Inability to produce enough cars to met demand is a problem everyone loves to have, and it is one Chrysler is experiencing right now with the Jeep Wrangler. Some vehicles buck trends, and the Wrangler is one of them. The entire Jeep brand is on a roll (sales up a startling 44 percent last year), and especially the Wranger. Most companies are producing crossovers with less off-road capabilities than ever before, along with more refinement and improved fuel economy. In the midst of all that stands the Wrangler; an unrefined, extremely capable, aerodynamic-as-a-brick SUV. And sales are roaring! Looks like buyers turned off by other brands are flocking to the Wrangler. Addition of the four-door model is powering a good portion of the increases. Last year, Jeep shifted 122,460 units in the United States alone. Add in global sales and the Wrangler’s tally was 148,738. Global markets in particular are where the Wrangler could see explosive future growth. Think about it – developing markets with bad roads. Land Rovers and Toyota Land Cruisers have always done well there, but they cost a whole lot more. The Wrangler hasn’t quite been recognized fully as a potential vehicle for missionaries, peace keeping missions and the like in developing countries. With all this demand, Chrysler is working to increase production. The Wrangler is built where it has always been – at a singular plant in Toledo, Ohio. The Toledo Blade reports a deal has been reached between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers union to boost production by 100 vehicles a day. Doing so is accomplished by adding an extra 25 workers per shift. The Toledo plant already runs six days a week, 20 hours per day. If demand continues at this pace, Chrysler may have to add a third shift. Right now there is only a 30 day supply on the lots. Pretty impressive stuff. The future of the Wrangler looks bright, especially with the possibility truck version of the Wrangler. Producing one is really a no brainer. In fact, at this point the only problem with it would be a lack of capacity to meet market demand. Related posts: Jeep Prices 2011 Compass At $19,295 DIY Jeep Pickup Conversion Jeep Resets Compass on New Course in 2011 Automoblog.net – A Car Blog for Auto Enthusiasts Original...

Land Rover has been trying to bolster its sales with a small ute for a while. The first, 2002’s Freelander , was slow, unpretty, and—at a base price of less than $26,000—might have been a bit too cheap to support the cachet of its brand. In Europe, where the brand’s image still is intimately tied to the utilitarian Defender, it worked. Here, where the brand is, like a double-nosed Andean tiger hound, something that matters primarily to the landed gentry, it didn’t. Freelander sales only occasionally surpassed those of anything else in the lineup. In becoming the LR2 , Land Rover’s wee one grew more powerful, but it also just plain grew, gaining about 600 pounds in the process. It was quicker but still slow, slightly less unpretty, and, with a base sticker almost 10 grand higher than the Freelander’s, inaccessible to more people. Rover’s smallest continued to trade the bottom sales slot with the LR3/LR4. Keep Reading: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque – Instrumented Test More: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Tested: Looks Like Nothing Else, Drives Like A Few Somethings Else Originally posted here: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Tested: Looks Like Nothing Else, Drives Like A Few Somethings Else

A tiny car to slot beneath the Chevrolet Sonic , the upcoming Spark aims at city dwellers and young buyers on a budget. It is powered by a 1.2-liter four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing and an estimated 85-hp. It will come standard with a five-speed manual transmission, with a four-speed automatic being optional. The wheelbase is a little over 93 inches and the car measures 143 inches in length, making it notably smaller than the Honda Fit (with its 98-inch wheelbase and 162-inch length). Although narrow, think of it as a roomy alternative to a Fiat 500 or Scion iQ. The cabin is best described as cheap and cheerful, aided by body-color accents. The 1LT and 2LT models include Chevrolet’s MyLink infotainment system with a large seven-inch touchscreen. The system features Bluetooth and is compatible with Pandora and Stitcher Internet radio. Cargo space is enhanced by the 60/40-split rear seats and a variety of interior storage compartments. Roof rails will be optional. With such a small car, safety is a natural concern. The Spark features include 10 air bags, antilock brakes, and electronic stability control, plus OnStar. Fuel economy has not yet been announced. We’ll buy one mid year, after it goes on sale, to see how this diminutive hatchback measures up. Read the original post:  2012 Detroit auto show video: 2013 Chevrolet Spark

