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Fiat brand chief reassigned then resigns amid flagging sales

Jason Stoicevich was replaced as head of the Fiat brand in North America just the other day. He was immediately reassigned to another job within Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. But according to Automotive News, Stoicevich quit the new job – and the company altogether – the very next day. The development comes amidst flagging sales for the Fiat brand in America. The introduction of the awkward-looking 500L multi-purpose vehicle has been largely regarded as a sales disaster in the US. Despite having just introduced the new 500X into the growing crossover market, and an overall upward trend across FCA group sales, the Fiat brand's figures have been dropping all year. While the Italian brand's volume has fluctuated from month to month compared to last year's sales, the number of cars its dealers sells on an average day has been firmly in decline. Fiat's downward trend reflects a general tendency in the market towards larger vehicles at the expense of smaller ones. However, the powers that be in Auburn Hills evidently felt that a change of leadership was in order, so it placed Dodge chief Tim Kuniskis in charge of all the company's mass-market passenger-car brands – namely Dodge, Chrysler, and Fiat – and moved Stoicevich to running the group's fleet and small-business operations. Stoicevich remained in charge of the company's California Business Center, but it seems as though he was as dissatisfied with the switch as his superiors were with the performance of the brand over which he presided, and so he apparently elected to step down and leave the company.

Chrysler investigating complaints of vehicles with faulty power modules

Chrysler owners are hopping mad after experiencing a series of electrical gremlins in some of the company's vehicles. Issues range from mere annoyances - windows rolling down and radios turning off of their own accord - to serious safety issues, with headlights that randomly shut off at night and cars that stall and refuse to start.
The issues are being blamed on the total integrated power module, which can cost up to $1,000 for customers to replace. This, of course, has led to a hefty batch of complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, with 240 owners expressing their displeasure so far. Another site, CarComplaints.com, has registered over 300 complaints relating to the 2010 to 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango, alone, according to The New York Times.
Chrysler has acknowledged that it's investigating the complaints and is analyzing the faulty TIPMs, but that isn't quite enough for customers of the affected vehicles. The newspaper has snagged a few of the more harrowing tales with the electrically challenged Chrysler products, culled from the NHTSA complaints.

Cars.com runs 11-second quarter with Dodge Charger Hellcat

The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and its Challenger sibling are two of the heroes of the modern performance world. With a headline-grabbing 707 horsepower from a supercharged 6.2-liter V8, their output even shames many supercars. But how quick can one really cover a quarter mile? Cars.com recently decided to find out by taking a Charger Hellcat to the drag strip to see if the sedan lived up to Dodge's 11-second claims. The results were quite impressive. After 13 quarter-mile runs of adjusting variables like the tire pressures and the car's various electronic aids, the Charger Hellcat managed a pass in 11.03 seconds at 126.61 mph – the pinnacle result of the day. This car was mechanically stock and wore the optional Pirelli P Zero tires. According to Cars.com, other quick sprints reached 11.09 seconds and 11.1 seconds, which even beat the site's 11.41-second best from a Challenger Hellcat last year. Getting the Hellcat's prodigious power down without losing traction was a challenge, even on the summer tires. Cars.com thought it had a run that could have dropped below 11 seconds, but then the wheels spun. Using the factory-recommended pressures, the Charger Hellcat was no still slouch with an 11.27-second time recorded, but taking things down to 25 psi proved the quickest at the strip. We already knew that the Charger Hellcat was a wonderful vehicle for eating up huge gulps of asphalt at high speeds and could verify its 204-mile-per-hour top speed (quite a bit faster, incidentally, than the Ferrari California T's 196 mph top-speed). Apparently, the 11-second quarter-mile claim is just as accurate. Also, for any curious owners, the Cars.com story divulges many of the tweaks required to reach this seriously quick time. Related Video: