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Stellantis to offer electric versions of most of its European lineup by 2025

Newly merged automaker conglomerate Stellantis will offer electric versions of almost all of its European lineup by 2025, it said on Thursday, as the auto industry faces regulatory pushes in Europe and China to accelerate the shift to zero-emission cars. Formed in January by the merger of France's PSA and Italian-American group Fiat Chrysler, Stellantis is the world’s fourth largest carmaker with 14 brands including Opel, Jeep, Ram and Maserati, and like its peers faces an investor community keen for a road map to an electric lineup to rival Tesla . Speaking during Stellantis' first annual shareholders meeting, Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said that in 2021 the carmaker expects sales of electrified vehicles — that is, both plug-in hybrids and fully electric models — to more than triple to over 400,000 units in 2021. By 2025, electrified vehicles should make up 38% of European sales, a huge jump from the 14% of sales it expects in 2021. Tavares said by 2030 electric models should make up 70% of European sales and 35% of U.S. sales. He said Stellantis will use four electric platforms for passenger vehicles across its 14-brand empire — small, medium and large sizes for cars, and "frame" for high-margin SUVs and pickup trucks. Sweden's Volvo said this month its lineup would be fully electric by 2030, and Ford Motor Co said in February its lineup in Europe would be too. BMW has said at least 50% of its car sales should be fully-electric models by 2030. Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars in the European Union almost trebled to over 1 million vehicles last year, accounting for more than 10% of overall sales. Green Alfa Romeo Fiat Jeep Maserati Citroen Lancia Opel Peugeot Vauxhall Electric Hybrid Stellantis

2014 Jeep Cherokee will keep Liberty designation in China... sort of

Chinese buyers will get their first live look at the 2014 Jeep Cherokee during the Shanghai Motor Show, but CarNewsChina is reporting that it will go by a different name - Ziyou Guan, which translates to "Liberty Light." The article states that our Jeep Liberty was never sold in China, but the iconic XJ Cherokee was sold and produced there as the Qinuoji (a phonetic translation of Cherokee).
The new Jeep Liberty Light will be built alongside the Fiat Viaggio (China's Fiat-badged version of the Dodge Dart) at the Guangzhou-Fiat plant, and the two models will share the same powertrains: a 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder base engine paired to a five-speed manual or a dual-clutch transmission and a 2.4-liter four-cylinder (the base engine for the US-spec 2014 Cherokee) as an optional engine. It doesn't sound like the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 will be offered in China.
We'll be on hand when the new Jeep debuts in Shanghai, so stay tuned to Autoblog this Friday night and Saturday for our live coverage of the show.

Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango to lose color options temporarily

In the market for a Jeep Grand Cherokee or Dodge Durango? Well, if you fancy a more expressive color for your new SUV, you'd better get your order in, or plan on waiting until well into 2015.
The SUVs will be limited to just four monochromatic shades - black, white, silver and gray - until at least February, thanks to an upgrade to the paint shop at the two vehicles' Jefferson North factory. For the Grand Cherokee, that means it's losing more than half its color palette while the Durango is dropping two-thirds of its color catalog.
The loss of colors is inconvenient, but the upgrade will have a slightly bigger effect on the overall supply of SUVs, as Chrysler will need to end its relentless build pace at the factory for a three-week shutdown starting on December 22. The good news for fans of the SUVs is that once the work is completed, we should see a gradual expansion of the color palettes for both the Durango and Grand Cherokee, beyond even what's offered now.