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At SEMA, Mopar spokesman unveiled the new Hemi-powered Dodge Stratus R/T Pro Stock car for the 2003 NHRA drag season, just one year after bringing out the Neon R/T dragster. The vehicle, designed to look more like current Stratus R/Ts, has been updated throughout, with better aerodynamics and newer technology. Click here for more details. (Thanks, Pat Clement)
The new Smart car for the United States, codeveloped by Mitsubishi and Daimler's Smart brand (originally created with Swatch), will have four doors and all wheel drive. In addition, a two-door hatch and four-door microvan for European sale will be built in a Mitsubishi plant in Born, the Netherlands. All will go on sale in 2004.
Mercedes head Juergen Hubbert, who is responsible for Maybach (essentially an upscale Mercedes) and Smart, said that the marketing study showed unbridled enthusiasm for the city cars.
The four-door Smart will be produced in Mercedes' Juiz de Fora, Brazil, plant. DCX is to invest $500 million in the plant to bring it up to capacity, incidentally avoiding large penalties by Brazil for downsizing the plant. Chrysler's nearby Dodge Dakota plant, which is brand new and state of the art, has been closed, incurring said penalties - but on the Chrysler Group side of the ledger.
Thanks to Doug Hetrick and Dan Minick for sending Smart information.
The first product to be completely designed by DaimlerChrysler as a corporate entity is soon to reach the United States, via Brazil. Dan Minick sent us Mitsubishi's Web site for the next-generation Colt, which was designed jointly by Mitsubishi and smart. The four-seater's marketing in the US is unknown - will it be a smart, a Mitsubishi, a Dodge, or a combination of these?
Other forthcoming joint products include the next-generation Neon/Lancer, Sebring/Stratus/Galant, Grand Cherokee/M-Class, and presumably many more in the future. (Note: the Crossfire appears to be entirely a Mercedes vehicle under the skin, but it may also be a joint product of Mercedes and Chrysler - we do not have the information to classify it now.)
The new Congress is expected to remove tax breaks and rebates for buyers of qualifying high-mileage vehicles almost as soon as it returns from its break. The goal behind the breaks was to jump-start new technologies by creating economies of scale. Toyota has, on its own, decided to implement hybrid-electric powerplants across the board in order to reach production levels where hybrid vehicles would not be much more expensive than "normal" vehicles, but this decision is likely to cut into Toyota Prius sales.
Parts maker Hyundai Mobis is building a $30 million plant near Montgomery, Alabama, to supply the new Hyundai factory being built there.
For details on the current status of lawsuits which seek to break Chrysler off from Daimler-Benz again, based on published statements by Juergen Schrempp that Chrysler was never intended to be an equal partner - which would mean that the terms of the takeover were far too unfavorable for Chrysler stockholders - click here (Detroit News).
"Tog," one of the inventors of the original, famed Macintosh interface, has an article on his site about unforeseen dangers of child and infant seats. Click here to read it.
At some point within the next six months, Chrysler will decide whether or not to make a diesel version of the Jeep Liberty (Cherokee) available within the United States, according to Chrysler head of advanced engineering Bernard Robertson. The vehicle would appear before 2006, when low-sulfur diesel fuel will be mandated. While Chrysler's diesel trucks are very popular, the company has no way to judge the popularity of non-pickup diesels in the US. Robertson said that a survey found only six percent of potential customers would consider a diesel. However, Robertson also said the survey would not influence the company's decision. Having a diesel could widen the Liberty's customer base, and actually seeing a modern, quiet, clean diesel could change some customers' attitudes about the technology, which tends to yield relatively high gas mileage. The Liberty is already equipped with advanced diesel engines in Europe, and diesel-equipped Volkswagens have proved to be popular.
The 2003 Dodge Ram Heavy Duty 2500 pickup has won Truckin' magazine's "Truck of the Year" award, the publication's editorial director announced today. During an intensive three-week competition, the Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 Quad Cab with 345 horsepower upstaged all of its rivals in the competition.
Steve Warner, Editorial Director, Truckin', wrote, "The Dodge Ram Heavy Duty 2500 is the personification of all things good in the exciting world of OEM trucks. Because we take pickup trucks seriously, we evaluate them for all their intended functions. And while we included pickups from every manufacturer in this test, the Dodge Ram proved to be most adept at showing us all the qualities enthusiasts look for in a four-wheel drive pickup."
All testing was conducted by the Truckin' magazine staff over the course of three weeks and included both empirical as well as subjective tests. The staff logged roughly 3,000 miles on each vehicle. Testing criteria included fuel efficiency, standing 1/4-mile mph, 0-60 mph numbers and 60-0 mph braking. The Dodge Ram 2500 4x4, completely redesigned for 2003, scored highly in every category. The all-new Dodge Ram Heavy Duty boasts the option of two or four standard doors, the all-new 345 horsepower 5.7-liter HEMI Magnum engine as standard equipment and the most powerful diesel engine available in a pickup, the all-new 5.9-liter High Output Cummins Turbo Diesel with 555 lb.-ft. of torque.
The Truckin' "Truck of the Year" competition will appear in the February 2003 edition of the magazine. Click here for more information on the new Rams.
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