Author: Clark Westfield
Clark Westfield grew up fixing up and driving past-their-prime American cars, including various GM and Mopar V8s. He has ghostwritten auto news for the last few years, lives in Farmingdale, New York, and can be reached at +1.516-531-4021.
05/29/2020
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Does the end of FCA-Windsor’s midnight shift mean there won’t be new product?
By now, if we believed Allpar.com and other rumor sites, we should have had a Chrysler Portal (like the one shown in New York years ago) and some form a crossover based on the Pacifica (like the old Pacifica, but presumably named Town & Country to really confuse older buyers). Rumor after rumor has come […]
05/22/2020
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Dodge Dakota making a comeback?
Fiat Chrysler (FCA) has once again trademarked the Dakota name—should we get excited about the Dodge Dakota possibly making a comeback? Maybe. Probably not. What the Dakota would look like Here’s the case for: the Dakota was trademarked. We know that midsized trucks are a burgeoning market, with the long-alone (at least in terms of […]
05/06/2020
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GM actually declared a profit despite COVID-19
General Motors, which plans to reopen its U.S. and Canadian plants on May 18, announced that they had actually made a profit in the first quarter; what’s more, the North American portion of their profit beat the same period in 2019 (Q1 2019). Overall, General Motors only declared a $294 million profit, but that was […]
05/05/2020
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Fiat-Chrysler losses rivals Ford’s
Fiat Chrysler (FCA) lost $1.84 billion last quarter, nearly as steep as Ford’s $2 billion loss. Net revenue fell by 16%, dropping to $22.3 billion. The company’s adjusted net loss was roughly $514,000. Debt servicing was the main issue for FCA, which only last year celebrated having no net debt—balancing debt with cash—after years of […]
05/04/2020
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Rivian returning to Normal for virus
Rivian has decided to return a $1 million grant from Normal, Illinois, originally provided as an incentive to build electric cars in the former Mitsubishi-Chrysler joint-venture plant. The Normal plant built cars engineered almost entirely by Mitsubishi, and sold under both Chrysler and Mitsubishi labels. Rivian moved in during 2016 and is preparing to make […]
05/01/2020
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Wow, Ford is in good shape, despite that loss
Ford lost $2 billion in the first quarter of 2020—not surprising given the sudden shutdowns of economies around the globe. But Ford is able to weather the storm, including an expected $5 billion loss in the second quarter, and possible losses in the last half of 2020: they had $34 billion in cash, and $35 […]
04/30/2020
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Whatever happened to the Chrysler turbo six?
For years, it seems, Mopar site Allpar.com has been talking about a turbo six cylinder engine, based on the new turbo 2.0 liter four-cylinder—an engine which has yet to be seen without forced induction. That engine was coded GME, or Global Medium Engine; the six-cylinder version was reported the GME T6. Allpar had reported that […]
04/28/2020
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Detroit delays restarts, GM and Ford grab cash as Ford loses billions
Detroit automakers were planning to restart production on May 4, barring any interventions by state governors—but it appears Michigan’s governor, not to mention the UAW, had other ideas. The Wall Street Journal claims that the new date is May 18, though the UAW apparently hasn’t been told about it yet. The companies are working with […]
04/23/2020
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The Hellcat-powered Ram TRX “Raptor-killer” and a new Gladiator
There are two new specialty Ram pickups on the way, one of which has literally been in the works for years—since before the current “DT” series of Ram trucks was launched. The Ram TRX was first shown with a detuned Hellcat V8; recent reports claim the detuning is gone and it will pump out the […]
04/21/2020
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How can GM make ventilators?
Last month, GM announced that it would use a parts plant in Kokomo to make ventilators, adapting a Ventec design; the idea was to help severely affected COVID-19 patients. The Ventec people only make one ventilator per hour at their own plant, so GM had to bring in their own people to speed things up—and […]