Jp Trails

Posts Tagged ‘Chrysler group Llc’

I remember it like it was yesterday, ordering opened for the new wrangler unlimited with lots of unanswered questions. How much more will it weigh? Will people actually buy these? When’s a Rubicon coming out? Ultimately it paved the way for a new 4dr Jeep the Jeep Wrangler JK.

Commonly referred by enthusiast as the Jeep LJ, The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited or LJ is one of the most Sault after Jeeps ever made. The dimensions were simple, the wheel base was stretched 10″ and the rear was stretch 5″ over a swb Jeep Wrangler TJ. To achieve this Jeep built an entire new frame and rear half of the Jeep 85% was shared with the Jeep swb TJ.  The end result was  13″ of extra cargo space and 2″ of increased rear leg room. The LJ also featured 1″ thick foam under the carpet for less road noise and a standard 30″ wheel tire group with a Rear Dana 44 axle with trac-lok (lsd). These additions allowed families to consider the Jeep Wrangler as a viable option for camping and exploring the back country. It also allowed the Jeep to be more comfortable and worthy of the interstate.

I found production numbers below, merely 20K more unlimited produced over the rare Jeep Scrambler. Will the Jeep wrangler LJ be rare like the Scrambler?  Who knows only time will tell, for now they do enjoy a radical resale value and the Jeep Rubicon LJ sells for less than $10K less than original MSRP.

2006 Production numbers

SE = 7,943

X = 23,759
Sport = 10,736
Rubicon = 9,818
Unlimited = 14,624
Unlimited Rubicon = 6,742
Sport (right hand drive) = 2,245

Break down:

2004 – 11,822 Unlimited
2005 – 7,450 Unlimited
2005 – 5,854 Unlimited Rubicon
2006 – 14,624 Unlimited
2006 – 6,742 Unlimited Rubicon

Totals:

33,896 – Unlimited
12,596 – Unlimited Rubicon
46,492 – Total

Are you ready more EJS 2010?  We are!  Looks like the Mopar underground is ready too with these four really cool Jeep and Ram concepts.  Look for live coverage of the 48th Annual EJS right here on Jp Trails.com.

Mopar® Releases Sketches for 44th Annual Easter Jeep® Safari

Auburn Hills, Mich., Mar 12, 2010 – Mopar® is getting ready for Moab. Chrysler Group LLC’s fifth brand is preparing to reveal a truck-load of “Moparized” vehicles at the 44th annual Easter Jeep® Safari in Moab, Utah which takes place from March 27 through April 4.

The following are select sketches of the Jeep Wrangler J7, Jeep Patriot Extreme, Jeep Wrangler Trail Boss and Ram Power Wagon.

Its that time of year again turkey,football and the 2009 Phoenix International Auto Show!  Now this year Jeep stepped of their game by bringing a smaller version of camp Jeep to Arizona a real no brainer in my opinion. Arizona is a hot spot for Jeeps and what a great marketing tool.  Get prospective buyers in a Jeep and while your at it show them what they can do! The only disappointment was the actual Jeep display, no concepts and just the current line up of Jeep brand vehicles.  The Phoenix auto runs through Sunday Nov 29th. You can catch Camp Jeep at your local auto show.  I hope you enjoy the little video we put together.

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For those of you who have been waiting for the new electric wrangler your wait was in vane. Chrysler Group LLC disbanded the Envi group who was responsible for all future electric vehicles with Chrysler.  This basically means we will see some electric vehicles likely not for retail sales but for fleet sales. We do have the all new 2011 diesel wrangler to wait for, start saving those pennies!

Source:(Reuters)

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) – Chrysler has disbanded a team of engineers dedicated to rushing a range of electric vehicles to showrooms and dropped ambitious sales targets for battery-powered cars set as it was sliding toward bankruptcy and seeking government aid.

The move by Fiat SpA marks a major reversal for Chrysler, which had used its electric car program as part of the case for a $12.5 billion federal aid package.

As late as August, Chrysler took $70 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a test fleet of 220 hybrid pickup trucks and minivans, vehicles now scrapped in the sweeping turnaround plan for Chrysler announced this week by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne.

Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said on Friday that an in-house team of electric car development engineers had been disbanded in favor of a more traditional organization.

The automaker’s former owner, Cerberus Capital Management, had set up a special division called “Envi” — derived from Environment — to spearhead development of hybrid technology where Chrysler badly trailed competitors.

“Envi is absorbed into the normal vehicle development program,” Cappa told Reuters.

Under mounting pressure to improve the fuel-efficiency of its line-up, Chrysler announced in September last year that it was developing three electric vehicles and would sell the first of the models by 2010.

In January at the Detroit Auto Show, Chrysler upped the ante on its electric car bet by pledging to have 500,000 battery-powered vehicles on the road by 2013, including sports cars and trucks.

But a presentation of Chrysler’s five-year strategy by Marchionne on Wednesday made no mention of Chrysler’s earlier electric car development plans.

Under the Marchionne plan, former Envi chief Lou Rhodes will become the group line executive in charge of electric car development for both Fiat and Chrysler, Cappa said.

As of Friday, the Chrysler Group website still featured pictures and advertisements for the now-scuttled electric vehicles it had been developing.

That includes the Dodge Circuit, a two-seat, all-electric sports car that Chrysler engineers had rushed into prototype by using a Lotus platform.

At the time of the launch of Envi in late 2007, Chrysler executives had said the unit would operate with the speed of a venture capital-backed start-up that would compress the three-to-five-year development cycle typical for automakers.

Chrysler is the only one of the six top-selling automakers in the U.S. market without a hybrid offering.

Marchionne told reporters and analysts electric cars would only represent “one to two percent” of Chrysler’s sales by 2014, equivalent to less than 60,000 vehicles.

“Until the (battery) storage gets resolved, I think electric vehicles are going to struggle,” he said.

Fiat is considering bringing a battery-powered commercial van to the U.S. market but those plans have not been finalized, other Chrysler executives said.

The Obama administration, which has set a target of putting 1 million rechargeable cars on the road by 2015, gave Fiat a 20 percent stake in Chrysler in exchange for bringing vehicles and more fuel-efficient engines to Chrysler.

Marchionne has forecast that Chrysler will be at break-even on a net basis in 2011. The automaker has said it plans to more than double U.S. sales over the next five years and roll out a dozen new models based on Fiat platforms.

(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Gary Hill)

The mopar booth was full of cool concepts like the Lower 40,Overland expedition JK,Dodge Challenger 1340 and a few new 2010 Ram trucks. The red XJ was stock at EJS 2009 and now sports JK D44 axles,35″ tires and a Mopar 4.5″ long arm suspension. My personal favorite was lower 40 and the cool drag car 1340. The 1340 concept takes a drag car and adds a cool paint job,police wheels,HUGE Hemi and a D60 rear axle with locker. Enjoy the pics….

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The guys at Aev  brought plenty to show at Sema 2009. Lets start with the all new JK rear bumper complete with 5 gal water storage and new accessory mounts including pullpal and Hi-lift jack mounts. A new entry level version of their popular front bumper with no crush cans or factory fog lights Est. Retail $850. Also a revised and easier to install standard bumper will now be available lowering the install time by several hours. I will say the new Savegre [Suh-vay-grey] wheels looked better in person than on the forums and I snapped some pics of the new D60 version which has a bigger bore to allow a hub. The guys at Aev also have a new upper control arm with on car adjustments for the JK wrangler which is a nice complement for the 3.5″ or 4.5″ Nth lifts. A bit of a surprise was the all new AEV JK front driveshaft with a beefed up shaft and u-joint but leaving the gyro-joint for a smooth operation.  For you conversion freaks out there the all new VVT 5.7 will soon be available making the 5.7 a more viable option over a 6.1, viable meaning 50 more HP and less $$$$ than the popular 6.1 conversion. Last for you TJ guys the all new TJ BIG brake kit will be in production in the next few weeks using the HUGE 2009/10 ram 1500 rotors and calibers.

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Its really hard to miss them, miss who you say? The girls of Sema of coarse. There are hundreds of vendors and most that want to be noticed use beautiful models to lure would be buyers to check out the goods…..product tha is! With this I present the girls of Sema 2009

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