2007 Jeep Commander Sport on 2040-cars

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Jeep's new Chip Away commercial has us hunting Al Pacino's back catalog

Chrysler has done a pretty good job as of late turning its television commercials into pep talks or rallying cries, but for its first ad for the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, it turned to Al Pacino's inspirational speech from the movie Any Given Sunday. In the movie, Pacino's character talks about how football is a game of inches, but the commercial, titled Chip Away, focuses more on the attention to detail that Jeep has exhibited on its updated flagship SUV.
Centering around the newest Grand Cherokee model, the luxurious $47,995 Summit trim level, the commercial shows off some of the hand-stitched leathers and real metal and wood accents found inside the cabin. Check out the new 60-second spot by scrolling below.

100,000 Jeep Cherokee models subject to further 9-speed recalibration

It seems that the software problems with the nine-speed automatic gearbox in the Jeep Cherokee continue to mount. The programming already caused multiple development delays and even postponed the Cherokee's market launch by roughly two months. Now, Jeep has issued another recalibration to hopefully assuage unhappy drivers.
According to Automotive News, this reflash for the allegedly jerky transmission covers over 100,000 Cherokees built before May 5, but it's not technically a recall. If owners are having problems and complain to the dealer, they get the new software. Otherwise, they continue with the current version. New vehicles on dealer lots also receive the latest revision to the programming. It takes only around five minutes to install, but technicians need to take the Cherokee on a test drive to adapt the gearbox to the changes.
The Cherokee's transmission software has been problematic practically since the beginning. The Jeep plant in Toledo, OH, briefly idled its second-shift workers last year to take care of the issue. Since the launch issues for the crossover, demand has been strong. Jeep added another 1,000 temporary workers to the Toledo factory to keep up, and sales were on par with the Wrangler in just its first two months.

Fiat Chrysler's profit boosted by Ram and Jeep in North America

MILAN/DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler took the market by surprise by sticking to its full-year profit guidance on Wednesday after a strong performance from its Ram pickup truck in North America helped it defy an industry slowdown. Chief Executive Mike Manley, in FCA's first earnings release since a failed attempt to merge with France's Renault, also left the door open to that or other deals. "We are open to opportunity," Manley said on a call with analysts. "I have no doubt why there still would be interest in it," he added, when pressed on what it would take to revive talks with Renault. Manley declined to comment further. FCA last month abandoned its $35 billion merger offer for Renault, blaming French politics for scuttling what would have been a landmark deal to create the world's third-biggest automaker. Manley said a merger was not a must-have and Fiat Chrysler's business plan was strong. The company said it remained confident its adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) would top last year's 6.7 billion euros ($7.5 billion). Given disappointing forecasts from other automakers this earnings season, FCA's confirmation of the outlook sent Milan-listed shares in the Italian-American automaker, whose other brands include Jeep, up over 4%. A broad-based auto sales downturn has rattled the sector, forcing FCA's competitors — including Renault, Daimler and Aston Martin — to cut their sales forecasts after second-quarter results, while U.S. carmaker Ford gave a weaker-than-expected 2019 profit outlook. Japan's Nissan, a long-term partner of Renault, said it would cut 12,500 jobs by 2023 after its earnings collapsed. In the second quarter FCA's adjusted EBIT totaled 1.52 billion euros, versus analysts' expectations of 1.43 billion euros, according to a Reuters poll. FCA's U.S. shipments were down 12% in the second quarter but the group said that the successful performance of its Ram brand resulted in an enhanced share of the large pickup truck market of 27.9%, up 7 percentage points from last year. Adjusted EBIT margin in North America rose to 8.9% from 6.5% in the first quarter, thanks to strong demand for the heavy-duty Ram and the new Jeep Gladiator pickup. Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer also said FCA expected to report up to 10% margins in the region in both the third and fourth quarters.