Mopar Insiders Articles

Viral Challenger SRT HELLCAT Video Lands Driver In Jail Driver Does 198mph On Public Highway... William Jefferson's HELLCAT Top-Speed Recorded From Viral Video. (YouTube). A Raleigh, North Carolina man is making headlines after taking his 707 horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT HELLCAT on a high-speed run on public roads. According to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, they arrested 22-year-old William Jefferson after a viral video of top-speed run of his HELLCAT went viral. Williams, hit a top-speed of 198 mph on US-1 back in July. A video was made of the Wake County, North Carolina run and posted to social platforms Facebook and YouTube. It didn’t take long for someone to tip-off authorities about Williams’ late-night exploits...

FCA Launches U.S. Dealer Market Investment Program FCA With Chrysler Capital & Ally Financial – Provides Startup Funding... FCA US LLC introduced a new program last month aimed at identifying, developing and placing dealer candidates as it works to strengthen and enhance its U.S. dealership network. The Dealer Market Investment Program will cultivate and provide financial support to proven, high-potential individuals who want to operate a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram or Alfa Romeo-Maserati dealership but have limited funds. The program seeks to match potential dealers with specific markets where they can succeed. “This program places the support of FCA behind high-potential dealer candidates and tells them we have their backs as they...

Is The Wagoneer & Grand Wagoneer Delayed Again? It Might Be For A Very Very Good Reason... 1991 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Final Edition. (Jeep). According to our sources, the upcoming 2020 Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer (WS) models have been delayed once again. FCA US has been stating the historic Jeep nameplate would be returning since 2013, however the vehicle has been pushed back repeatedly. However, this time it might be for a very good reason. FCA US confirmed on Jan. 8, 2017, that it would invest a total $1 billion to retool and modernize Warren Truck to produce the all-new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer and the south plant of the Toledo Assembly Complex (Ohio) to build an all-new Jeep pickup truck. These actions are planned to...

The 2018 Woodward Dream Cruise Is Officially In The Books: Week Long Events, Bring The Automotive World Back To The Motor City Suburbs... Wow, what a week. We started the week off at the 4th annual Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge event, which featured a closed portion of Woodward Avenue for amateur drag racing. Now we ended it this past Saturday by enjoying the official day of the Woodward Dream Cruise. In August 1995, Nelson House and a group of volunteers looked to relive and recreate the nostalgic heydays of the 50s and 60s, when youth, music and Motor City steel roamed Woodward Avenue, America’s first highway. That year, 250,000 people participated—nearly ten times the number expected. The rest, as they say, is history. Today...

Beckman Triumphs In All-Mopar Dodge//SRT Funny Car Final At Brainerd Tommy Johnson Jr. Takes Runner-Up In All-DSR Final Round... Jack Beckman and his Infinite Hero Foundation Team Celebrate Their Win At The Lucas Oil Nationals. (Mopar). Jack Beckman raced to victory in an all-Mopar Dodge//SRT Funny Car final round matchup with teammate Tommy Johnson Jr., at the NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minnesota, taking his second win of the season and the seventh of the year for a Mopar-powered Dodge//SRT Funny Car driver. Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Beckman’s triumph is the 28th of his career in 56 final rounds, and his first at Brainerd International Raceway. Both Beckman and Johnson clinched spots in the NHRA Countdown to the...

Mexico’s #1 Commercial Van: Ram ProMaster Rapid: Back To The Bare Basics... We all know about the Ram ProMaster and ProMaster City vans that are sold in the United States and Canada. What many people don’t know is that ProMaster is sold in Mexico with a another variant called the Ram ProMaster Rapid. Based off the Brazilian Fiat Fiorino commercial van, which in turn is based on of the same architecture as the Fiat Uno. 2018 Ram ProMaster Rapid Van. (Ram Mexico). The ProMaster Rapid is powered by the 1.4-liter FIRE flex-fuel four-cylinder. The engine makes 84 horsepower @ 5,500 rpm and 90 lb.-ft. @ 4,500 rpm. The 1.4-liter is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. The ProMaster Rapid comes with an independent McPherson front...

Ram’s Midsize Offering For The Middle East – Ram 1200: It's Not A Dakota, It's Not Even Really A FCA Vehicle... Yesterday we showed you the Mexico-only 2018 Ram ProMaster Rapid, and explained how it is part of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) steps into expanding the Ram brand globally with unique vehicles to a specific market. Today, we are going to talk about another one, the 2018 Ram 1200 pickup. The Ram 1200 will launched in 2017 in both Single and Double Cab configurations, with three trim levels and a variety of gasoline and diesel engines. Ram 1200 Metric-Ton Pickup. (Ram Middle East). All versions of the Ram 1200 have a maximum height of 1,775 mm (68.9-inches), are up to 1,785 mm (70.2-inches) wide and have a wheelbase...

Six Dodge Durangos Stolen From Assembly Plant: Ten Vehicles Stolen From Lot In The Last Month... 2018 Dodge Durango SRT. (Dodge.) It looks like the problem with thieves stealing vehicles from assembly plants around the Metro Detroit area continues. This time, six new Dodge Durango models were stolen from a holding lot located at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant (JNAP) in Detroit yesterday. The incident happened at 3 a.m. when the thieves crashed through the security gate. Police have yet to confirm which models were stolen, but it sounds like most if not all were the 475 horsepower Durango SRT models. One of which struck a light pole before taking off. To see the entire article, click the link below...

FCA US Toledo Machining Plant To Build Key Component For First Plug-In Hybrid Jeep®: Wrangler PHEV To Launch In 2020 Model Year... 2018 Jeep Wrangler (JL) Rubicon 4x4. (FCA). FCA US announced yesterday that it has awarded the production of the Power Electronics module for the Jeep® Wrangler PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) to its Toledo Machining Plant, positioning the 54-year-old Ohio facility to play a key role in helping the Company meet future regulatory requirements. Toledo Machining Plant, Perrysburg, Ohio. (FCA). As part of the Capital Markets Day presentation on June 1, 2018, FCA committed to expanding its electrified propulsion systems in global architectures spanning the full range of vehicle segments. The Jeep...

This story goes up tomorrow morning at 7:30am EST... NJ Dealer Under Fire For Viral Flash Flooding Video: Local Homeowners Blame Dealer For Flash Flooding Aftermath... This past weekend, torrential rains hit the northern part of the state of New Jersey causing massive flash flooding in about half-dozen counties. Hundreds of homes were damaged over the weekend causing a state of emergency. In the town of Little Falls, New Jersey, a video of about a dozen vehicles went viral after they were caught in rushing flood waters from the Peckman River. The vehicles were then washed away and slammed into an overpass on Route 46. Frank Esposito, owner of Route 46 Chrysler, Jeep Dodge is now underfire from local homeowners for the vehicles...

Later today, we will be bring you a two part article (Part #1 today, Part #2 next Thursday) about the design process behind the 2006 Dodge Challenger R/T Concept and what it took to get it into production for the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8. Throwback Thursday: The History Of The Modern Challenger (Part 1): We Go Over The Modern Challenger From Concept, To Launch... 2006 Dodge Challenger R/T Concept Sketch. (Dodge) In creating the new Dodge Challenger concept car the designers at Chrysler Group’s West Coast Pacifica Studio knew they had a rich heritage to draw upon. They also knew they had an obligation to “get it right.” January 8th, 2006, Dodge introduces the 2006 Dodge Challenger Concept car. This would have shocked the world...

This article will be up at 10am EST on 8/15, figured I would give our forum members a taste of what we got in store for Wednesday... Challenger SRT – Dual-Snorkel VS Air-Grabber Hood: We Look At The Air-Grabber Hood vs The New 2019 Dual-Snorkel Hood... The interwebs have been blowing up about the people’s opinion on the all-new 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT HELLCAT and SRT HELLCAT Redeye’s dual-snorkel hood. Some people are complaining that they don’t like it as much as the 2018 SRT HELLCAT hood (which is now on the 2019 R/T Scat Pack), and some are rejoicing the new hood because of the 10 additional horsepower it brings to the Challenger SRT HELLCAT. 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT HELLCAT Widebody. (Dodge). First off, let’s talk about how...

2019 Dodge Charger SXT AWD Options & Pricing List: Dodge's New 2019 AWD Option For Charger! 2019 Dodge Charger SXT AWD. (Dodge). Gone is the GT AWD, say hello to the Charger SXT AWD. The Charger SXT AWD model, new for 2019, is powered by the award-winning Pentastar V-6 engine, rated at 300 horsepower and 264 lb.-ft. of torque, and mated to the TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission, delivering up to 27 mpg on the highway. The all-wheel-drive system is automatic with an active transfer case and front-axle disconnect, which helps minimize powertrain parasitic losses. Available options on the SXT AWD are a new Caramel Nappa leather interior, Houndstooth cloth sport seats and the Blacktop Package, which includes a new 19-inch...

