Fiat Chrysler dealers will have to wait a bit longer for two highly anticipated big-ticket vehicles: a fully redesigned Ram heavy-duty pickup and a luxury SUV for Jeep, the Grand Wagoneer. It became clear that FCA's Ram brand will not redesign its current heavy-duty pickups onto its new DT pickup platform in 2018 but instead will keep the same body-in-white and refresh the existing DS-based model. Meanwhile, the automaker has placed a hold on its development of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer luxury SUV. The vehicle has been on Jeep's product plan since 2014 and was to boast three r...
Donald Trump tangled with the auto industry during the presidential campaign, decrying in particular Ford's plan to relocate small-car production to Mexico. Ultimately, Trump's tweet shaming was sound and fury, signifying nothing. US automakers have been building cars in Mexico and Canada for decades, long before borderless free-trade and NAFTA became major campaign issues. UBS auto analyst Colin Langan published a research note this week in which he assessed the impact of Congress' corporate tax reform plan — primarily a tax cut and a deal to repatriate offshore c...
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Tuesday delayed a court hearing set for Wednesday on Volkswagen Group's plan to address 80,000 polluting Audi, Porsche and VW 3.0-liter vehicles. In a court order, Breyer said negotiations are continuing between the German automaker, regulators and lawyers representing owners, and he set a Dec. 16 hearing, saying he had been advised that a delay "may produce a resolution of the outstanding issues." VW had reached an agreement with U.S. regulators for a mix of buybacks and fixes for the 80,000 vehicles, but still needed to reach agreement on o...
General Motors unveiled its semi-autonomous "Super Cruise" system to allow drivers on highways to let the vehicle take over driving itself. In case if the road has too many twists and turns or the vehicle detects the driver is not paying attention, it issues a series of alerts. If the human driver does not take over, the vehicle will automatically slow down and then put on the hazard lights. GM, which initially planned to unveil the technology on the CT6 in late 2016, said in January it would not unveil Super Cruise until 2017. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Admi...
Volkswagen will export the Atlas large SUV to Russia from the United States starting at the end of next year. The executive, who has knowledge of VW's product plans, added that the Atlas will be offered with a 2.0-liter diesel in Russia. The source said it is unlikely that the SUV will be sold in western Europe. When asked at the auto show here this week for confirmation on the plan for the Atlas, VW brand's sales and marketing boss, Juergen Stackmann, said that Russia is one of the markets they are considering. The Atlas, which will be build at VW's factory in Chattanoo...
