Larry P. Vellequette

Chrysler changes course, elects to inspect, modify older Jeep SUVs
Chrysler Group, saying it's settled a dispute with federal safety regulators, will inspect older-model Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Liberty SUVs and install a trailer hit ...

Chrysler changes course, elects to inspect, modify older Jeep SUVs
Chrysler Group, saying it's settled a dispute with federal safety regulators, will inspect older-model Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Liberty SUVs and install a trailer hit ...

So who won the Chrysler-NHTSA recall fight?
Now that Chrysler Group has agreed to inspect and modify as many as 1.56 million older-model Jeep SUVs at the request of federal regulators, one inevitable question remai ...

Pickup.com shootout is a salvo in ongoing pickup battle
If you'll forgive the metaphor, the shootout described this week by the editors at pickuptrucks.com may say more about the automaker/gunslingers themselves than the effec ...

500 too small? Larger 500L to the rescue
Since returning to America in 2011, Fiat and its struggling dealers have been getting by on just the 500. But the cars that rolled off a transport ship from Europe in Jun ...

Chrysler adds spiff to stair-step program
Chrysler Group has tweaked its stair-step sales incentives to make them more palatable to dealers, said Reid Bigland, the automaker's head of U.S. and Canadian sales. ...

Chrysler's high-stakes 'no' to NHTSA
For 17 years, automakers have complied with every request for a recall, no matter how costly, from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And then last week, ...

Ram takes aim at GM, Ford truck-fleet reign
May and June are the bidding season for commercial fleet operators who purchase pickups by the dozen and sometimes hundreds. ...

So NHTSA, where's the old Cherokee?
Several of my colleagues and I have spent most of this week researching, writing and talking about Chrysler Group's decision to fight the recall of the 1993-2004 Jeep Gra ...

Why Chrysler decided to fight NHTSA
Chrysler Group's decision to reject a recall request for 2.7 million aging Jeep SUVs caught the automotive industry -- and the media -- by surprise Tuesday. ...

Chrysler rejects U.S. safety firm's request for recall of 2.7 million Jeeps
Chrysler Group said it does not intend to honor a request from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall as many as 2.7 million Jeep Grand Cheroke ...

Chrysler rejects NHTSA's request for recall of 2.7 million Jeeps
Chrysler Group said today it does not intend to honor a request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall as many as 2.7 million Jeep Grand Cherok ...

For Chrysler stores, blue sky is back
After enduring Chrysler's bankruptcy, the uncertainty of its acquisition by Fiat and the Great Recession, Chrysler Group dealers are finally receiving healthy offers to b ...

Light-duty trucks, SUVs boost Chrysler volume 11%
Strong demand for light-duty pickups and SUVs pushed Chrysler Group sales up 11 percent in May, its 38th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains. ...

Chrysler Group offers dealers more training on diesels
Chrysler Group is offering additional diesel-engine training to its dealerships to help them sell and service light-duty diesel variants of its two best-selling nameplate ...

Dodge Journey to move from Mexico to Michigan in 2016, report says
Chrysler Group is planning to build the next generation of the Dodge Journey in metro Detroit instead of Mexico, according to a published report that cites suppliers as t ...

Chrysler quality chief: 'We're still working'
Doug Betts has spearheaded Chrysler Group's effort to improve product quality since he joined the company from Nissan North America in 2007. ...

Microsoft: Chrysler has plans for our infotainment system
Chrysler Group is equipping some of its lower-trim vehicles with a Microsoft-based infotainment system used by Fiat -- and, according to the software maker, more vehicles ...

Daimler debacle produced a cash cow for Chrysler
It's easy to criticize the way Daimler ran and ultimately left Chrysler during the disastrous "merger of equals" era. I know because I've done it on a regular basis. ...

Clues to the next Wrangler: See the want ads
Jeep has begun searching for the extra bodies to mount its next big project: the redesign of the Jeep Wrangler. ...

Marchionne apologizes for 'wop engine' comment
Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has issued a written apology to an Italian-American anti-bias organization for saying at the Detroit auto show that an Alfa Romeo need ...

Marchionne apologizes for 'wop engine' comment
Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has issued a written apology to an Italian-American anti-bias organization for saying that an Alfa Romeo needed a "wop" engine. ...

Chrysler quality chief: Little difference now with Toyota
The quality gap between Chrysler Group's vehicles and those of Japanese automakers has become so small that it no longer should matter to consumers, Chrysler's quality ch ...

Sources: Chrysler plans high-hp Hellcat V-8
Chrysler Group is developing a supercharged Hemi V-8 with power approaching the 640 hp of the SRT Viper's V-10. ...

2 million extra doors was the best call Daimler made during 'marriage of equals'
It's easy to criticize the way Daimler AG ran and ultimately left Chrysler during the disastrous "marriage of equals" era. I know because I've done it on a regular basis. ...