03/15/2021
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Dealer satisfaction: GM at top, Stellantis at bottom
When Mary Barra took the helm of General Motors, she almost immediately started working on increasing the quality of the company’s dealer network. PR people have been tight-lipped on how this was done, but the results are clear in the latest J.D. Power study. Every General Motors brand (shown in bright green) ended up in […]
03/14/2021
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The big electric pickup list, updated
Here are all the electric pickups we know about, in one table. We are reporting what we know about; there are things we don’t know about. Not everything is comparable to gasoline powered cars (e.g. torque at the wheels). Most of these figures are not final, and some may be hyperbole. Electric car companies have realized […]
03/02/2021
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GM tops manufacturers for loyalty—again
General Motors was the top manufacturer for loyalty in the United States, for the sixth consecutive year, while the Ford brand took the top loyalty to a brand for the 11th year in a row. At the dealer level, Lincoln took the honors. There were 17 segment categories. Ford won three (plus a Lincoln), GM […]
02/25/2021
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Stellantis’ Bruce ad is back
Bruce Springsteen’s Stellantis ad, which urges Americans to unite on common ground, is back on the air after a drunk-driving charge was dropped. The singer-songwriter, associated with New Jersey’s shore since the 1970s, was pulled over by the police after he was seen accepting a drink from fans. He pled guilty to drinking alcohol in […]
02/18/2021
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GM does well in J.D. Power Dependability; Stellantis and Ford, not so much
The big winner in the J.D. Power dependability survey was, again, Toyota; they took the #1 spot with Lexus, and then the #4 spot with Toyota-the-brand. Both were well below average in problems (0.81 and 0.98, respectively). Hyundai/Kia also did quite well, coming in at #3 and #7, with Genesis at #8. But GM has […]
02/15/2021
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SRT is being disbanded; long live SRT!
The new Mopar site Stellpower recently reported that the SRT team is being disbanded, its members distributed throughout Stellantis. Longtime SRT-focused reporter Patrick Rall asked Stellantis for a comment on rumors that the SRT group was no more, and was told: In February 2021, all of the core elements of the SRT performance engineering team […]
01/21/2021
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All Dodge Durango Hellcats have been sold
Every one of the 2,000 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcats to be made has already been sold, despite a $80,995 (plus $1,495 destination) sales price. The truck has 710 horsepower and 645 pounds of torque, good for a stunning (given its size and weight) 11.5-second quarter mile and 3.5-second 0-60 time. The Durango can also tow […]
01/19/2021
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Stellantis is real, Rivian is nearly here
Stellantis—the Fiat Chrysler/Peugeot combination company—has been created, and a management team has been appointed. The plans are currently to keep all the plants open, improve Italian plants’ productivity, and give every one of the 14 different brands room to grow before, possibly, making cuts. Details at Mopower. American electric truck-and-van maker Rivian, meanwhile, has raised […]
01/07/2021
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Who won and lost in 2020 sales? GM, Ford both win in trucks.
GM was the arguable winner of the 2020 sales contest, at least among the American contestants, with a mere 12% falloff in sales. That was below Ford’s 15% drop or FCA’s 18% fall, and also enough to beat Honda and Nissan. GM roughly matched Toyota’s 11% fall; the only major automakers to really beat GM’s […]
12/31/2020
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Wrangler 392 at $77,000? and Turbo-2s delayed
The new site MoPower.com had a busy first day with two new stories. The first covers a thread in the JLWrangler forums site which claims the Wrangler 392 will start at over $77,000—a claim which seems to make sense when one considers that a similarly equipped Rubicon with the V6 engine would come in at […]