One of the biggest (and smallest….) automotive stories of 2011 was the Fiat 500. There has been a lot of talk though about its failure to meet the lofty sales goals Fiat set for it. The company targeted 50,000 sales, with an overly-ambitious goal to beat the MINI right out of the gate. That was always a tall order. Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne admitted as much recently. MINI is established, has brand cachet, and even more key, multiple models. The 500 is one car and it was launched with a widely panned advertising campaign. We questioned recently why the Fiat brand would be relaunched for just one model, and we’re getting an answer to that with news of a five-door 500. The Detroit Free Press reports it will be making an appearance at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Word on that comes direct from Fiat CEO Olivier Francois. He says the car will be sold in the United States starting next year. Originally the five-door 500 was said to be U.S only, but that never made much sense. to us Fiat is a global company and this new car should be a global product. This five-door 500 has big implications for sales. We know that Americans traditionally have never been big fans of hatchbacks, but the slowest sellers among them are ones that have three-doors. Most Americans want four-doors plus the lift gate. The five-door iterations are always the best sellers. In fact, most don’t even offer a three-door. Mazda does with the 2 currently, but the five-door outsells it. There are different reports as to what new five-door Fiat will look like. Some say it will be a 500 with two extra doors, others say it will be a larger, different vehicle but with shared design cues. We think a 500 with two extra doors would do the trick in boosting sales both here and abroad. Related posts: Sergio Marchionne Says Fiat 500 Sales Goal Was “Naive” – You Think? Fiat 500 Marketing Mess: Chrysler Looks To Fix, Sales Actually Look Pretty Good Fiat 500 to Stand Alone in US Dealerships Automoblog.net – A Car Blog for Auto Enthusiasts The rest is here:  Five-Door Fiat 500 On The Way With Eye on Boosting Sales

Amazed. Flabbergasted. What other way is there to describe the ongoing situation at Saab? The company has fought tooth-and-nail for its survival over the past few years. Last year the final straw arrived when production came to a halt in Trollhattan. The Saab team tried over and over to secure new funding, but the company fell into bankruptcy. The reason it headed for bankruptcy and not purchase though was General Motors’ refusal to let any intellectual property fall into the hands of the Chinese. With warranty service suspended, sale of “as is” cars has begun at Saab dealers all over the country. Saab fans haven’t given up though. Comments in support of Saab have flooded General Motors’ Facebook page and fans are now holding rallies all over the world. We reported on that earlier this week – a “We are Saab” rally in the Netherlands turned out a remarkable amount of people . There is still a lot of goodwill and a rabid Saab fan base out there. The problem is they just don’t seem to buy any cars…but, we digress. Reuters reports that Youngman is preparing a new, $1 billion bid for Saab. The purchase would be for the company in an intact form, and it would aim to avoid IP issues with GM. Instead of trying to continue with the most recent GM-developed 9-5 and 9-4X, Youngman would try to get permission to continue with the older 9-3. Sources say the 9-3 would resume production at the Trollhattan plant 15 weeks after the signing of a deal. This means that Saab would have to soldier on just one product, the aged 9-3, until the new 9-3 arrives. In order to see the next-generation through to production, Youngman would have to put a significant amount of money behind the car and its Phoenix platform. It’s a risky plan, and given Saab’s history we aren’t getting our hopes up. The only thing that looks feasible based on this deal is a China-focused operation. The U.S-dealer network is dying off and we don’t see how it will survive until the arrival of any new product. Also the Saab name is very damaged here. These are all obstacles Youngman apparently thinks they can overcome. They better be well-funded or we’re going to have a repeat of this whole scenario again. That’s all if...

In Detroit , we took another look at the upcoming 2013 Ford Escape to share our initial impressions as the upcoming crossover continues to make the rounds on the show circuit. Ford’s popular Escape SUV is thoroughly redesigned for the 2013 model year, better positioning it to compete with the latest crop of small sport/utes . Along with the sleeker appearance, the new Escape boasts a number of new features and technologies, although it won’t offer a hybrid or V6 variation. The Escape will come standard with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, but two other fuel-efficient engines are offered–a 2.0-liter or 1.6-liter EcoBoost. Fuel economy on the EcoBoost engines is claimed to be 5 mpg better than the outgoing model. The Escape will come with a hands-free power liftgate enabled by motion under the center of the rear bumper and the upgraded Sync with MyFord Touch infotainment system is also standard. The SUV will also have park assist, blind-spot sensors, curve control, and torque control. These latter systems will help slow the vehicle when cornering and accelerate through a turn. The new Escape promises to have more cargo room and more space behind the first and second rows and the rear seats and head restraints fold flat with a touch of a button. The SUV also has a new 4WD system for improved handling on and off-road. We look forward to buying one next summer one it goes on sale and see how it compares against the latest, small SUVs. For a preview of the new Escape, check out the video below. Originally posted here:  2012 Detroit auto show video: 2013 Ford Escape

