After announcing that the new Dodge compact won’t be called a Hornet, speculation began on what it will be named when it’s released. Even though it’s set to unveil at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show in January, Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne still isn’t hinting at what the new Dodge compact will be called, nor has he said what the 2013 replacement for the outgoing Jeep Liberty will be.

Is it OK to love one of your kids more than the others? If you work for Jeep the answer is a resounding yes. After the launch of the Grand Cherokee SRT8, brand enthusiasts might like to see other SRT-badge models, but they won’t. The same goes for the upcoming diesel version, which only recently was confirmed for a return to our shores.

Chrysler is getting some Italian style thanks to former Ferrari designer Lorenzo Ramaciotti, 63, who will now be lending a hand at Chrysler and Lancia.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles slapped Chrysler this month to the tune of $955,000 in fines.

Despite concerns within Jeep, Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne confirmed yesterday that the Wrangler will continue to be manufactured in Toledo, Ohio exclusively.

The future of the Jeep Liberty will be revealed Wednesday when Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne  will visit the Toledo, Ohio plant that currently builds the truck.

For some, it’s been a long time coming, especially as the current Liberty, despite a fairly recent refresh, is one of the oldest vehicles in the Jeep, or for that matter Chrysler portfolio.

A week prior to the Los Angeles Auto Show Jeep is previewing two new “Arctic” special edition models, one Wrangler and one Liberty. Both the Wrangler and Liberty Arctic editions feature a collection of winter-themed accessories inside and out. Both special editions will hit showrooms this month.

When you think of right-hand-drive Jeep Wranglers, no doubt an obvious reference would be those sold in export markets such as the UK, Ireland, Japan or the Pacific Rim.

This year’s SEMA awards were announced Wednesday morning, with the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford F-Series and Jeep Wrangler taking home the awards for Hottest Car, Truck and 4×4 SUV respectively.

Consumer Reports has released the details of its Annual Auto Survey, with bad news for Ford and good news for Jeep. And, as always, the Japanese remain on top when it comes to reliability.

During its annual Truck Rodeo in the city of San Antonio, the Texas Auto Writers’ Association, one of the largest such organizations in the country, declared two Chrysler products as winners in the SUV category.

Chevrolet’s decision to offer a diesel-powered Cruze compact in the U.S. is a sign that GM is testing the waters to see how American’s react to the gasoline alternative. Chrysler, says company CEO Sergio Marchionne, has much more ambitious goals for the often-criticized fuel.

Jeep has scrapped plans to build a replacement for their Patriot and Compass SUVs in Italy, and will instead build a subcompact Jeep product in Italy that will also be badged as a Fiat in world markets.

Chrysler is issuing a recall for a small number of vehicles equipped with the new 3.6-liter “Pentastar” V6. According to the automaker a total of 657 vehicles may be affected and could exhibit a loss of power as a result of manufacturing debris left in the engine.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Jeep Liberty SUVs built between 2002 and 2003 for an issue regarding the premature deployment of airbags.

The results for the most successful cars of 2011 so far are in. Automotive data and marketing solutions company Polk has calculated the results from the first six months of 2011 new vehicle registrations and have come up with the top picks for non-premium and premium models.

Teaming up with Activision Publishing, creators of the famed Call of Duty video game series, Jeep has introduced the MW3 Special Edition Wrangler.

Sand. It can be tricky. Besides often being found in parts of the world where daytime temperatures can be searing hot, it also presents a few other challenges when it comes to four-wheeling.

The auction for the first 2011 Jeep Wrangler customized with Xplore’s Stage 4 package is now up on eBay with 100% of the profits to benefit the National Park Foundation. The unique, hand-built and highly exclusive Wrangler will also come with an annual pass to all national parks and monuments, a once-in-a-lifetime camping experience at a national park of the winner’s choice, plus the winner will be featured in an upcoming issue of Xplore Great Outdoors Magazine.

The new 2012 Jeep Wrangler will be getting a new engine that provides better fuel efficiency with more power and torque. The new 3.6-liter “Pentastar” V6 engine improves fuel efficiency up to 21 miles per gallon, while delivering 285-hp and 260 lb-ft of torque. The Wrangler will also receive a new five-speed automatic transmission to improve shifting and performance. The 3.6-liter Pentastar engine was the winner of the prestigious Ward’s 10 Best Engines award, and for the first time can be mated to a manual transmission. The new engine has 40 percent more horsepower and 10 percent more torque than the outgoing 3.8-liter V6.

Chrysler has announced that it is dropping the MSRP of the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee by $3,220. The base Laredo model, when it goes on sale next month, will start at $26,995 before options and taxes.

The 2014 model year will see the return of the Grand Wagoneer badge to a Jeep. Set to arrive in 2013 it will share its underpinnings with the Dodge Durango, with three rows and seven seats. Likely to be offered with both the Pensatar V6 and the Hemi V8, this model could be the first use of Chrysler’s new 8-speed automatic transmission in a Jeep. That same auto-box is expected to make its way into the Grand Cherokee as well.

