2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Sport Utility 4-door 4.7l on 2040-cars

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Weekly Recap: Matthew McConaughey's star shines brightly for Lincoln

The commercials were a little strange at first, but the ensuing spoofs were hilarious. And all jokes aside, Matthew McConaughey has made a difference for Lincoln. Advertisements starring the Oscar winner launched in September, and the results have been impressive. The number of customers clicking on Lincoln.com to check out the MKC – the crossover McConaughey pitched – has tripled since the ads began airing, a spokesman told Autoblog. They also generated 4.4 million views on YouTube and spawned parodies by Ellen DeGeneres, Conan O'Brien, South Park and Jim Carrey on Saturday Night Live, which racked up another 15 million views. Most importantly, Lincoln's sales have increased 15 percent through November, helped significantly by the strong launch of the MKC. Without the addition of the MKC, Lincoln's sales would have been essentially flat last year. The MKC has received solid reviews from consumers and the press, though it has had several recalls. "The overwhelming response to the MKC campaign sparked truly great awareness for Lincoln," Andrew Frick, Lincoln group marketing manager, said in a statement. Now Lincoln has launched another round of spots, which kicked off New Year's Day during college football bowl games. This time, McConaughey is hawking the MKZ sedan and its hybrid sibling. The spots, called Diner and Balance, use the same artistic formula as the earlier ads, with McConaughey intoning seriously about the cars in dramatic settings. They were shot over two days in Los Angeles and were directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, a Danish filmmaker who directed the 2011 move, Drive. The ads continue Lincoln's multiyear deal with McConaughey, who has said he's been long been interested in the brand. He starred in the 2011 thriller, The Lincoln Lawyer, as a defense attorney who worked out of a Town Car, though that was before his deal with Lincoln. In one of the earlier ads, McConaughey claims: "I've been driving a Lincoln since long before anybody paid me to drive one. I didn't do it to be cool. I didn't to it to make a statement. I just liked it." That sentiment appears to have worked for the MKC's launch, and with this new advertising blitz, Lincoln hopes it carries over to the MKZ. Other News And Notes Infiniti Q30 spied in winter testing Infiniti is continuing development work on the Q30 small crossover, and we've recently captured it during winter testing.

Jeep in St. Louis hacked from Pittsburgh

One of America's most popular vehicles contains a security flaw that allows hackers to remotely commandeer it from anywhere on the planet. Cyber-security researchers Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller say they've accessed critical vehicle controls on a 2014 Jeep Cherokee that allowed them to remotely control critical vehicle functions like braking, transmission function, and steering. Automakers have downplayed the possibility a car could be remotely compromised, but the significance of the findings detailed Tuesday could cause them to reevaluate the threats posed to hundreds of thousands of vehicles already on the road. A key finding – the pair needed no physical access to the Jeep to pull off the attack. Valasek and Miller accessed the controls via a security hole in the Sprint cellular connection to Chrysler's UConnect infotainment system. In the course of their research, Valasek sat in his Pittsburgh home and remotely manipulated Miller's Jeep as he drove along a highway outside St. Louis. If you know a car's IP address, they say, a hacker could control it from anywhere. "We didn't add anything, didn't touch it," Valasek told Autoblog. "A customer could drive one of these things off a lot, and they'd have no clue it had these open attack surfaces." Remotely, he disabled brakes, turned the radio volume up, engaged windshield wipers and tampered with the transmission. Further, they could conduct surveillance on the Jeep, measuring its speed and tracking its whereabouts. They conducted the experiments over multiple breaches. They made their findings public on the same day the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency in charge of vehicle safety, released its latest report on the readiness of government and automakers to fend off these sorts of cyber attacks. Later today, two US Senators are expected to introduce legislation that would help consumers better understand the potential risks of car hacking. In the early stages of their research, Valasek and Miller found a security flaw in the car's wi-fi that allowed them to remotely manipulate controls from a range of about three feet. But in recent months, they found another vulnerability in the Sprint cellular connection in the UConnect system. That was a key breakthrough. "Lo and behold, we found we could communicate with this thing using cellular, and then more research, and 'Holy cow,' we're using the Sprint network to communicate with these vehicles," Valasek said.

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.