Mitsubishi has released this shadowy image of a new, premium global vehicle that will debut at the 2012 Geneva auto show in March. Yes, Mitsubishi still exists, and yes, the company is pushing forward with its “Jump 2013” plan to build and sell more-efficient global models. The car pictured above is one such model, but details surrounding it are thin. The as-yet-nameless car shares its front-end look with the PX-MiEV and PX-MiEV II concepts that Mitsubishi showed off at the 2009 and 2011 Tokyo auto shows, respectively. The company says the new model will preview a refocused design direction for Mitsubishi, but, at least from this angle, the look is not terribly different from the company’s current treatment. It’s not clear whether the mystery Mitsubishi is a crossover similar to the PX twins—perhaps the new Outlander —or a car; whatever it is, Mitsubishi says it will go on sale sometime in 2012. As for what exactly makes the new Mitsu “green,” that too is unknown. PX-MiEVs I and II were plug-in hybrids that featured two electric motors—one for the rear axle and one for the front—and a small gas engine to replenish the batteries or drive the wheels under certain conditions. A similar hybrid-drive setup would certainly make this a “premium” offering in the Mitsubishi lineup, but we’ll have to wait until the Geneva show for more details. See more here: Mitsubishi to Debut New Global Model in Geneva Here is the original post:  Mitsubishi to Debut New Global Model in Geneva

BMWBLOG gets a new look. After months of development and planning, BMWBLOG 3.0 is now live and brings lots of changes. Nearly five years ago, BMWBLOG launched as a website that acts as a single-point of BMW news. With the help of a great team, years later BMWBLOG grew to a level that very few of us imagined at the beginning of our journey. From just a few articles a month to over 3,000 posts now every year, BMWBLOG delivers the most comprehensive BMW content, starting with test drives and spy photos, and ending with editorials, exclusive interviews and driving events. MINI and Rolls Royce brands are represented as well in our coverage. With the increase of unique and exclusive content, we soon ran into an issue: inability to keep some of these great articles in front of our readers’ eyes. Shortly after being published, many of these articles would move to the second or even third page of the site, therefore becoming more challenging to discover them. And this is why BMWBLOG 3.0 comes online. More content just a click away Our goal was to keep the web design framework close to what you have been accustomed to, including the top section that features the most interesting stories. This section is manually edited by our team. But since we believe in the power of community, we decided to add another layer of top stories, this time operated by our readers. “Top Stories” section displays the most interesting articles based on your interaction with that content, from comments to page views and other unique metrics. Crowdsourcing is something we strongly believe in and by allowing the Top Stories to display the stories you find most interesting, we are moving the editorial process into your hands. At the top, we have also selected some of the most popular categories that will allow you to drill through the content with a single click. The front page also displays more Latest News, in a more compact design, with our Test Drives and Videos sections inserted between posts, another way for us to point to what we believe is interesting and exciting content. The sidebar is a combination of social media widgets and other manually selected content that will resurrect some our older stories. Facebook plays an important role in the “new media world”...

A battery challenge for the hybrid industry Buying into lithium hybrids There’s no doubt that consumers are interested in hybrid cars, but there is a big difference between being interested and actually buying a hybrid, and years of consumer data prove that point. Obviously, cost is the biggest hybrid deal killer, but battery worries continue to bother many potential customers. But that is no longer a worry if you buy the Hyundai Sonata hybrid since it’s battery pack comes with a lifetime warranty. So, is it time for other automakers, especially Toyota, to follow suite? While many hybrid cars have racked up more than a few hundred thousand miles using the same battery pack, there is a percentage of hybrids that don’t make it that far on the same battery pack, and some hybrid owners will be forced to replace their battery pack. Fortunately, according to the likes of Consumer Reports, this hasn’t been much of an issue on old Prius hybrids, for instance, thanks to healthy supplies of cheap, used battery packs. Even if a new pack is required, many compare the costs to having your engine rebuilt. Still, greater hybrid penetration is going to require a sense of security regarding battery longevity for many customers, and Hyundai has now drawn a line in the sand on this issue. Sadly, that’s not as important as reducing hybrid prices, in terms of greater sale’s penetration, but it’s still a good start, and it would be nice to see other automakers offer similar lifetime hybrid battery guarantees. Source: Kicking Tires Here is the original post: Lifetime battery guarantee: Hyundai’s challenge to the hybrid competition

