities across the nation to provide owners and prospective owners basic skills of safe, yet adventurous off-road driving.
Approximately 3,000 vehicles are expected to be registered for each Camp Jeep location in 2003. To date, approximately 55,000 people from 48 states have attended Camp Jeep.
People can visit the Jeep website to find more information about Camp Jeep on the web at www.jeep.com (enter keyword campjeep) or call 1-800-789-JEEP starting December 11. Registration for both events will begin in January 2003. Registration fees are $325 per Jeep vehicle for participation in all Camp Jeep activities and $95 per non-Jeep vehicle for participation in the Saturday (last day), activities. The event has usually sold out.
Dallas officials announced that the design of the Ford Crown Victoria (Police Interceptor) was partly to blame for an explosion which killed an officer last month. Other cities have taken the squad cars out of service due to premature frame rusting which could result in loss of control.
In the most recent Michigan State Police squad car tests, reported on Allpar's squad car page, both the Chevy Impala and Dodge Intrepid achieved performance similar to the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. The Crown Victoria was fastest overall by a slight margin, but the Impala had the best brakes, followed by the Intrepid (which did however show some brake fade and overheating during the most extensive tests). The Intrepid also had a higher top speed, and the best ergonomics of the three tested cars.
As Federal deficits mount, wartime approaches, and thousand are laid off from companies bankrupted by unethical business practices - from Chrysler to Enron - the government has taken action. After voting to eliminate the large-scale inheritance and capital gains taxes, the U.S. Government will eliminate the luxury car tax on January 1, 2003. It was imposed in 1990 as a way to raise money from those who could afford to give the most, but often did not. The import car dealers' group, AIADA , applauded the move, saying that it was the car dealers who really paid the tax.
The 2003 Dodge Intrepid squad car was tested by the Michigan State Police in their annual police car roundup. It held its own with the sales-leading Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor in acceleration and braking, but had a higher top speed. Unlike last year, the Intrepid beat the Police Interceptor slightly in braking tests. It also beat the Impala in acceleration, while lagging it in braking. The Intrepid beat both the Chevy and Ford in ergonomics, by a small margin. In fuel economy, the Impala was the leader with 23 mpg overall, 20 city and 29 highway, but the Intrepid managed 20 city and 27 highway, for nearly the same average at 22 mpg. The Ford Police Interceptor, the only car fielded with a V8, had substantially lower mileage, with 15 mpg city, 22 highway, and an average of 18 mpg.
According to "Mr. Source," the current LH series will continue to be produced through August 2003. 2004 model-year LHs will start in February 2003, with both the 2003 and 2004 model years being cut short. The LX series will start production, one model at a time, in late 2003.
The Sebring/Stratus sedans and convertibles will switch to the 2004 model year on January 21, 2003, while the 2004 Grand Cherokee will enter production almost immediately in 2003, on January 2. That will be the last model year for the current Grand Cherokee, which is to be replaced by a model jointly designed with Mercedes; Mr. Source did not mention it, but we understand the 2005 Grand Cherokee will start production in October 2003, with the predictable engine lineup of new truck V6, 4.7 V8, and 5.7 Hemi, along with the possibility of a 3.0 Mercedes diesel which may or may not make it into the North American lineup.
With Plymouth out of the way, it would seem that the Chrysler brand has had room to grow - albeit downwards. In reality, the loss of Plymouth still seems to have been more of a benefit for Ford, GM, and Toyota, but the Chrysler brand is not doing too badly with a year to date sales loss from 2001 of 9 percent. The 300M Special seems to have backfired on Chrysler, with journalists and customers complaining of its cheapened interior, and an overall sales drop of 11 percent through November - 41 percent month-to-month! Year to year, the Concorde has held steady, the Sebring Sedan has had a slight improvement (3 percent, or 1,800 units), while the Mitsubishi-made Sebring Coupe has continued to fall, reaching a mere 11,265 units year-to-date (down 28 percent from last year, and roughly one fifth of the sedan's sales). Chrysler's best-selling car remains the PT Cruiser, by a large margin, but since it isn't officially classified as a car, the Sebring Sedan will have to take the honors in its place, with 52,094 units - beating out the Sebring Convertible by 9,000 units, and the 300M by 18,000. The Concorde, larger but not as sexy as the 300M, sold only 30,000 units, down 11 percent from last year.
Minivan sales were also disappointing for Chrysler, with the Voyager and Town and Country both down. Only the PT Cruiser was a bright spot, with 130,000 sales so far this year, down only 2 percent from last year.
Over at Jeep, the numbers are looking better, with the Liberty making up for the absence of the Cherokee - or, rather, with the redesigned Cherokee doing well, and hopefully making more money per unit thanks to lower warranty costs. The Wrangler dropped a bit, but the old-fashioned "niche vehicle" turned in more sales than any Chrysler-branded car, 59,279 to date. The Grand Cherokee roughly held its own, with a 2 percent drop to 200,100 units. Not bad for a vehicle that's about to be replaced in a hotly competitive market - and good enough for a #2 position on the best-selling SUVs list. Frankly, we still like it better than the #1 Explorer.
The Neon has posted gains in sales, presumably due to lower pricing and the buzz around the SRT-4. Shipments were up to 119,000, a 19 percent increase over the same time last year. The other Dodge models did well, holding their own or improving slightly, while the Mitsubishi-made Stratus Coupe fell 15 percent and was, aside from the Viper, the slowest-selling Dodge by a huge margin. The next slowest seller, the Stratus Sedan, managed 83,000 units - the Coupe could only sell 18,000. Meanwhile, the Intrepid sold a respectable 103,437 units.
Truck news was mixed, with massive increases in pickup sales (15 percent higher than last year, for a total of 362,122 sold) making up for massive drops in Dakota/Durango (about 16 percent combined) sales. The Durango, despite being outclassed in many ways by the TrailBlazer, managed to sell about as many units as the Neon - 99,500. The Ram Wagon and Ram Van together sold 36,000 units in what may well be their last year, still beating the Mitsubishi coupes. The Caravan held its own once again, with 225,675 sales, leaving the Dodge division roughly even with last year. So, overall, year to year, Chrysler sold 5 percent fewer cars, minivans, and SUVs, which is not terrible considering the competition, climate, and Daimler-klutziness-induced loss of many traditional Mopar fans. Future products may well help Chrysler to regain some of its lost ground - assuming they can get back to basics and make their minivans the most desired models once again.
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