Autoblog

News out of Toledo is that Chrysler plans to drop either the Jeep Liberty or the Dodge Nitro within four years and merge the two vehicles into one. These two 'utes are built on the same exact platform, use basically the same engines and are built in the same Toledo plant. There is no good reason for both of them to exist, which makes us wonder why they ever did in the first place and why it will take three years to correct. Regardless, considering that Jeep will always be the off-road brand, it would make most sense to keep the Liberty name going. Losing the Nitro, meanwhile, might actually help Dodge improve its image as a volume performance brand.

This convergence of duplicate vehicles is part of Chrysler's Project Genesis plan. Under the plan, dealers will begin to offer Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles under the same roof. Other nameplates that are or should be converged include the Jeep Compass/Jeep Patriot and Dodge Durango/Chrysler Aspen, the latter of which could see themselves replaced by a new model with Jeep underpinnings.

[Source: The Toledo Blade]

click above to view more high-res pics of the 2008 Jeep Liberty

Employees at Jeep's factory in Toledo, Ohio reported back to work this week after two months of mandatory downtime. The good news is that they still have their jobs; the bad news is that they've been told to expect another four weeks off before the end of the year. This time, however, the shutdowns will be scheduled in week-long intervals instead of covering an entire four-week period. The slowdown of SUV sales has been widely covered and the Jeep brand has not been immune, including its bread-and-butter Wrangler model that had proven extremely popular a short while back when the first-ever four-door version was unveiled. Of course, back then gas was below $3 a gallon. Besides the Wrangler, Jeep also makes the Liberty and Dodge Nitro at the Toledo plant.


[Source: 13 ABC]

UPDATE: Back by popular demand, direct download of the podcast has been added as a link below.

The biggest news of the past week: the suckfest that was the Knight Rider movie. Alex liveblogged it so that we didn't have to watch. Sure it was crap, but was it really that bad? The original was a clunker, too, remember. There's car stuff going on, too, and we move on to covering what's in our respective Autoblog Garages. Keep an eye out for some new reviews, and John has a podcast-exclusive announcement, too.

We spin off into a small car smackdown, postulate on who should buy Jaguar if Tata flips them, and boomerang back to our MINI vs. Aveo sales number deathmatch. In this week's installment of "Fords We Don't Get," there's a new Austrailian Falcon that is available in full-on sinister. It's badass in FPV trim, not available here, and Alan Mullaly wants one, too. One Ford we are getting is the Fiesta (Verve) and that's something to actually be excited about. That's about it, thanks to Adam Curry for the plug, it's 52 minutes of fun this week.

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It was sweet, sweet victory for Anne Gemkow of Chicago as she pocketed the keys to her new Jeep Liberty, recently. She was the lucky licker in the Sweetest Day the Jeep Way contest in which contestants had to lick clean the grilles of seven chocolate-covered Jeep products.

The first two to finish were pitted against each other in a Jeep Liberty full of 25,000 pieces of wrapped candy in search of the vehicle's keys. Gemkow stuck it out and drove home with a new Jeep and probably a sore tongue.

Read more about the contest in Chrysler's press release after the jump.

[Source: Chrysler LLC]

You've heard of death by chocolate, but on Oct. 18, Chrysler will attempt Jeep by chocolate. The company is covering seven Jeeps in chocolate and the first two of seven contestants to lick ther vehicles clean will advance to the next level, searching for the keys to a 2008 Jeep Liberty in another Jeep filled with candy.

The sugary stunt, called "Sweetest Day the Jeep Way," is in conjunction with Sweetest Day, a holiday invented 85 years ago by Cleveland candy makers.

If you think you have what it would take to lick six other chocolate-chomping contestants, go to Chrysler's Sweetest Day Web site, fill out the form and write a 250-word essay on why you should be picked to lick. Hopefuls also must be residents Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania or West Virginia and at least 18 years old.

For more information, the full press release is after the jump.