Bulgarian tuner Vilner is becoming quite the interior specialists, this time revisiting a Hennessey Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT 600 project. The first time around was back in October 2010, when Vilner got their hands on the 600-hp, V8-powered Grand Cherokee after Hennessey had installed their performance package. This time around though, Vilner redid the entire interior with a similar red and black theme similar to the Jeep’s exterior.

Chrysler has taken the title of number one light-truck seller in Canada from Ford in the first half of 2011. Deliveries in the light truck segment have grown at twice the rate of the rest of the Canadian auto industry, and Chrysler led in sales last month for the first time in 2011.

Because the Patriot and Compass weren’t, which must have been hard for Jeep to resist slapping them with “Trail Rated” badges. This crossover will be even smaller than those two, based on a Fiat platform but developed out of Detroit.

Chrysler has just released the pricing for the high performance 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 starting from $55,295. As one of the most powerful SUVs on the market, this Jeep packs a 6.4-liter HEMI V8 mated to a five-speed automatic transmission, cranking out 465-hp and 465 lb-ft of torque. This is by far the most powerful Jeep ever offered. It will rip of a 0-62 mph time in 4.8 seconds with a top speed limited to 155 mph.

Jeep has released the JK-8 conversion package, based on the current Wrangler Unlimited. The installation of the kit involves removing the doors, roof and bumpers, as well as drilling out spot welds on some body panels. The kit comes with a new shortened roof panel made out of fiberglass, stamped sheet metal reinforcements for the body panels that become the truck bed and a converted sport bar.

Legendary NASCAR driver and off-road pilot Robby Gordon has been invited to attend the Bullrun Live Rally commonly know as, “The Bullrun”. One of the most glamorous (perhaps second only to the Gumball) of high-end luxury automotive rallies, it’s limited to 100 entries consisting of the finest high-end cars in the world taking on an epic eight day rally race across the US. In the past, the Bullrun has attracted celebrities such as Dennis Rodman, Hayden Christensen, Bam Margera and Kim Kardashian.

There are approximately 500 million people of Facebook and BMW has used this to their advantage. Just over 6 million people  ‘Like’ the BMW brand, holding first place of the Top 10 most liked automotive companies. This means that over 1 percent of Facebook users enjoy the BMW brand. The next closest rival was Audi which has half of the ‘Likes’ BMW has.

The official BMW Facebook page features fantastic photos, videos, links to national fan pages, and members are also allowed to post as well. As one member put it “if God doesn’t drive a BMW, then why is the sky blue and white?”

The Bavarian automaker currently owns and maintains fifty-four separate Facebook pages associated with its various geographic regions, business segments and products. BMW was also declared the “Most Influential Automaker on Facebook”

Check out the Top 10 most like automotive brands after the jump!

The New England Motor Press Association has voted and presented the ‘Official Winter Vehicle of New England Award’ to the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Although Chrysler is maintaining that it’s current priorities still lie elsewhere, the concept of a Jeep pickup remains near and dear for the brand’s CEO John Manley.

Jeep hasn’t offered a true pickup since the late and still lamented, Cherokee based 1986-92 Comanche (shown above). However, if brand CEO John Manley gets his way, it’s likely a Jeep with a bed will return to the lineup sometime in the future.

Should Maserati build an SUV? Well, that doesn’t really matter because they will and it won’t be what you’re expecting. One would imagine the SUV would be dripping in fine Italian materials but the underpinnings of this truck will be very American. The  vehicle will be based on the brand-new Jeep Grand Cherokee, but insiders have said it will be hard to spot the resemblance. The interior will be fitted with plush Italian leather as well as wood accents throughout the inside.

Hard-hitting Consumer Reports, recently tested a plethora of updated Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles, revealing that while Detroit’s number three automaker has made significant gains in terms of vehicle improvement, levels of quality between vehicles remain varied and there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Chrysler has said that it is recalling some 11,351 vehicles from the 2011 model year, including Chrysler 200s and Town & Country minivans, Dodge Avengers, Calibers, Journeys, Nitros and Grand Caravans, as well as Jeep Compass, Patriot and Wrangler models.

A rather scary recall is creeping up for owners of Jeep‘s Grand Cherokee sold between 1993-2004. The recall is being demanded by The Center for Auto Safety, stating that a defective fuel tank design can cause the gas tank to rupture in the event of a rear-end collision. Adding fuel to the fire (sorry, we couldn’t resist) is Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety stating that those affected Grand Cherokees are “the most dangerous vehicle on the road today”.

Chrysler has announced that Ralph Gilles will now serve as the President and CEO of the SRT division, also referred to as the Chysler Street and Racing Technology brand. SRT is responisble for building Chryslers high performance vehicles.

A Jurassic Park Jeep Sahara Edition Wrangler replica was up for grabs earlier on eBay and it looks pretty sweet. The graphics are painted on, instead of vinyl use, giving it better longevity. There’s even a pretty cool light bar that is still functional with each of the four lights being controlled by individual joysticks mounted to the dashboard.

