Jeep Grand Cherokee 2007 News

Manufacturers including BMW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), Peugeot and Citroen have issued recalls via the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

New Honda Jazz sets new benchmark for rear view cameras: $14,990.

The wholesale restructuring of the US car industry has yielded some little gems of information, some of them from Chrysler.

The car industry uses a web of alliances to survive.Lust, affairs, one-night stands, engagements, marriages and divorces — it can be hard sharing your love. It can also be expensive, especially if the human analogy is applied to the car business.DaimlerChrysler's recent divorce cost the now-solo Daimler AG a cool $33 billion.Daimler and its former partner, now known by her maiden name of Chrysler Group, still share the kids.These include shared components and manufacturing, including the Chrysler Crossfire (based on the previous Mercedes-Benz SLK) and Jeep Grand Cherokee, which uses Mercedes' V6 diesel engine and transmission.Daimler-Benz and Chrysler courted in the late 1990s, sealing their association in 1998 with a new name, DaimlerChrysler.The marriage was mutually beneficial. Daimler gained economies of scale and a new customer for engines, transmissions and an outlet for its old platforms. The previous Mercedes E-Class shares the same platform as the Chrysler 300C.Chrysler gained unprecedented, cost-effective access to the drivetrains used to power its distinctively styled cars.Of the divorce, shareholders of Daimler- Chrysler spitefully said “I knew it wouldn't work”.Marriages may be difficult, but alliances are what keep many car companies afloat.All these inter-relationships are spurred by one goal — profit. So competitive is the car industry that every dollar counts.Making cars cheaper improves profits, even if that means relocating factories to countries with low labour costs, non-existent unions and tax-free government incentives.Few would know that 10 models on the Australian market are made in Thailand. South Africa makes five, there's one from the Czech Republic, three from Slovakia, one from Poland, four from Malaysia and one from Indonesia.Build quality in most cases is as good as you'd expect from a country-of-origin factory.The biggest difference is manufacturing costs. Building a Volkswagen Golf in Germany, for example, costs substantially more than building the same car in South Africa. Sharing components such as engines, transmissions, platforms and bodies with a rival company — or at least one perceived as being a rival — is big business.The platform of the Mazda3 is similar to the Volvo S40 and Ford Focus. Ford has a big chunk of Mazda's shares and owns Volvo outright.The Toyota Aygo, a one-litre hatch soon to be sold in Australia, is built in the Czech Republic with the Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107. The only differences are interior trim, grilles, head and tail lights. Everything else, except the badge, is identical.General Motors has a giant web of ownership, component sharing and minor shareholdings. It owns Saab and Hummer, and rebadges cars including the Daewoo Matiz as Chevrolets.GM owned 20 per cent of Fiat until it dissolved the relationship in 2005. But retains component sharing deals and owns 50 per cent of Fiat's JTD diesel engine technology.GM also has 3 per cent of Suzuki (it had 20 per cent until selling down in March 2006) and 7.9 per cent of Isuzu.This relationship crosses with Fiat. Suzuki buys Fiat diesel engines for its European cars but also buys diesels from the PSA group (owner of Peugeot and Citroen) and Renault. Fiat this year will also supply diesel engine's to Saab.The Suzuki Splash, to be launched in Europe later this year is based on the Swift/SX4 platform, but will be rebadged the Opel/Vauxhall Agila for European sales.Fiat sells the Suzuki SX4 as the Sedici in Europe.Suzuki also owns 11 per cent of GM-DAT, the Korean-based company that makes the Holden Epica, Captiva, Viva and Barina.GM sold its 20 per cent of Subaru parent, Fuji Heavy Industries, in 2005. Fuji bought back most of the shares, though Toyota bought in and now owns 8.7 per cent of the company.Toyota also owns Daihatsu and has a big stake in Yamaha. Yamaha has an engineering alliance with Toyota — twin-cam engine and multi-valve heads included — and recently created the V8 engine for Ford-owned Volvo.GM also gets its Saab plant in Sweden to make the Cadillac BLS mid-size car, alongside its Saab 9-3 and 9-5.The Hyundai Sonata's 2.4-litre engine is shared with the Jeep Compass, Dodge Caliber, Chrysler Sebring and Mitsubishi Outlander.Renault has an alliance with Nissan and owns Samsung (Korea) and has a joint venture with Mahindra (India).Porsche's Cayenne SUV is built in Volkswagen's factory in Slovakia alongside the Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7. Porsche's Cayman is built in Finland. That's just the tip of iceberg.Peyton Place has nothing on these guys. 

Detroit is like that.Carmakers go all out to make an impact at the first big car show of every year, knowing they have to do something special to achieve a breakthrough at an event that has produced many great concepts and some critical production cars.For 2007, Chrysler had the Nassau, Jeep had the Trailhawk, Chevrolet had the Camaro convertible, Jaguar showed the C-XT, Ford unveiled the Interceptor and Nissan had the wonderfully ugly Bevel — all concept cars.There was also the Holden Efijy concept, which generated a surprising amount of interest.Japan's brands sparked a performance battle with previews of the next Honda NSX, the near-production Lexus LF-1, the Toyota Supra hybrid and the production model of the forthcoming Mitsubishi Lancer X Evo.Mercedes had a four-door S-Class convertible and showcased its 4Matic all-wheel-drive system with an indoor ice-skating rink on its stand that came with an S-Class and GL slip-sliding around to prove that grip and drive and control are possible on even the most slippery surface."It cost a motza. Well into six figures," a Mercedes-Benz spokesman says of the rink.The real bill was more than $1 million, paid direct from Benz headquarters in Stuttgart, but that's not unusual at Detroit.A typical concept costs at least $1 million — though Jaguar says it spent less on the C-XT — and the big carmakers spend upwards of $250,000 on a single stage-managed "reveal" at the show.Cadillac had a classical string quartet and a pair of black rappers with violins. Chrysler had an African drum team. There were rock bands, smoke screens and what looked to be the world's supply of giant plasma screens.But all the staging and showbusiness was still trumped by the cars and the company officials, who talked about design, technology, driving and sales."Detroit has become probably the most important show on the circuit," Jaguar design director Ian Callum says.Expatriate Australian Geoff Polites, who heads Land Rover and Jaguar in Britain, agrees, saying: "If you go back 10 years it was literally a dealer show, but the manufacturers now see Detroit as a significant platform. It is fast becoming the main show in the world."Detroit has also become a global melting pot at which American, European, Japanese and — for the first time — Chinese brands go all-out to impress.It was also the event where General Motors' vice-chairman of product development Bob Lutz gave the official-unofficial go-ahead for plans to export the Holden Commodore SS to the US as the Pontiac G8.Lexus decided to go after the M and AMG divisions at BMW and Mercedes with an IS500.Porsche showed the facelifted Cayenne.Toyota unveiled a giant Tundra pickup — complete with a hot TRD version — to go chasing the Ford and GM trucks that dominate the top end of the sales charts in the US.But which was the most significant car of all."It has to be the GM Volt," the vice-president of industry analysis at AutoPacific, Jim Hall, says.He is a veteran showgoer and one of the most respected analysts in the American car business."This is the world's largest carmaker staking its future on a new technology that it does not own or control. Very brave," he says of Volt.The Volt is a plug-in hybrid that points to a new technology called E-Flex that has the home electricity grid or an on-board engine charging a car's lithium-ion batteries.These provide all the power to drive the wheels, making any E-Flex car into a genuine electric car and a potential rival to the petrol-electric hybrids touted by most other car companies.Detroit produced plenty of talk about showroom comebacks, particularly by GM and Ford — which both regularly post quarter losses in the billions — and future hopes.But was it a great show? Not according to Hall."It was not a good show," he says. "There was only one car that surprised anyone and that was the new production Lexus LF-A. The rest of the stuff was all pretty predictable." SHOW NOTES* The Holden Efijy concept was a huge hit and won some new fans. They include hip hop superstar Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, who has won permission for the retro coupe to star in his next music video.* Several US concepts had Michelin tyres with a hand-cut tread pattern including the North American International Auto Show logo.* When Bill Ford began the Ford presentation he talked about the event celebrating the centenary of the show. "At this show in 1907 my great grandfather announced plans for his T-Model."* There was a lot of talk at the show about cars that can run on E85 fuel. It is an 85 per cent ethanol blend that is being promoted as a green choice throughout the US.* There was a large Australian contingent led by Jaguar-Land Rover boss Geoff Polites and Kevin Wale, who heads GM China. Apart from the fly-ins — everyone from Holden design boss Tony Stolfo and Chrysler chief Gerry Jenkins to GM Holden boss Denny Mooney and Ford president Tom Gorman — they included Michael Bartsch, who is head of sales and marketing at Porsche North America, and Mike Simcoe, the designer in charge of GM operations in the US.