Change of Plans for Chrysler Group, will Eliminate Duplicate Models, Hints at U.S. Market Delta

The product plan brewing continues over at the Fiat Group – Chrysler LLC alliance. Following the recent news on the Jeep and Alfa Romeo brands, the group's CEO Sergio Marchionne offered new details on Chrysler LLC's strategy.

In an interview with Automotive News, Marchionne said that the company has revised its Project Genesis plan, which was put in place in 2008 when Chrysler was still under the ownership of Cerberus Capital Management.

The two key elements of the Genesis plan are merging the dealerships of all four Chrysler group brands, including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram under one roof, (with only a few exceptions), and abolishing duplicate products that are the result of badge-engineering such as the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger, and the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan.

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Jeep Announces New Ad Campaign for Italy

Jeep is one of the two mainstream brands within the Fiat Group – Chrysler LLC alliance (the other one being Alfa Romeo) that are destined to play a major global role in the company's growth plans for the future.

To mark Jeep's renewed lineup in Italy, the automaker is launching a new TV campaign under the tagline "Don’t' adapt to conventions". The first spot is named "Never Adapt" and it will begin airing on Italian television channels on Sunday, October 9.

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Video: Too Fast, Too Furious Ain't the Way to Tackle an Off-Road Course…

It is a completely different driving world when you're at an off-road course. Sure it can be fun but you should always keep in mind that what you know and practice on the road cannot be applied on a bona-fide trail ride.

The driver of this 4x4 model learned it the hard way when he stomped on the gas pedal to pass over a man-made hill as the vehicle plunged face down at a 90-degree angle. Nevertheless, the ending could have been far worse than the knock on the kid's head.

Video follows after the jump.

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Former Chrysler CEO Nardelli Says Cerberus Could Have Saved the Automaker

It's been two years since Bob Nardelli stepped down as Chrysler CEO while the company was still owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, for which he still works, but the 63-year-old exec still has the hots for the Detroit carmaker.

During an interview with The Detroit News on the sidelines of a recent Dow Jones conference in New York, Nardelli said that the Obama administration didn’t have to give Chrysler away to Fiat as he believes Cerberus could have done a better job of saving the automaker.

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Official: Fiat-Chrysler Alliance to Build New Small Jeep SUV at Mirafiori Plant in Italy

We have more news coming out of the Fiat Group and Chrysler LLC camp. After the announcement on the new Alfa Romeo 1.8-liter turbo engine, the group said it has finalized plans to build a new small Jeep SUV model at its Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy.

The company noted that development of the manufacturing infrastructure at Mirafiori will begin in 2012 with production of the new baby Jeep model expected to begin in the second half of 2013 alongside an updated version of Alfa Romeo's MiTo supermini.

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Jeep's Updated Production Plan Includes Four New Models Covering Most Segments by 2014

While future production plans for the Fiat-Chrysler alliance's Italian brands (Fiat , Alfa Romeo and Lancia) can change from one moment to the other for a variety of reasons, up until now, the American branch of the group has proved to be more reliable and on time when it comes to new projects.

At a recent investors presentation in Germany, the Fiat Group unveiled its product plans for Jeep, which the automaker considers as one of the two global brands in the alliance, the other one being Alfa Romeo.

Under the revitalization plan, which runs up until 2014, Jeep will expand its portfolio with a series of new models to cover all SUV/Crossover segments. The group's –admittedly ambitious- goal is to double Jeep's global sales from around 400,000 units in 2010 to about 800,000 vehicles in 2014.

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The Manchurian Candidate: Jeep capitalizes on Fiat’s Chinese Operations, Wants to Build SUVs locally

Now that Sergio Marchionne has consolidated Fiat-Chrysler management into a smaller, leaner unified team, its members are working full force to maximize the group’s capabilities.

Jeep CEO Mike Manley travelled to China last Wednesday to negotiate the local production of Jeep models with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd., which already has a joint venture with Fiat.

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Chrysler Slows Down Production Due to a Lack of Carpets

A lack of carpets after one of Chrysler’s suppliers on the East Coast was hit by the tropical storm Lee has forced the automaker to slow down production and cancel shifts this week at three of its plants.

The carpeting shortage has hampered production at the Sterling Heights Assembly in Michigan, Toledo North in Ohio and Brampton Assembly in Ontario.

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Brand New Chrysler Group Cars Driven at Warp Speed out of Transporter Train…

While we are no strangers to offbeat incidents involving new cars and transporters, we'll admit that we've never seen anything like this – that is, if the video you're about to watch is original and has not been altered in any way as understandably, we can't be 100 per cent sure.

The clip appears to have been shot by someone standing on the top level of a double decker transporter train and it shows five allegedly brand new vehicles (all Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs, if we're not mistaken) shooting out of the deck at warp speed.

The surroundings suggest the train is located at a parking lot terminal. Follow the break to watch the video for yourself and tell us what you think in the comments area below.

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2006 SEMA Show: Jeep Patriot

Built by Chrysler Tech Center Vehicle Build Shops, the SEMA Show Patriot features a custom roof rack with auxiliary lights and a custom steel bumper which, according to Jeep, is designed to protect the front end while allowing for as much tire exposure as possible. Talking about rubber, this Partiot gets 31" BFG Mud Terrain tires on 16'' Jeep Moab rims supplied by Prime Wheel which actually look quite good on it. Finally, there's a custom suspension which provides over 11'' of ground clearance. Photos via: Flickr

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2008 Jeep Liberty / Cherokee

Jeep seems to be going for "baby Commander" looks for it's next generation Liberty (Cherokee in Europe) SUV, according to a gallery of spy shots shown at the Allpar site. Based on the Dodge Nitro platform, the 2008 Liberty /Cherokee will most probably retain it's predecessors' top of the class, off-roading capabilities.

Let's just hope that this time, the folks over at DaimlerChrysler will try to get a bit closer to the Mercedes part of the family when it comes to the interior quality... via : Jalopnik & Allpar

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2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Grooming Gorilla TV Add

"Grooming" is part Jeep's 2007 Wrangler TV (click here to see "Lizard") campaign that consists of five, "bug" themed TV spots. In Grooming, two gorillas encounter a bug they believe to be food only to find out it's really the new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. via: Jalopnik

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2007 Jeep Wrangler 2d & 4d � "Bug" TV Adds

Here at autoriquecars we love witty car commercials and I think Jeep has began the add race add with a head start judging from its first 30 sec TV spot for the 2007 Jeep Wrangler 2d & 4d Unlimited, called Lizard. The add campaign consists of five, "bug" themed, TV spots which will air officially on September 18th. via: Motorpasion

• TV Spot Descriptions
• Lizard opens on a lizard running across the desert floor. It sees the old Jeep Wrangler, faces off against it, then expands himself and hisses to try and scare away the Wrangler. The Wrangler, unfazed, suddenly expands and changes into the all-new Jeep Wrangler and scares off the lizard.
• In Grooming -two gorillas encounter a bug they believe to be food only to find out it's really the new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.
• In Bird, a hungry bird zeros in on a potential bug snack and painfully discovers the Unlimited.
• In Rock Crawler, what appears to be a bug-like object makes its way through an adventurous tunnel only to surface as the new four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited alongside the all-new Jeep Wrangler two-door.
• Bigger Deffer, which pays homage to Wrangler's place in the beginning stages of Hip Hop music, opens with the words "we ran the streets... and became legendary" set to Hip Hop music and fast paced computer generated images in an urban setting..

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Jeep Compass Funny "Bobbleheads" TV Adds

Jeep came out with new series of TV adds to promote their 2007 Compass, the company's first try at the compact SUV market. All four 30 second TV Spots star Thunderbird styled puppet dolls with bouncing-heads (aka bobbleheads) , that even include a dog. Nice, but I don't think much of the music background, sounds kind of creepy in my opinion.

The multimillion-dollar campaign for the Compass, targets young buyers, aged 22-30, are single, college educated, city-dwelling, and with an average income of around $40,000.

Phil

Bounce

Gear

Monday

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