It has not been an easy couple of years for the third member of America’s big three. Their products were lame and their profits were even worse, not to mention public perception after the bailout wasn’t that good. While General Motors and Ford have been dominating with new vehicles, Chrysler has been laying low with the same old stuff. Needless to say, this machine has been a long time coming.
With 2010 comes a whole new machine, the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, a stable in the Chrysler lineup for years, redone and ready to dominate the competition. Not that there is much competition for a full size off-road SUV.
Taking cues from the new Dodge Ram, the 2011 Grand Cherokee takes them in a whole new direction that results in one of the best interiors money can buy. Not to mention a vehicle that is quiet and refined on the road, but hard and aggressive in the rough stuff, not that we were able to go in any.
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Say what you want about the violence and gore that comes with the video game Call of Duty, but it is one of the most popular games to have come out in our generation. Actually, it’s so popular that Chrysler has even decided to jump on its bandwagon – or in this case, MPVs – after the automaker announced that they will be building, through their Jeep brand, a Call of Duty-inspired Jeep Wrangler to go in line with the upcoming release of the video game franchise’s latest bloodfest, Call of Duty: Black Ops.
The game, which is scheduled for a November 9, 2010 release, is expected to be wiped out within days of its release. That’s a good thing for Chrysler because they’d look like complete yahoos if the game flopped massively and here they are, flaunting their limited run COD-themed Jeep Wrangler. Not surprisingly, the special edition off-road vehicle – it even makes recurring appearances throughout the game - will also be released at the same time giving those COD fanatics with enough spare change to buy a special edition Jeep Wrangler first dibs on the off-roader.
For the 2011 MY, Jeep will be bringing out the Jeep Liberty in three different versions: Sport, Renegade, and Limited. Depending on the version, the Liberty will be offered with skid plates, tire pressure monitoring (TPM), Hill-start Assist (HSA) and Hill-decent Control (HDC), unique color fenders, fascia, and headlamps. Inside, the Renegade includes a premium instrument panel with an electronic vehicle information center (EVIC) and a leather steering wheel with controls.
The exterior of the Jeep Liberty will be offered with new colors including: Bronze Star, Blackberry Pearl, Bright White Clear, and Deep Cherry Red Crystal Pearl. The interior will get a new steering wheel with standard controls for radio, EVIC, cruise control, and Uconnect phone. There will also be a new media center, including: AM/FM/CD/DVD/MP3 and auxiliary jack with 6.5-in. touch screen, 30 GB hard drive, Uconnect navigation, SIRIUS Traffic, and SIRIUS Travel Link.
Power for the 4X4 will still come from the 3.6L V6 engine mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission.
Prices range between 23,250 and 27,250, which are just a tad lower than last year’s prices. Sales will begin in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Press release after the jump.
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The Jeep Patriot will be seeing a little of a facelift for 2011 with some new exterior styling, interior upgrades, and a few new technologies. Anyone who is interested will be able to catch the three different Patriot configurations - Sport, Latitude, and Latitude X - when the Patriot hits Jeep showrooms towards the end of 2010.
With the mini facelift comes a new front fascia with aggressive styling, standard fog lamps positioned inside the headlamps, a new lower rear fascia, a body-color grille, new 17in. wheels, four new colors, and a 4x4 ride height that has been increased by one inch. Okay, so maybe "mini" isn’t really the most accurate description.
Along with the plethora of exterior changes, the interior of the Jeep Patriot will also be getting some attention with new soft touch front-door trim panels with a padded upper surface, a new center armrest, new cloth interior with premium cloth bucket seats in the front, standard speed control on all models, new backlighting of door switches, door locks, windows and power mirror controls, and standard automatic temperature control on the Latitude X model. The steering has also seen a facelift with integrated controls that allow the driver to operate the radio, cruise control, handsfree phone, and other vehicle functions while keeping their hands on the wheel
Press release after the jump.
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We have seen photos of the 2012 ML-Class before, but we now have some photos with most of the camouflage removed, giving us a clear view of what the new Mercedes-Benz ML will look like.
The wheelbase seems about the same as the current version, but we do know that the car went on a diet. The chassis will be shared with the new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the 2011 Dodge Durango.
The doors have new looks with two bold character lines. We can also see new side mirrors and a large angular grille with chrome bars running horizontal. The headlights appear to be nearly the same as we see on the CL-Class.
Under the hood will be a few motor options. Base models should get a 3.5-liter V6, while a 5.5-liter V8 and a 6.2-liter V8 will likely be on offer. A 3.0-liter diesel should also be available, as well as a hybrid model.
Expect the new ML-Class to be around $45,000 when it hits the showrooms in 2011.
