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Jeep rocks the Wrangler Red Rock concept in Vegas [w/video]

The SEMA show may have once been all about dropping rides to the floor, but these days it's at least as much about jacking them up on lifted suspensions. And few show cars – or trucks, we should say – managed to embody that spirit at this year's tuner exposition quite as well as the Jeep Wrangler Red Rock you see here. The concept started out life as a Wrangler Unlimited, but instead of four doors, it has none. Or any roof, for that matter. Just a roll cage and a windscreen. What it does have are 17-inch wheels wearing 35-inch BF Goodrich tires and fitted to a suspension lifted by two inches. It also has a reinforced tailgate, power winch, tow hooks... everything, in short, that you could want or need for off-roading, and little more. As you can see, it also looks the business, with a custom hood, body-color grille, matte-finish bumpers, and a brown leather interior. Handsome as it is, though, its rugged beauty runs more than skin deep: lift off the sheetmetal and you'd find electronic locking differentials, a transfer case, and solid axles fore and aft. A more extreme take on the existing Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Hard Rock edition, the Red Rock show truck was done up to honor the organization behind the Easter Jeep Safari that's a favorite among the legions of the Jeep faithful. And while it remains a concept only for the time being, a production version is slated to follow in time to celebrate the event's 50th anniversary next year. Related Video:

Sergio rethinks FCA-GM merger idea, dismisses critics

After many public overtures, Fiat Chrysler Automotive CEO Sergio Marchionne has claimed his company won't be making a hostile takeover bid for General Motors. This is despite widespread speculation that FCA's desire to merge was motivated by its allegedly dire situation. As one unnamed GM exec who spoke to Automotive News earlier this year put it, "Why should [GM] bail out FCA?" "We are not choking. We are in relatively decent shape," Marchionne told journalists attending an FCA shareholder meeting in Amsterdam, AN reports. "We have been publicly rebuffed, we have been rejected and you cannot force these things. I don't want to. At the moment, we have no intention to do anything hostile." Instead of focusing on merging with GM, or any other partners for that matter, FCA will refocus on implementing its ambitious five-year investment plan, which would see it dump $52 billion into its various brands, with a particular focus on Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Jeep. So far the attempt has largely been unsuccessful, especially as it relates to the Italian brands. Earlier this week, additional reports emerged that claimed Alfa was pushing back the Giulia and an unnamed CUV while reassigning resources to updated versions of the Giulietta and MiTo hatchbacks. This is not the first time we've heard about trouble for the Giulia, of course. For Masearti, though, it was the first we'd heard of delays for Alfieri sports car, which allegedly won't appear in 2016, as promised. We can expect a proper breakdown of FCA's adjusted plans when Marchionne and Company reveal an updated product slate next month. Related Video: The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Paul Sancya / AP Alfa Romeo Chrysler Fiat GM Jeep Maserati Sergio Marchionne FCA

Fiat Chrysler target 850k sales in China by 2018

Behind the vanguard of numerous Jeep models, two Chryslers, a smattering of Fiats and Alfa Romeos and local production through a joint venture with Guangzhou Automotive Group (GAG), Fiat Chrysler wants to increase sales in China more than six-fold by 2018. The group sold 130,000 cars in China in 2013, the aim for 2018 being 850,000 cars.
Ultimately it's expected that the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, Wrangler, Renegade, the coming Grand Wagoneer and a sub-Renegade-sized crossover will either be built in or exported to the People's Republic. The Chrysler Town & Country and 300 will join the export list in 2016 and 2018 respectively, according to a report in Automotive News.
With a number of those vehicles not in production or perhaps even envisaged yet, and others not due on the local market until 2018, it will be interesting to see how Fiat Chrysler plans to achieve the target in the specified timeframe. The joint venture with GAG builds two products now, the Dodge Dart-based Fiat Viaggio launched two years ago - supposedly designed just for China - and the just-launched Fiat Ottimo, a hatchback version of the Viaggio. Fiat projected 300,000 Viagio sales in its first two years, that number has been adjusted downward to 94,000 and there doesn't appear to be an analyst alive that sees a good future for Fiat in China's overrun mainstream market. Still, last year's 130,000 group sales in China is a huge jump from 2012 sales of 66,000 units, but less than half the 300,000 units it projected.