2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, Four Wheel Drive, Automatic on 2040-cars

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Weekly Recap: GM scales back as Russian auto market teeters

General Motors' extensive plans to scale back its Russian operations are the latest sign the automotive market in the former superpower is collapsing – and there are few signs of recovery. GM said Wednesday it will stop selling mainstream Chevrolets and shutter the entire Opel brand in Russia. The moves leave GM with a luxury-focused presence consisting of Cadillac and Chevrolet's Corvette, Camaro and Tahoe. The cutbacks will be completed by the end of the year. The automaker will also idle its factory in St. Petersburg and end a contract-assembly agreement with Russian manufacturer GAZ. "We had to take decisive action in Russia to protect our business," Opel Group CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann said in a statement. "We confirm our outlook to return the European business to profitability in 2016 and stick to our long-term goals." GM is the latest automaker to scale back in Russia as the economic conditions, volatile currency and uncertainty over the conflict in the Ukraine all have sandbagged new car sales. Last month, vehicle sales collapsed 38 percent in Russia to 128,298 units, according to the Association of European Business, which records sales. Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB automobile manufacturers committee, didn't even feign optimism in a statement announcing the figures. "The market is entering a very difficult phase now, and February is only the beginning," he said. "Industry sentiment is the next few months will be extremely difficult and the market bottom has yet to be found." The dovetails with industry experts, who predict the Russian auto sector will remain in the doldrums. IHS said earlier this year it expects Russia's sales to slip to just 1.8 million units in 2015, which is a 40-percent drop from 2012. Other News & Notes Chief leads Jeep's Easter Safari stable Jeep is bringing seven attention-getting concepts to Moab for its annual Easter Safari off-roading celebration in Utah, but the Chief is perhaps the standout of the group. It salutes the 1970s Cherokee with a throwback appearance and surfer styling cues. The Chief has a custom modified razor grille made famous by the Wagoneer, and it rolls on 17-inch slotted mag wheels. The surf theme comes in with ocean blue paint, floral cloth and leather seats and a tiki-style shifter handle. Based on the Jeep Wrangler, the Chief has removable sides, a 3.6-liter V6 engine and a six-speed manual gearbox.

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.

Jeep spied testing Hellcat-powered Grand Cherokee Trackhawk

The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is coming. We know this, because Mike Manley, the head of Jeep, said so. We showed you this brief spy video a while back, but now we have our clearer images of the Trackhawk undergoing testing. And it looks just like a normal Grand Cherokee SRT. Yeah, anti-climactic, we know. The four shots we have show a bit of camo over the front bumper and grille, likely concealing a tweaked design or visible bits of the 6.2-liter, supercharged V8. It looks like there's a rather substantial opening below the upper grille, almost like a ram-air system. There's also a smidge of what looks like tape on the front wheel arches, although this might not mean much of anything. What's interesting is what isn't here. There's no perceivable change to the back of the car. The exhaust pipes look like they're about the same size, there's no noticeable changes to the aerodynamics, and in fact, there's not even any camouflage. Jeep also hasn't updated the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk's hood, which is somewhat surprising considering the changes for every other Hellcat-equipped vehicle (concepts included). You can check out our earliest look at the Trackhawk up top. As for when this monstrous Grand Cherokee will debut, we're expecting it to arrive sometime in 2017, perhaps on FCA's home turf at the Detroit Auto Show. Related Video: