Clean Carfax Hemi Power Finance $429 Per Mt $0 Down Call For Details on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Fiat Chrysler's Q3 profit boosted by strong North American earnings

MILAN, Italy — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) reported a 17 percent jump in third-quarter adjusted operating profit on Tuesday, helped by a strong performance in its key North American market and improving operations in Europe and Latin America. The world's seventh-largest carmaker still makes the lion's share of its profits in North America, so improving, or at least maintaining, its margins there is a key focus. The carmaker reported an 8 percent adjusted operating profit margin in the region, up from 7.6 percent a year ago, despite a drop in sales and shipments. "FCA's profitability in North America remained strong in the quarter despite a weakening market there," a Milan-based analyst said. FCA's profitability compares with an 8.3 percent North America margin reached in the quarter by bigger U.S. rival GM , showing CEO Sergio Marchionne making progress towards his goal of closing the margin gap with GM and the company's other U.S. rival, Ford, by 2018. The company's confirmation of its full-year outlook also pushed shares higher, a trader added. The stock was up 2.8 percent by 1129 GMT, outperforming a 1 percent rise in the European auto index. FCA has been retooling some U.S. factories to boost output of sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks while ending production of some unprofitable sedans to strengthen profitability as the U.S. car market comes off its peak. The company said a drop in North America shipments due to lower fleet sales and discontinued models was partially offset by higher deliveries of Ram trucks and two models from the Alfa Romeo stable: the Stelvio sport utility vehicle and Giulia sedan. Profitability also improved in Europe, helped by sales of the Stelvio and the new Jeep Compass, and Latin America, while margins at Maserati remained strong at 13.8 percent due to strong demand for its first SUV, the Levante. In a later conference call, investors are looking for hints on the new strategy to 2022 which the company promised to unveil early next year. Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said earlier this year that FCA would streamline its portfolio and that components businesses, including Magneti Marelli, would be separated from the group, possibly via a spin-off. While FCA confirmed its targets this year, doubts remain about its exposure to a weakening U.S. market, recall costs and potential fines over emissions after it was targeted by European and U.S.

Project Trail Force Jeep Wrangler goes to SEMA, then to a lucky winner

Extreme Terrain is an aftermarket parts company focused on the Jeep Wrangler. Partly just because it's a really cool thing to do, and probably having something to do with Jeep's upcoming 75th anniversary, Extreme Terrain found some dance partners to help work up a special 2015 Wrangler Rubicon that it will show off at the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival in Butler, PA, then at SEMA in November, where it will be given away. Extreme worked with Barricade Off-Road and Kevin Tetz from the Spike show Trucks! to build the Wrangler it calls Project Trail Force. There is more than $24,000 worth of aftermarket gear on it, starting with the Ripp centrifugal supercharger that pumps an additional 140 horsepower into the 3.6-liter V6. It's got a 3.5-inch lift kit from Rock Krawler, Dana 44 axles strung between 37-inch BFG tires, Barricade bumpers, a 9,500-pound winch, fender flares, rock sliders, a 50-inch LED light bar above the windshield, LED spotlights on the A-pillars, and seven-inch KC Hilites headlights. Rugged Ridge worked over the inside with upgrades like all-terrain floor and cargo liners, plus seat covers, and a new navigation system with a back-up camera. If you want to win it, you can enter the contest at Extreme Terrain once every week until Oct. 23. The winner gets flown to SEMA to have Kevin Tetz hand the keys over. If you just want to see it, you can head to PA for that heritage festival. The Project Trail Force will also lead a Jeep parade that could set a Guinness World Record. The press release below has a lot more info on the build. Good luck. EXTREMETERRAIN AND BARRICADE OFF-ROAD TO UNVEIL THEIR FULLY-BUILT 2015 JEEP WRANGLER AT BANTAM JEEP FESTIVAL ExtremeTerrain.com and Barricade Off-Road teamed up to build a $73,000+ 2015 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon to be given away to a lucky winner at the 2015 SEMA Show • Giveaway Link: http://www.extremeterrain.com/jeep-wrangler-project-trailforce-giveaway.html • Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsO6fxVq6kI MALVERN, Pa. (June 12, 2015) – ExtremeTerrain, a leader in providing aftermarket Jeep Wrangler parts, along with rugged, enthusiast-driven Jeep Wrangler aftermarket armor and accessories manufacturer Barricade Off-Road, today unveiled a fully-built 2015 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon dubbed Project Trail Force at the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival in Butler, PA.

Autoblog's Editors' Picks: Our complete list of the best new vehicles

It's not easy to earn an “EditorsÂ’ Picks” at Autoblog as part of the rating and review process that every new vehicle goes through. Our editors have been at it a long time, which means weÂ’ve driven and reviewed virtually every new car you can go buy on the dealer lot. There are disagreements, of course, and all vehicles have their strengths and weaknesses, but this list features what we think are the best new vehicles chosen by Autoblog editors. We started this formal review process back in 2018, so there's quite of few of them now. So what does it mean to be an EditorsÂ’ Pick? In short, it means itÂ’s a car that we can highly recommend purchasing. There may be one, multiple, or even zero vehicles in any given segment that we give the green light to. What really matters is that itÂ’s a vehicle that weÂ’d tell a friend or family member to go buy if theyÂ’re considering it, because itÂ’s a very good car. The best way to use this list is is with the navigation links below. Click on a segment, and you'll quickly arrive at the top rated pickup truck or SUV, for example. Use the back button to return to these links and search in another segment, like sedans. If youÂ’ve been keeping up with our monthly series of the latest vehicles to earn EditorsÂ’ Pick status, youÂ’re likely going to be familiar with this list already. If not, welcome to the complete list that weÂ’ll be keeping updated as vehicles enter (and others perhaps exit) the good graces of our editorial team. We rate a new car — giving it a numerical score out of 10 — every time thereÂ’s a significant refresh or if it happens to be an all-new model. Any given vehicle may be impressive on a first drive, but we wait until itÂ’s in the hands of our editors to put it through the same type of testing as every other vehicle that rolls through our test fleet before giving it the EditorsÂ’ Pick badge. This ensures consistency and allows more voices to be heard on each individual model. And just so you donÂ’t think weÂ’ve skipped trims or variants of a model, we hand out the EditorsÂ’ Pick based on the overarching model to keep things consistent. So, when you read that the 3 Series is an EditorsÂ’ Pick, yes, that includes the 330i to the M3 and all the variants in between. If thereÂ’s a particular version of that car we vehemently disagree with, we make sure to call that out.