Now in its 33rd year, the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen—a.k.a. the G-class—is in better shape than ever. This comes after the plan hatched a few years ago to replace the military-derived vehicle with the GL-class, a modern seven-passenger SUV built on a stretched M-class platform. (The second-gen GL is due this year; info and spy photos are here .) But continued strong sales convinced the company to keep the G in its portfolio, and a particular source of joy for the brand had been the remarkable success of its powerful and expensive AMG derivative, the G55. That model was discontinued after the 2011 model year—read our test and exit interview here —and was powered by the brand’s “beloved” (to borrow a word from AMG boss Ola Källenius) supercharged 5.5-liter V-8. Now Mercedes-Benz is readying its next refresh of the G, which should banish the traces of 1990s design still scattered throughout the interior. This will include the adoption of the central COMAND knob to control infotainment functions, likely along with other more-modern M-B switchgear and displays. We don’t expect many exterior changes outside of perhaps minor bumper and lighting updates; the G-Wagen will look as the G-Wagen should when it arrives this spring. And if anything, given Benz’s current, aggressively angular styling language, the brutal SUV will at least sort of fit in stylistically with its showroom brethren. So long as they don’t mess with the bolt-action ka-CHUNK door locks, we’ll be good. But there’s more: Mercedes-AMG is working on a G63, as depicted in the spy photos in this post, to replace the departed G55. Some rumors have pegged the next G AMG as a V-12–powered G65, but we’re hearing that’s not the case; rather, the G63 will adopt the 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 now installed in most of the current AMG 63 models. Like its predecessor, the G63 won’t defy physics on a twisty road, but it will be one of the most intimidating, loud, awesome, and seriously bad-ass vehicles extant. The rest is here: The Geländewagen Lives: Mercedes-Benz G-class Face Lift and New G63 AMG on the Way Read more here:  The Geländewagen Lives: Mercedes-Benz G-class Face Lift and New G63 AMG on the Way

Specialty license plates can raise big bucks for schools and advocacy organizations, but they can also raise a good bit of controversy — just think of the anti-abortion license plate recently proposed in North Carolina or the religious plate approved by Texas’ Department of Motor Vehicles board, which was appointed by former GOP presidential… Go here to see the original: Indiana, South Carolina Offer License Plates For LGBT Equality

Fueled by record worldwide sales of its Chevrolet brand, General Motors has achieved 2011 sales of 9.03 million units, surpassing both the 8.16 million sold by Volkswagen and the 7.9 million estimated by Toyota. Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota was impacted by inventory shortages caused by the twin disasters in Japan. That puts GM back on… Original post: GM Back On Top With 9 Million Unit Sales In 2011

____________________________________ Finding an old, forgotten car in a barn is central to collector-car lore. In this case, the barn was an old garage near DeLand, Florida. Inside, under a thick layer of dust, hid a one-of-a-kind car that had been created in 1934 for Edsel Ford, then president of Ford Motor Company. After decades of neglect, it has been returned home and to its former glory. The design came from head stylist E.T. “Bob” Gregorie, and his creation is regarded by many as the first hot rod—more than a decade before the term was coined. It had all of the characteristics that would come to define the species—cycle fenders, no top, a hand-crafted body on customized ’34 Ford frame rails, a modified Ford leaf-spring suspension, and a Ford flathead V-8. Mr. Ford called it the Model 40 Special Speedster. The roadster was personalized again in 1939, with a new nose and a Mercury version of the flathead V-8. After Edsel’s death in 1943 (age 49), the car passed through several owners and more than one paint job before it was parked in that Florida garage in 1960. And there it slept for nearly 40 years, before it was rediscovered by Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance founder Bill Warner. Warner recalls being aware for “about 20 years” that the car was “somewhere around DeLand,” until he finally learned the Florida owner’s name—John Pallasch—and tracked him down. Would Pallasch show the car at Amelia? No. Would he sell? Yes. Restored to its 1939 glory, Edsel Ford's proto hot rod is far more attractive car than his namesake. The car was intact, but the engine hadn’t run since 1959. Warner installed a rebuilt flathead V-8, replaced the wiring, flushed out the fuel tank, reupholstered the bucket seats, and polished the red paint job. Unrestored, Edsel’s car made its debut at Amelia Island in 1999. In the years that followed, Warner displayed and drove the car to a number of shows. He finally sold the roadster at Amelia’s 2008 RM auction for a tidy $1.76 million to Texas collector John O’Quinn. A year later, the car was acquired by the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House for an undisclosed price. Now restored to its 1939 glory, the roadster wears understated gray paint as it did then. The frame-off work consumed a year, and the completely...