Here is our video review of the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit EcoDiesel. Overall I was very impressed with this high quality luxury SUV. My written review with tons of pictures should be up within the next few days to a week as I have to find time to get it done while I'm traveling.

Thanks to @Bili for helping to write this article... The Jeep Renegade’s New 1.3-Liter Turbo For 2019: Our First Look At This New Turbo... About a month ago, we broke the news about the 2019 Jeep Renegade for the North American market getting a new 1.3-liter turbo engine. The engine is based on the new GSE or “Global Small Engine” family. Since 2016, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have built two versions of the GSE engines without turbos for the Brazilian-market Fiat Uno. Back in May, FCA decided to show off two of the latest versions of the GSE family. Both will be used in the Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X globally, but only the 1.3-liter will be used in North America. 1.3-liter Turbo “T4” GSE Engine. (FCA) Internally called “T3”...

2019 Ram 1500 eTorque V-6 Ordering Has Started: New Mild-Hybrid System Is Standard On Most Trim Levels... Our sister site 5thGenRams.com has been getting a lot of questions of when the all-new 2019 Ram 1500 equipped with the new 3.6-liter Pentastar eTorque V-6 would be available. Well we are glad to finally tell you that ordering has started for the new powertrain. The upgraded eTorque version of the Pentastar V-6 is the standard engine in most trim levels of the 2019 Ram 1500, specifically tuned for truck duty and rated at 305 horsepower and 269 lb.-ft. of torque. The newest Pentastar V-6’s advanced technologies, such as wide-range variable valve timing and two-step variable valve lift, deliver the optimal blend of power and fuel...

Richard Rawlings Crashes HELLCAT Widebody At Roadkill Nights: Hits Concrete Barrier During Crazy Run... Richard Rawlings In The Burnout Box At Roadkill Nights. (Dodge). During yesterday’s Roadkill Nights event on Woodward Avenue in front of M1 Concourse, Fast & Loud star and Gas Monkey Garage owner Richard Rawlings hit the concrete barrier wall during the first round race while racing NHRA Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett. Rawlings was past of an 8-car celebrity field that featured celebrities from the automotive entertainment industry. The driver lineup included “Roadkill” co-hosts David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan, Richard Rawlings of Discovery’s “Fast n’ Loud,” NHRA Mopar funny car driver Matt Hagan, Cristy Lee of “Barrett-Jackson...

Roadkill Nights Kicks Off Woodward Dream Cruise Week: 40,000 People Attend The Drag Racing Event... FIAT 500 Abarth and Dodge Challenger SRT Demon at Roadkill Nights. (MoparInsiders) The fourth annual “Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge” kicked off Metro Detroit’s week-long celebration of the Woodward Dream Cruise, this past weekend. This was the third consecutive year the event was held at M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan. The event closes down a 1/8 mile section of historic Woodward Avenue, where overnight crews turn a busy main throughfare into a prepped drag strip ready to entertain thousands of fans. 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. (MoparInsiders) The annual event brought 40,000 people to the M1 Concourse grounds. Not just...

Inside Design: 2004 Jeep Rescue Concept: Jeep® Rescue - Unequalled, Unmatched, Ultimate Ability... 2004 Jeep Rescue Concept. (Jeep). Designed for the most extreme situations and unforgiving conditions, the Jeep® Rescue concept is not only the ultimate type of search and rescue vehicle – it’s the ultimate execution of a Jeep off-road vehicle. Combine legendary Jeep off-road capability with state-of-the-art search and rescue technology, the Jeep Rescue is designed to reach areas in the harshest, most daunting mountainous and desert areas. “Jeep Rescue is the supreme trail search and research vehicle – one that only Jeep could build,“ said Trevor Creed, Senior Vice President, Chrysler Group Design. To read the rest of the article...

Roadkill Nights Attracts Some Amazing Machines: Tech Inspection, Gives Us A Peek Of Some Amazing Cars... 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee. (Mopar Insiders). One of the best things about Roadkill Nights isn’t the racing on Woodward Avenue, but registration for big event. It’s a chance to see the competition, check out some amazing cars and meet some new friends. This year was no exception. Cars Await Tech Inspection at Roadkill Nights. (Mopar Insiders). Featuring two classes for drag racing this year, Big Tire and Small Tire, a cash purse of $30,000 is up for grabs. As part of the overall $40,000 purse, the largest cash purse ever offered at “Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge,” an additional $10,000 will be awarded to the celebrity...