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 […]
04/20/2020
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Detroit’s ramping up soon, but are there any buyers?
Detroit automakers are going to restart production on May 4, barring any interventions by state governors. The reason might not be low sales on their part–there is no evidence that inventories are shrinking—but a desire not to be left behind as import automakers, not affected by unions and largely in the less-regulated Southeast, flood the […]
04/18/2020
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2022 Grand Cherokee a bit delayed; does it look like this?
Last week, longtime Chrysler enthusiast site allpar.com posted their ideas on the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee, codenamed WL (the current one is the WK2). The site seems to be assuming that the next Grand Cherokee will look much like the current one, except with more of a “fuselage” style on the sides, and a Jeep […]
04/17/2020
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The big “car dealers and service problems” story
For nearly as long as there have been car dealers, there have been crooked car dealers, and many have used the same scams to separate owners from their cash. Many car dealers are honest, and many dealership employees have a lot of integrity; but some don’t. This article is mainly about the ones that don’t. […]
04/14/2020
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Bronco vs. Wrangler – A battle a long time in the making
The Jeep Wrangler can trace its lineage back to the old military Jeeps. Rumor has it that in the 1960s, Ford wanted a bigger part of the military market (which Ford saw as potentially very profitable) and the original Ford Bronco was an attempt to lure the military away from the Jeep designs. If so, […]
04/09/2020
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Diagnosing and configuring your modern Mopar
With the complexity of modern cars, even a do-it-yourself mechanic needs some diagnostic help in their toolkit. I recently decided to try OBD JScan. It’s an app for iPhone and Android targeted at Jeeps but it also supports many other FCA vehicles. I found that the application shows support for even more vehicles than the […]
04/08/2020
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Oh, what midsize truck should I get?
Before we start on the pickups, let’s talk web sites. Chevrolet gives you all the information you could possibly want, straight up, without fuss; and the numbers stay the same as you go through. It’s a pleasure to deal with Chevrolet’s fast-loading, gimmick-free web site. Then there’s Toyota, where the numbers keep changing, almost randomly. […]
04/07/2020
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In virus-clobbered sales, Toyota beat Jeep in SUVs, Gladiator beat Frontier, and more
Sales figures for the first quarter of 2020 are out, and it’s not pretty, largely due to the coronavirus—as well as the air being let out of America’s economic bubble. Between closed dealerships and a stock market suddenly plunging to more realistic levels, wiping out a couple of years of fast gains, car sales plummeted […]
04/01/2020
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Detroit Auto Show has been canceled
With the COVID-19 outbreak, many facilities have been converted to hospitals. The decision to make the TCF Center into a hospital was made last week. On Tuesday, construction began to build a hospital to house patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus. In the coming days, the TCF Center will be transformed to hold […]
03/27/2020
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GM and pricing the C8
The 2020 C8 Corvette is slowly starting to arrive at dealerships across the United States. Many are being priced well above MSRP but that is not stopping some from purchasing a C8. The 2020 Corvette starts at just under $60,000. GM shocked the automotive world last July when this number came out. However, a source […]