[Source: Chrysler]

click above image to view our high-res gallery of the 2008 Jeep Liberty

Jeep has been on a tear lately, thanks entirely to the popularity of the Wrangler in the marketplace. The Jamboree kids at Jeep would like to give the Wrangler some help, and as such they've decided to price the all-new 2008 Liberty SUV below the outgoing model by an average of about $1,000. A base 2008 Jeep Liberty 4x2 will carry an MSRP of $20,990, which includes a $660 destination charge, when it arrives at dealerships later this summer. That's $1,270 less than the 2007 model, according to Jeep. The 4x4 model, meanwhile, will start at $22,600, or $1,170 less than the current model. Finally, the range-topping Limited model will start at $25,175 for the 4x2 and $26,785 for the 4x4. The Liberty's 3.7L V6 producing 210 horsepower and 235 ft-lbs. of torque will be a carryover from last year, but the new SUV can now be had with the industry first Sky Slider full-length open canvas roof for $1,200.

You can view the new Liberty from a variety of angles in our gallery below, and check out Jeep's pricing press release after the jump.

[Source: Jeep]

Today's tale involving the questionable decision-making skills of criminals comes from Norwalk, CT. It seems that one Jazrahel King had visited the Wholesalers of America used car lot on Main Street in the hopes of test driving some vehicles. The staff at the dealership nixed the drives, however, after discovering that Mr. King had some issues with his credit.

According to sales manager Diego Coleman, this particular setback did not exactly deter King, who was seen by staffers walking around the lot at the same time Coleman was prepping a recently-sold 2003 Jeep Liberty for customer pick-up. The Jeep, which had the keys in it, must have been left unattended for a moment, because the next thing anyone knew was that both the SUV and Jazrahel King were history.

Read on to learn how not to flip your boost.

[Source: AP via the Connecticut Post]

If you own a 2007 Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep listen up, because you're likely affected by Chrysler's latest recall. DaimlerChrysler is bringing home more than 68,000 vehicles to reprogram balky brake computers.

The 11 affected models are 2007 versions of the Sebring, 300, Charger, Magnum, Caliber, Commander, Grand Cherokee, Liberty, Nitro and Compass. Whew.

Chrysler says computers in the recalled vehicles' could fail, leading to a loss of antilock brakes, traction control and speedomter functions. We don't remember much from our drivers' ed class, but we're pretty sure brake failure is hardly ever a good thing. Thankfully DC says nobody's been hurt yet.

Oh, and you Sebring drivers must have broken a mirror or something. While one team of crack DC mechanics gives your car a brain transplant, another team will be reteaching it to defrost your windshield. So take a book or something. That particular recall affects about 6,000 new Sebrings.

[Source: Reuters]

The Dodge Nitro is now rolling off the assembly line at Chrysler's Toledo North Assembly Plant in Ohio, preparing to hit a dealership near you starting later this fall.

The key to the Nitro's production is Chrysler's oh-so-flexible plant, where it shares a line with the Jeep Liberty. Depending upon sales, the line can put out 100 percent Liberty models, 100 percent Nitro models, or anything variation in between. The 150 robots on the line, which replaced expensive tooling that would normally only be set up for the production of one model, are programmed to swap between vehicles.

The plant added a third shift to accommodate the production of 1,157 vehicles per day.

[Source: Chrysler]

A week after announcing the diesel-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee, DaimlerChrysler announced on Monday that it has stopped production of its diesel Jeep Liberty.

The oil-burning Liberty launched in 2005 to test the U.S. market's appetite for the fuel, but as the engine in the Liberty does not have DaimlerChrysler's new clean-burning diesel technology, it doesn't meet next year's federal emissions standards. Upgrading the diesel Liberty was deemed too expensive to be worthwhile, so the company is nixing it.

Over 11,000 diesel Libertys have been sold in the 16 months since its U.S. launch. We suspect the Liberty will have diesel power again one day, just not tomorrow.

[Sources: Reuters, DaimlerChrysler]