Is it about perception or sales? Prius V extends Toyota’s battery dominance The other day I read some commentary regarding all the different cathode technologies being utilized in lithium ion batteries. This variety, it was suggested, demonstrates all the innovation now underway in the battery space, and the commentary concluded that Toyota, stuck on NiMH, was probably focused on the beta of battery technologies. How absurd, I thought, and the latest sale’s data on the Toyota Prius V just continues to demonstrate Toyota’s major advantage in the battery-powered space. Moreover, the idea that Toyota is dependent upon NiMH technology is provincial. Even Toyota knows NiMH has no future. Neither does the gasoline engine, but that isn’t stopping tens of millions gasoline-powered car sales per year, is it? Furthermore, the idea that Toyota couldn’t produce a series plug-in hybrid, a parallel plug-in hybrid, or a full battery electric vehicle to compete with most plug-ins now on the road is silly. In fact, the completely disruptive nature of today’s battery technologies proves Toyota’s NiMH point. Today’s battery technologies — ALL of them — are already irrelevant. All of them. So, what’s the rush into batteries that ultimately really have no future, especially in terms of today’s extremely disruptive lithium space? Besides, once a battery technology makes a giant leap forward, it’s still going to take massive scale — meaning widespread adoption by numerous automakers — to truly become mainstream. Nevertheless, automakers need to do something to counter Toyota’s green halo driven by the success of the Toyota Prius. Likewise, every automaker needs a serious chip in the battery space to drive innovation and to keep up perceptions. Still, oddly enough, even when it comes to plug-in perceptions, a majority of average consumers still think Toyota first, despite not one plug-in sale. Ultimately, no other automaker was willing to invest in NiMH. Everyone knew it wasn’t the future, even Toyota. But that wasn’t the point. Toyota used NiMH to help develop its Hybrid Synergy Drive — the same basic drive that powers Toyota’s hybrids, its upcoming plug-in hybrids,...

Although battery replacement in hybrid vehicles has turned out to be largely a non-issue, Hyundai CEO John Krafcik looked to ease any concerns hesitant consumers may still have about pricey replacements by announcing that the 2012 Hyundai Sonata hybrid ’s lithium-polymer pack will carry a lifetime warranty. According to Krafcik, “We can afford the program because the failure rate is so low.”  Hyundai claims to have tested the Sonata hybrid’s drivetrain for more than 300,000 miles without “minimal degradation of its output or duration of operation.” What no one at Hyundai will confirm is how far up the signal chain the coverage extends: Does it only cover the battery cells, or does it also extend to the highly integrated hardware and control units? Hyundai reps advised us to “Stay tuned. You’ll know as soon as we know.” Eight Isn’t Enough Not content with only eight-speed automatics in its transmission portfolio, Hyundai also confirmed that it is developing a ten-speed autobox in-house. The announcement begs the question: At what point does the complexity and packaging of gears become redundant in comparison to a CVT? Given the rampant ratio-envy in the industry, we may never know. Again, Hyundai representatives are playing it close to the vest: “We confirmed that it [the ten-speed] is a ‘go project’ for development,” but the company won’t provide even a modicum of info on important details such as the introduction date or the vehicles in which we might see the ‘box. The information blackout includes whether the transmission would be for transverse or longitudinal applications, although we think the former is more likely, in order to squeeze even loftier EPA numbers from efficiency-minded small cars like the Elantra and Accent. Read more here: Hyundai: Lifetime Warranty for 2012 Sonata Hybrid Batteries; Ten-Speed Automatic Transmission in Development Read more here: Hyundai: Lifetime Warranty for 2012 Sonata Hybrid Batteries; Ten-Speed Automatic Transmission in Development