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2017 Chrysler Pacifica scores near top on minivan mpg

The 2017 Chrysler Pacifica gets 28 miles per gallon fuel economy on the highway, 18 mpg city, and 22 mpg combined, according to the government's newly announced estimates. Those figures compare well to the 2016 Town & Country's EPA rating of 25 mpg highway, 17 mpg city, and 20 mpg combined. They also make the new minivan among the most efficient models in its class, although not quite the king. These fuel economy figures only apply to the 2017 Pacifica with the 3.6-liter V6, which makes 287 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque, and the nine-speed automatic. We will have to wait until the second half of the year to find out how the plug-in hybrid performs, but the brand believes at least 80 MPGe is possible. Chrysler also plans to make stop-start available later, which will increase real-world fuel numbers. Compared to the currently on-sale competitors, the 2017 Pacifica is among the top, but there are two clear rivals. The 2016 Honda Odyssey has EPA ratings of 28/19/22. Those figures match the Chrysler on the highway and combined, but beat it by one mpg in the city. The other challenger is the 2016 Nissan Quest at 27/20/23. The Nissan wins by two mpg in the city and one mpg combined, but the Pacifica wins by one on the highway. According to Fueleconomy.gov, the front-wheel drive Toyota Sienna and Kia Sedona match the Pacifica's 18 mpg city rating, but they can't beat its combined or highway numbers. Related Video: All-new Gasoline-powered 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Offers Unsurpassed Fuel Economy, Greener Ownership Experience 28-mpg highway unsurpassed in minivan segment; 12 percent better than model it replaces Combined-cycle rating of 22 mpg is 10 percent better Improved fuel efficiency contributes to nine-percent reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP) All-new Pacifica's superior performance attributable to engineering enhancements, such as: Upgraded version of award-winning Pentastar V-6 TorqueFlite transmission; world's first minivan application of nine-speed automatic gearbox Best-in-class aerodynamics Aggressive weight-reduction strategies March 8, 2016 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - The all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica minivan has earned a highway-cycle fuel-economy rating of 28 miles per gallon (mpg) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – a benchmark unsurpassed by any minivan on the market. It is also 12 percent better than the vehicle Pacifica replaces.

Analysts wary over FCA lawsuit but say emissions not as bad as VW

MILAN - Any potential fines Fiat Chrysler (FCA) may need to pay to settle a US civil lawsuit over diesel emissions will unlikely top $1 billion, analysts said, adding the case appeared less serious than at larger rival Volkswagen. The US government filed a civil lawsuit on Tuesday accusing FCA of illegally using software to bypass emission controls in 104,000 vehicles sold since 2014, which it said led to higher than allowable levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx) that are blamed for respiratory illnesses. FCA's shares dropped 16 percent in January when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first raised the accusations, adding the carmaker could face a maximum fine of about $4.6 billion. The stock has been under pressure since. Volkswagen agreed to spend up to $25 billion in the United States to address claims from owners, environmental regulators, U.S. states and dealers. FCA, which sits on net debt of 5.1 billion euros ($5.70 billion), lacks VW's cash pile but analysts said its case looked much less severe. While VW admitted to intentionally cheating, Fiat Chrysler denies any wrongdoing. Authorities will have to prove that FCA's software constitutes a so-called "defeat device" and that it was fitted in the vehicles purposefully to bypass emission controls. Even if found guilty, the number of FCA vehicles targeted by the lawsuit is less than a fifth of those in the VW case. Applying calculations used in the German settlement, analysts estimate potential civil and criminal charges for Fiat Chrysler of around $800 million at most. Barclays has already cut its target price on the stock to take such a figure into account. Analysts also noted that FCA's vehicles are equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for cutting NOx emissions, so it is likely that any problem could be fixed through a software update. "Should this be the case, we estimate a total cost per vehicle of not more than around $100, i.e. around $10 million in aggregate," Evercore ISI analyst George Galliers said in a note. The estimates exclude any additional investments FCA may be asked to make in zero emissions vehicles infrastructure and awareness as was the case with VW. FCA said last week it would update the software in the vehicles in question, hoping it would alleviate the regulators' concern, but analysts said it may have been too little too late. The carmaker is also facing accusations over its diesel emissions in Europe.

China own a Detroit automaker? Would the U.S. let that happen?

The news that several Chinese automakers want to buy Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and that one has even made an offer, elicits some mixed feelings. On one hand, as some have pointed out, it could be a win-win both for China and for FCA's American workers, ensuring the company's survival and opening new markets. On the other hand, this is China, whose trade relationship with the U.S. is the source of considerable scrutiny from the Trump administration — and whose not-a-friend, not-an-enemy status is particularly difficult to gauge right now during heightened tensions with its client state North Korea. So would such a deal pass regulatory muster? One reason that springs to mind for blocking any sale has to do with national security. Chrysler's role as a military supplier dates back to Dodge trucks used by Gen. Blackjack Pershing to chase Pancho Villa in Mexico, and shortly thereafter by American forces in World War I. The Detroit Three automakers were, of course, mainstays of the Arsenal of Democracy of World War II. Even before U.S. entry into the war in December 1941, America's industrial machinery went into overdrive, and Chrysler was one of the biggest cogs. It engineered and built the M3, Sherman and Pershing tanks and trucks for Gen. George Patton's Redball Express. It helped develop a radar-guided antiaircraft gun that knocked German bombers and V1 rockets out of the sky — on one day, shooting down 97 of 101 V1s headed for London. On D-Day, the radar system helped thwart Luftwaffe counterattacks on the beaches of Normandy, and it later helped Allied forces break out at the Battle of the Bulge. Chrysler redesigned the Wright Cyclone engines used by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the plane that firebombed Tokyo and dropped the atomic bombs that ended the war. Chrysler even played a secret role refining uranium in Oak Ridge, Tenn., that was used in the Hiroshima bomb and in the ensuing Cold War arms race. It worked on military missiles and was NASA's prime contractor for the Saturn V rocket that put men on the moon. More recently, Chrysler produced the M1 Abrams tank. And of course Chrysler is the keeper of the flame for Jeep, a 75-plus-years military legacy handed down from Bantam and Willys to Kaiser to AMC to Chrysler. The point of this history lesson is to note that in times of war or national emergency, America's industrial might has been called to serve, and may well be called on again.