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Chrysler slows minivan production, hasn't built VW Routan this year

Chrysler has slowed production of its Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans this week, Automotive News reports. The Windsor, Ontario plant will cut its three shifts from eight hours each to four hours each in an effort "to align production with market demand," a Chrysler spokesperson told AN. Chrysler also builds the closely related Routan minivan for Volkswagen at its Ontario facility, but has not built a single example thus far in 2013.
Sales of Chrysler's minivans fell 15 percent for the first two months of 2013, and a large part of that has to do with the 26-percent drop of the Grand Caravan alone (the T&C was only down by one percent). According to Automotive News data, as of March 1, Chrysler had an unsold inventory of 24,713 Town and Country models and 18,547 Grand Caravans - a 69- and 43-day supply, respectively.
"No sense running full speed now, then have a lot of vehicles sitting around a few months down the line," Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson told AN. Full production is expected to resume again on March 18.

Porsche tops JD Power APEAL study for 12th time

JD Power's 2016 Automotive Performance, Execution, and Layout (APEAL) study hasn't changed much this time around with Porsche coming in at No.1 for the 12th consecutive year, while BMW was close behind in second. Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz tied for third with Land Rover, Lexus, and Lincoln tied for No.5. The APEAL Study, according to JD Power, measures owners' level of excitement and emotional attachment across 77 parameters. Brands and cars are rated on a 1,000-point scale. The study found that new cars with modern safety features including low speed collision avoidance and blind spot monitoring have higher APEAL scores than vehicles without the features. The overall industry score increased from 798 to 801, which JD Power claims was helped by the launch of a variety of new vehicles. This year, 22 out of 30 new or redesigned cars received a higher score than the vehicle's respective segment average. Porsche is once again at the top of the list as the automaker's score increased by three points to 877. BMW outscored Jaguar to take second place with a score of 859, while the British automaker dropped three points from last year with 852 points. Volkswagen overtook Mini to become the top-ranked non-premium brand with 809 points, while the latter automaker trailed behind by one point. At the end of the scale, Smart came in at the very bottom for the second year in a row with a score of 745 points, which represents an increase of 62 points over last year. Fiat's score increased by six points to 755, but still confined the automaker to second-to-worst place for a consecutive year. Mitsubishi's score increased to 770, up from 755, to become the fourth-worst brand, while Jeep fell to third-worst with a decrease in seven points to 756. General Motors received six segment-level awards, followed by Hyundai with five, and BMW and VW earning four apiece. Surprise segment victories include the Chevrolet Camaro, which outscored the Dodge Challenger, and the Lexus RC which ranked above the BMW 4 and 3 Series. For more information on how the automakers ranked, check out the official release on the 2016 APEAL Study below or visit JD Power's website to analyze the graphs. Related Video: Porsche Ranks Highest in APEAL for 12th Consecutive Year; General Motors Receives Six Segment-Level Awards, Hyundai Motor Company Receives Five DETROIT: 27 July 2016 — Popular driver-assist technologies help make vehicles considerably more appealing to their owners, according to the J.D.

Volkswagen considering a four-door, four-seat XL1

According to a report in Autocar, Volkswagen might have more in mind for the XL1 than mining it for advances to grace the next-generation Golf. Aiming to fight the Honda FCEV due for public consumption next year, we're told VW executives have put a four-door, four-seater version of the XL1 - it could be called XL2 - on the drawing board. The impetus is said to come from the top, with VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piëch intent on staying in the deep end of "super-efficent vehicles."
Autocar suspects the necessary changes could raise the weight of the car from 1,749 pounds to 2,068 pounds, which would make it four pounds less than the 2,072-pound Up! we drove a few years ago. Crucially, however, the mag thinks the extra capacity wouldn't change the two-seater's 310-mile-per-gallon rating, with tech tweaks and the aerodynamic benefit of a longer car offsetting the weight. Speculation is that the back seats would be staggered like the fronts in order to maintain the XL1's overall profile.
We recently heard about another XL1 variant that's gone off the radar entirely, the Ducati-engined XLR that we thought we'd see at the Geneva Motor Show and that was said to be going into production, so this one could go the same way. The biggest hurdle to making such an idea a reality, though, could be the price: the current XL1 costs 110,000 euros ($146,116). If VW really is going to compete with the Honda FCEV and the Toyota FCV - $70,000 in Japan - that might be where it wants to start.