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Photo: FCA Media website. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) issued a flurry of Dodge-division announcements late this week that, although they tell us little that we didn’t know already, further clarify their strategic direction for Dodge going into the 2019 model year. The Dodge announcements give us a snapshot of an automaker that is continuing to stay the course with two of their current strong suits: fleet sales and performance-focused passenger cars.

Waymo-branded self-driving Chrysler Pacifica. Photo: FCA. It doesn’t take much research to at least get a “Zen sense,” if not a quantitative sense, that auto enthusiasts tend to be, to say the least, ambivalent about the self-driving vehicle juggernaut. And that’s not hard to understand: it's all about the sense of individual freedom and control that comes from owning and driving your own vehicle. The American driver knows that he or she can, theoretically, at least, decide on any given day to pack up the car and go anywhere in this vast country—whether it’s a temporary vacation or a permanent move.

FCA US LLC is recalling an estimated 4.8 million U.S.-market vehicles to upgrade software in their Powertrain Control Modules. The upgrade addresses an unlikely sequence of events that would compromise cruise-control functionality.

First Place design by Eduard Cret. Second Place Design by Emily Bryson. Third Place Design by Jinho So. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) named three high school students last Friday as winners of the 2018 Drive For Design contest, a competition sponsored by the automaker's U.S. Product Design Office.

FCA US LLC is voluntarily recalling an estimated 48,990 SUVs in the U.S. to inspect and replace, as needed, a fuel-supply line. A Company investigation discovered a batch of fuel-supply tubes may have connectors that were incorrectly fitted. If so, they may leak, creating a potential fire risk.

Photo: Fiat-Chrysler media website. It's well known that fleet sales are an important emphasis for Fiat Chrysler's Dodge lineup. This is one of the reasons why Dodge is staying the course with a large sedan like the Dodge Charger, even in the midst of discontinuations of full size sedans like the Ford Taurus and Chevrolet Impala.

Left: today's 2019 Dodge Charger grille teaser. Right: 2018 Dodge Charger grille. Photos: Fiat Chrysler media website. After teasing the market last week with a glimpse of a dual-snorkel hood for the 2019 SRT Challenger Hellcat , Fiat Chrysler released another sneak peak today. This time, it was a tantalizing flash of another automotive orifice: the passenger side of a new grille for the 2019 Dodge Charger performance submodels.

Photo: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles U.S. media website. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles just released a couple of semi-obscured teaser press photos of the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT. And, yes—it looks like they're on a mission to make the Hellcat look even more badass.

Photo: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles media website. Could an automotive writer lose his car-guy card for a headline like that? Some enthusiasts might think so, but consider this: the Fiat 500 Abarth Edition, which, with the turbocharged and twin-intercooled 1.4-liter MultiAir Turbo engine, provides 160 horsepower and 170 lb.-ft. of torque (manual transmission) and 157 horsepower and 183 lb.-ft. of torque (automatic transmission), earned a spot on the U.S. News & World Report 2018 "fastest small cars for the money" list this year.

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio holds a performance record for its class, having clocked a time of 7:51.7 at Green Hell. Photo: Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles media site. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles introduced the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio to the Asian market at the Auto China trade show in Beijing last Wednesday. The new high-performance premium SUV will remain on display at Auto China through Friday, May 4. Alfa Romeo's exhibit stand is in Hall E1 at the New China International Exhibition Center of Beijing.

Alfa Romeo Giulia. Photo: Fiat Chrysler media website. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced last Thursday that the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) honored two models from Alfa Romeo's Quadrifoglio lineup with top awards in two performance categories. TAWA crowned the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio as "Performance SUV of Texas" and the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio as "Performance Sedan of Texas" in their annual Texas Auto Roundup, held at Eagles Canyon Raceway. “The Alfa Romeo brand made a strong showing with the all-new 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio and the 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia during our two days of evaluation,” said Mike Marrs, President of TAWA. “Both vehicles feature impressive style and craftsmanship and the Quadrifoglio editions were a blast to drive, offering excellent performance and handling on the track.”

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles earned kudos recently for building a product that holds its value, when Edmunds designated the winner of the Edmunds Best Retained Value Award in the large car category: the 2018 Dodge Charger. Edmunds selects winners of the Best Retained Value award in each vehicle segment based on the five-year projected residual value. “Buying a new car is a huge financial decision, and our 2018 Edmunds Best Retained Value Awards are designed to help shoppers discover the vehicles that can help them get the most out of their investment,” said Avi Steinlauf, Edmunds’ CEO. “This year’s winners underscore a commitment to quality and reliability, and are good bets to hold their value over the course of ownership.”

Collection Will Initially Be Accessible to FCA Employees Only, But Public Access May Figure Into Future Plans The Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit, former production home of the Dodge Viper. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) announced plans recently to transform the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit, where the iconic Dodge Viper was manufactured, into an internal meeting and display space that will showcase the company’s collection of concept and historic vehicles. Renamed Conner Center, the former manufacturing facility, tucked in a Detroit neighborhood just south of the famed 8 Mile Road, will have space to exhibit 85 of the nearly 400 concept and historic vehicles that will now be stored onsite under one roof. Previously, the Company’s extensive collection was housed in several locations.

In an effort to infuse some fresh energy into the market for the new generations of two classic models, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has deployed aggressive marketing campaigns for the 2018 Jeep Wrangler and the 2019 Jeep Cherokee. Both campaigns are running across television and print, in addition to digital and social channels, including Jeep brand's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels. Each video is the first in the Jeep brand campaigns to launch the respective vehicles. The videos are viewable on Jeep brand's YouTube channel.

No one is more surprised than we are to find ourselves, well, gushing about Chrysler's current lineup. If you're a Chrysler hater, sorry. Yes, we have biases of our own, but we're basically brand agnostic around here. We just like cool vehicles. And the 2018 Dodge Durango R/T and SRT models are just that: a cool vehicle, with clear Mopar performance design cues integrated with surprising smoothness into a three-row SUV platform.

If you know any high schoolers with artistic talent and a passion for cars, the Drive for Design competition, organized by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), could be a door-opening opportunity. The FCA US Product Design Office is looking for aspiring young artists with a passion for automotive design to participate in the 2018 Drive for Design contest. Returning for the sixth consecutive year, the Drive for Design contest challenges all U.S. high school students in grades 10-12 to design a Jeep® Wrangler for the year 2030. The FCA design team also is continuing its partnership with EyesOn Design and Lawrence Technological University for this year’s contest. “The Drive for Design contest is a unique competition designed to help expose young artists to the various career opportunities in automotive design,” said Mark Trostle, Head of Performance, Passenger Car and Utility Vehicle Design, FCA – North America. “This year, we are offering aspiring designers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity t...

Left: 1954 Chrysler Ghia Thomas Special. Photo by "Mr. Choppers" (posted to Wikipedia).  Right: 2018 Ford Fusion (Photo: Ford media website). Are you excited by the car designs you’re seeing today? Or are the lineups, by and large, getting tiresome—because everything seems more and more alike? The sad truth is that, today, with some notable exceptions, many models within a given category—sedans, crossovers, SUVs, even sports coupes—are tending to look dishearteningly similar. To those of us who appreciate the breathtaking looks from the heyday of car design (which, for us, was roughly from the 1950s through perhaps the mid-1970s), the current generation of look-alike fastback sedans, for example, is sad to behold.