The Jeep Wrangler will finally get the Chrysler 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 for the 2012 model year. Since 2007, the Wrangler has used the 3.8-liter V6 engine, which replaced the bullet proof 4.0-liter inline six.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently opening a probe on 2007-2008 Nissan Altimas and 2007-2008 Jeep Wranglers for issues that may or may not result in a recall.

Looking to transform your Jeep Wrangler into something more fun? Hauk Designs is offering a huge collection of customization options for your Jeep Wrangler, allowing you to pick and choose exactly what you want out of your build. Hauk Designs will start with any 2011 Jeep Wrangler and transform it to a real rock raiding machine with performance packages that can push 850-hp if you’ve got a 7.2L HEMI under the hood.

Professional wrestling legend Macho Man Randy Savage died today after apparently suffering a heart attack and crashing his 2009 Jeep Wrangler into a concrete median and then colliding with a tree in Seminole, Florida.

Jeep has just hired and filmed a commercial with Lenny Kravitz to give the brand a new cool look. The commercial features Lenny Kravitz off- roading in the backwoods in a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. The commercial also features Lenny Kravitz’s new song from his album “Rock Star City Life”.

Check out the video for yourself after the jump!

With consumers in search of higher fuel economy from their vehicles, diesel sales are projected to rise drastically over the next few years. That, at least, is the opinion of Peter Marks, CEO of Bosch operations for North and South America, a supplier of diesel engine parts and one that has significant stake in seeing this prediction come true.

The Volo Auto Museum will be hosting one of the most comprehensive Hollywood car auctions ever on June 8th. Based out of Illinois, the auction will feature plenty of Hollywood’s most famous rides including the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine and Herbie, from Lindsey Lohan’s 2005 feature film. And the coolest part of the auction? No reserves!

Our friends over at Left Lane News have grabbed the first video of the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 clearing its pipes, and just like the last version, it sounds downright mean.

Unveiled at the 2011 New York Auto Show, the fastest Jeep packs a 6.4L Hemi V8 with 465 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque. 60 mph comes up in 4.8 seconds, and the Cherokee is also capable of pulling 0.9 G on the skidpad. Jeep’s traditional 4-wheel drive system is replaced with an AWD setup that can send 100 percent of power to one rear wheel if needed.

Hit the jump to check out the video of the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 revving its engine, and don’t forget to turn up your speakers.

Proving that you might actually be able to stop a train wreck that’s already in progress, under the stewardship of Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler has posted a profit. Blaming high interest rates on its government loans for not climbing into the black earlier, Marchionne today reported a net income of $116 million, compared to a net loss of $197 million in Q1 last year.

NHTSA is investigating some 370,000 Jeep Liberty SUVs due to potential rust issues involving the lower control arms. NHTSA has recieved 9 complaints so far regarding rear control arm failure due to corrosion, with two of the incidents occurring at speeds greater than 50 mph.

Calling it, “the most powerful and technologically advanced Jeep ever,” Jeep brand CEO Mike Manley today unveiled the new 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 at the New York Auto Show. And he isn’t kidding.

It wouldn’t be an American auto show without a new special edition Jeep model. Eclipsed in its debut by the new 2012 Grand Cherokee SRT8 today at the New York Auto Show, the Wrangler Mojave is one of the few custom Jeeps worthy of serious mention.

Calling it, “the most powerful and technologically advanced Jeep ever,” Jeep brand CEO Mike Manley today unveiled the new 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 at the New York Auto Show. And he isn’t kidding.

Jeep‘s previous generation Grand Cherokee spawned an on-road performance version from the Chrysler Group’s SRT division and ever since the new GC’s debut the same has been expected of the latest and greatest Jeep – especially since the reveal of the Charger SRT8 and it’s new 6.4-liter V8 engine.

Rumors had indicated that Jeep would unveil a high-powered version of its Grand Cherokee at the New York Auto Show this week, and a new report by Automotive News seems to confirm as much. But the Grand Cherokee SRT8 won’t be the only heavyweight to hit the stage in New York, with the Chrysler brand also preparing to unveil a more potent version of its 300 sedan.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee will once again be offered with a diesel powerplant says Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. Jeep cut the diesel option from its flagship SUV when it introduced the current generation model and Jeep has been officially quiet on its return – until Marchionne’s comments now. An exact date for the new diesel model’s introduction was not revealed, but Marchionne did say it would arrive before 2013.

China has taken the step of suspending imports of current model Jeep Wranglers as a result of a series of fires.

Enthusiasts have wanted them for a while—a low-revving torque monster under the hood of our Jeep Wranglers or clean-burning Grand Cherokees. Now Jeep executives are actively considering the idea of importing diesel models to the United States.

For some, the Easter Jeep Safari at Moab, where off-roaders from across the world to tackle the trails of Utah’s Red Rock country, is a big deal. So big, in fact, that Jeep is choosing the mid-April event to unveil six new models hopped up by Mopar.

It’s becoming somewhat of a tradition. The Moab Easter Safari, an annual get together for Jeep fans is also a good opportunity for the brand to showcase upcoming vehicles and ideas.

Chrysler will have a short 2011 model year, as its revamped efforts for this year haven’t even finished arriving, while ordering for the 2012 model year cars will begin in just over a month.