07 Crossfire Only 30k Miles 215hp Manual Transmission Keyless Entry We Finance on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Marchionne impressed by 'that kid' Elon Musk

FCA boss Sergio Marchionne has a reputation as an incredibly canny businessman. Some examples of his acumen include finishing Fiat's takeover of Chrysler from a beachside home and winning a challenge with Luca di Montezemolo for the reins of Ferrari. The Italian exec recently took a trip to California and lavished praise on Elon Musk after a meeting with the Tesla CEO. Although, the compliment did come off as a little patronizing. "I'm incredibly impressed with what that kid has done," Marchionne said to Reuters about his conversation with Musk. Unfortunately, the FCA exec didn't go into detail about what he and Tesla boss discussed. Although, calling the 43-year-old billionaire a "kid" does seem a little rude, especially given Musk's success with Paypal, in the auto industry and at SpaceX. While in the Golden State, Marchionne also had a talk with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Although, he was similarly cagey about what the men discussed. "He's interested in Apple's intervention in the car, that's his role," Marchionne said to Reuters about the conversation without divulging more. The two companies already have some small links thanks to Ferrari's use of the tech giant's products. As one additional highlight for Marchionne's California trip, he took a ride in the Google autonomous car. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Paul Sancya / AP Photo Green Chrysler Fiat Tesla Green Culture Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles Electric Sergio Marchionne FCA

2015 Chrysler 200 gets 36 mpg with Tigershark four-cylinder

Chrysler has come out with the official fuel economy information on the new 200 following the info that was leaked from the EPA earlier this week. It turns out that our initial report of 18 miles per gallon in the city and 29 mpg on the highway for the all-wheel-drive V6 was correct.
What we didn't know at the time, though, was what sort of economy the 200's other powertrain options managed. Outfitted with the 2.4-liter four-pot, Chrysler is promising 23 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, with a combined rating of 28 mpg. Those figures are fairly impressive; besting figures of the 2.5-liter Ford Fusion and tying the 1.5-liter, EcoBoost, non-start-stop model. It's also beats the four-cylinder Toyota Camry's 35-mpg highway figure while tying its combined efficiency.
Stepping up to the 295-horsepower Pentastar V6 pushes the economy down to 19 mpg in the city, while the highway figure is a respectable 32 mpg for the front-driver. The combined rating for the FWD V6 is 23 mpg. Those figures can't quite match the 270-horsepower 2.0-liter, EcoBoost four of the Fusion, which nets 22 city and 33 highway. In fact, the V6 200 has trouble besting even the 3.5-liter V6 of the Camry, which returns 21 mpg city and 31 mpg highway. Again, though, the 200 is noticeably more powerful.

Chrysler patents smarter minivan folding seats

It's frightening to think of how quickly the mice would have overtaken us if we hadn't stayed one step ahead of them with better mousetraps. We'll never have to worry about that in our relentlessly re-engineered world, though. Case in point: Chrysler has been granted a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office for an improved design of the already wondrous Stow 'n' Go seating found in the automaker's Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans.
Introduced in 2005, the Stow 'n' Go was improved in 2008, and based on the drawings of this third-generation improvement, the new design appears to allow stowage of the second row of seats without having to move the front-row seats forward as much. It look like it also involves fewer operations and moving parts, with a portion of the seatback being incorporated into the flat floor when the seats are stowed, as opposed to having a completely separate cover.
It's possible that the innovation may appear on the next-generation minivans expected in 2015, but Chrysler isn't commenting on the patent.