2016 Jeep Cherokee on 2040-cars

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FCA inline-six rumored to be real, headed for Jeep Wagoneer

In September, Allpar reported that that clues being dropped at Fiat- Chrysler headquarters, in the carmaker's factories, and on engineer resumes pointed to the development of an inline six-cylinder engine. The site has just proclaimed the rumor is reality, writing that the straight-six, "turbocharged to meet or beat 5.7 Hemi power ratings, with a smoother torque curve, is on the way." The motor's first outing is expected to be either the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee, debuting perhaps next year, or the Jeep Wagoneer, debuting in 2020 or 2021. "Tornado" is the purported codename for the power plant said to be just under three liters in displacement, expanding the family begun with the Global Medium Engine 2.0-liter turbo codenamed Hurricane. Engine bay constraints and a long use horizon mean engineers won't simply add two more cylinders to the GME, however. Allpar says the brief is to keep the Tornado GME-T6 — the alphanumeric for "turbocharged six" — no more than three inches longer than the Tigershark 2.4-liter four-cylinder. That means "major design changes" that could include a space-saving head, more closely spaced cylinders, and no cylinder liners. An FCA division called Comau could be called on for its "SmartSpray" plasma lining technology. Allpar muses that the standard version of the engine for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram could get a single twin-scroll turbocharger. Performance trims for Alfa Romeo and Maserati could get different heads and maybe twin turbos, an SRT version might also get both those tweaks. History shows that the Italian versions would make changes to the block, as well. Even so, the Tornado would be less expensive than any Ferrari-supplied V6. A straight-six would put FCA in company with current adopters BMW and Mercedes-Benz, future users like Jaguar, and perhaps Aston Martin. The engine would span the widest range of use cases in the U.S. carmaker's portfolio, though. Potential applications include being a base engine for Ram trucks, serving double duty as a base engine and 5.7-liter Hemi replacement for the Dodge Charger and Challenger, working in the high-end Jeeps, and as a properly hot trim — with Ferrari-designed heads — in the luxury Italian sports cars. The Alfa Romeo Giulia begs for just such motivation to fill the gap between the 280-hp, $42,695 Ti Sport RWD and the 505-hp, $73,700 Giulia Quadrifoglio RWD. And a twin-turbo inline-six in a Maserati Alfieri would stack up nicely with the Germans.

2019 Jeep Cherokee base model costs less, but other prices jump

Jeep just recently revealed the revised 2019 Cherokee crossover with a milder nose and tail, and even a bit more cargo space. The redesign has also brought new pricing that presents a $300 discount for the base Latitude trim, but sees increases across most of the rest of the trim lines. The destination charge also increased from $1,095 to $1,195. Four-wheel-drive is now a flat $1,500 increase for all models, whereas it varied between trims on the 2018 model. At the base of the Cherokee lineup is the Latitude, which now gets a price of $25,190, and that $300 reduction from the 2018 model carries over to the four-wheel-drive version. Latitude Plus sees a slight jump in price by $300 for the two-wheel- and four-wheel-drive models, with the two-wheel-drive one starting at $27,690. The Limited trim is up by $680 with both drivetrains, with a base price of $31,570 for one with two-wheel-drive. The biggest price increases come on the Trailhawk and Overland models. The Trailhawk soars $2,425 higher than last year's model, for a base price of $34,515. The Overland two-wheel-drive model also sees a big increase of $2,280 to a starting price of $36,275. But if you want four-wheel-drive in your Overland, the difference is a much more reasonable $535, for a base total of $38,970. View 104 Photos The 2019 Jeep Cherokee will be arriving at dealers soon. In addition to front-wheel-drive and two kinds of four-wheel-drive drivetrains, one with a single gear range and another with low range, a selection of three engines will be available. The standard engine on all Latitude, Latitude Plus, and front-wheel-drive Limited is a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter engine with 180 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque. All of those trims can have the optional 3.2-liter naturally aspirated V6 making 271 horsepower and 239 pound-feet of torque. The aforementioned Latitude Plus and Limited trims also have the new turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder available as an option. That engine makes 270 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. The four-wheel-drive Limited, and all Overland and Trailhawk trims have the V6 as a standard engine with the turbo four-cylinder as an option. All engines are coupled to a nine-speed automatic transmission. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 Jeep Cherokee: Detroit 2018 View 21 Photos Image Credit: Drew Phillips, Jeep Jeep Car Buying Crossover SUV Off-Road Vehicles

Stellantis sees vehicle loan durations extended amid banking turmoil

Stellantis is seeing clients seeking longer-term financing and leasing deals for their vehicles as a consequence of higher global interest rates, the carmaker's head for the business said. Chief Affiliates Officer Philippe de Rovira said loans which normally had a three-year maturity were now increasingly moved to four years. "This allows customers to get a car for a monthly instalment that is similar to that they had before," he said. The world's third largest carmaker by sales on Tuesday announced it had completed a plan announced in late 2021 to reshuffle and simplify its leasing and financing operations in Europe. Under its terms, Stellantis created a 50-50 single long term multi-brand leasing company named Leasys with Credit Agricole Consumer Finance. It also set up local joint ventures in European countries for its new Stellantis Financial Services unit, formerly Banque PSA Finance, with BNP Paribas Personal Finance and Santander Consumer Finance. "These banks have always had better funding conditions than those we can have as an automaker," de Rovira said. Benefits of the plan included cutting the number of financing and leasing entities the group runs in each country and the number of IT systems it uses, with expected savings exceeding 30% in this particular area, he added. De Rovira said the group had a huge portfolio of orders it had not yet delivered due to supply chain shortages impacting production. "Demand is not our main issue. The issue is to deliver as fast as we can cars that are in our order portfolio, which is still at record levels," he said. The group aims to expand its corporate leased vehicle fleet to more than one million units in 2026 and to double net income from its so-called banking activities to 5.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion) by 2030. De Rovira said Stellantis was not seeing a downward trend in vehicle pricing. "Probably the significant price increases we have seen in 2021 and 2022 will not be repeated because the context is changing, but for the moment we don't see decreases, we see stabilisation". ($1 = 0.9188 euros) (Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Jan Harvey) Earnings/Financials Plants/Manufacturing Alfa Romeo Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM