Chrysler (Page 16)

June 2012 was another great month for the Chrysler Group as, with a year over year increase of 20% for the company as all five of the company automaker brands posted gains – including two of the top five biggest improvements by a single brand in Fiat and Chrysler.

The Jeep Wrangler began its life almost 70 years ago (then known as the Willys CJ) having been based on the military-use WIllys MB and it was with that army background t in mind that the Chrysler Group has put together the new Jeep Wrangler Freedom Edition for the 2012 model year.

For the fifth month in a row, the Chevrolet Volt continued its dominance of the electric car segment as it outsold the Nissan Leaf by more than a 3-to-1 ratio.

The folks at the Chrysler Group’s SRT division have offered up a new video of their purpose built 2013 Viper GTS-R race car in action – this time tearing around the turns of Virginia International Raceway – perhaps offering a hint as to when the Viper will make its long-awaited return to the world of the American LeMans racing series.

The Chrysler Group is planning a refreshed Jeep Grand Cherokee for the 2014 model year and because of that, the 2013 Grand Cherokee models will have a very short production and sales cycle before being overshadowed by the new models.

This morning, the 2013 SRT Viper GTS became available to the gaming public as the new SRT Viper Pack arrived in the marketplace of Xbox 360’s simulation racing game Forza Motorsport 4.

Yesterday afternoon at the Palace of Auburn Hills, just a few miles from the Chrysler Group headquarters, around 250 Dodge dealerships from around the Michigan and Ohio areas received their first demonstration versions of the 2013 Dodge Dart.

Less than an hour ago, the Drive SRT Facebook page announced that the 2013 SRT Viper would be arriving in the virtual dealerships of Forza Motorsport 4 this Friday (June 22nd) as downloadable content and – much to our surprise – it will be available from the Xbox Marketplace for free.

The contest challenges applicants to create an original commercial featuring the Chrysler 300 and The Dark Knight Rises.

According to a few dealerships who have spoken with Automotive News, dealership allocation numbers for the hot new 2013 Dodge Dart is partially based on how many units of the Dodge Caliber the hopeful dealers sold before the unpopular hatchback was discontinued last year.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has officially upgraded the investigation into the Jeep Grand Cherokee from the past two decades over a concern that these vehicles are likely to catch fire in the event of a rear end collision while also adding the Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Liberty to the investigation.

Chrysler's recall now includes over 346k Liberty SUVs.

During a discussion with Automobile Magazine, Sergio Marchionne explained that the Jeep brand will benefit from 4 new models by 2014 with the entire lineup likely being replenished between now and 2016.

The Chrysler Group previous offered up an early build page for the new Dodge Dart with preliminary pricing and the note that actual pricing could vary but this morning, the 2013 Dodge Dart build page is live with actual pricing and complete details on the new C segment sedan.

American Fiat dealerships had a tough task early on – operate successful business with just a single vehicle to sell – but the Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne plans to fix that in a major way by 2014, with 9 different versions of the Fiat 500 in dealerships within two years according to Automobile Magazine.

As the Dodge Challenger heads into the 2013 model year, the LC platform on which the brawny Mopar muscle car enters its 6th model year but according to the folks at Automobile Magazine, Sergio Marchionne has indicated that the next generation Challenger could arrive as soon as 2014.

According to the folks at Automobile Magazine, Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne has indicated that the Dodge Charger sedan will head into its next generation in 2016 and it will share a platform with the new Chrysler 300 that is set to arrive in 2017.

According to Automobile Magazine, there is a new Chrysler 200 on the way that will compete more closely with the Audi A4 and while there should be a sedan, convertible and new coupe version of the 200 – the Dodge Avenger will not move onto the next generation of Chrysler mid-sized sedans.

The stream of information on future models courtesy of the folks at Automobile Magazine continues, this time looking at the addition of the new Chrysler 100 in 2016 (possibly as a 2017 model year vehicle), based on the Compact US Wide sedan platform that underpins the 2013 Dodge Dart.

The new Dodge Durango has been a pretty hot seller since being reintroduced for the 2011 model year based on the Jeep Grand Cherokee but when the next generation Grand Cherokee arrives for 2016 – there will be no more Dodge Durango.

There are lots of vehicles in the Chrysler Group portfolio that could comfortably join the high performance family of the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) brand but according to Automobile Magazine, the newest addition will be a surprising choice with the future introduction of the Dodge Journey SRT6.

The Chrysler Group continued their incredible growth in May 2012 – once again standing as one of the strongest automakers in the US in terms of growth compared to the same month one year ago.

The folks at PickupTrucks.com recently took a production Ford SVT Raptor F150 and a Ram 1500 fitted with the Mopar Ram Runner package to a state park in southeastern California for the ultimate off-road head to head challenge dubbed the Duel in the Desert and when the dust settled – the Mopar Ram Runner proved itself as the better off-road truck.