In the red corner, we have the stunning Venom 775, SWB F1-50 single cab Venom, with the heritage package. Under the hood lies a 5.0-liter Coyote engine that produces 775 hp & 685 lb-ft
In the red corner, wet have a beautiful two-door VENOM 775 F-150 sport truck that features the Heritage livery package and it really is a looker, with the contrasting white bits adding dollops of character to this truck. Under the hood of this single cab pickup lies a Coyote 5.0 liter Supercharged V-8 engine that produces 775 horsepower and 685 pound-feet of torque. It weighs in at 6050 pounds. You can switch between two or four-wheel drive. To top it off, the lowered suspension gives this sport truck a better stance.
Jeep’s Hellcat-powered Grand Cherokee Trackhawk
In the silver corner, we have a stock Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk that’s rocking a 6.2 liter supercharged V-8 under the hood and turns out 707 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque. Power is sent to all four wheels and tips the scales at 5356 pounds. Now out of the box, the Trackhawk is a beast and is mega when it comes to getting off the line.
Round One
The pair turn around and line up for a second pass. The driver in the Trackhawk switches it up to Track mode. Will that make a difference?
Now that we’ve looked at the numbers, let’s see how all this performance translates to on the track. They line up for the first pass. The hammer drops and despite being the heavier of the tow vehicles, here, it’ the Venom that took the lead from the get-go, and that gap only got bigger as the pair approached the quarter-mile line. Now the Venom is not your average Ford work truck and has even previously given the GT500 a tough time. So that’s round one to the sport truck.
Round Two
And it was a lead that only got bigger
For the second round, the driver in the Jeep switches it up to Track mode to see if that makes a difference. Well, long story short. It was. The Jeep had a much better launch this time around and it was neck and neck for quite some time, however, beyond 120, the F-150 began to pull away from the Trackhawk and mashed to clinch the win once again.
Final Thoughts
Now both vehicles employ a supercharger and pack AWD traction. The Jeep is lighter, but the Ford packs more power. Lets see how these numbers translate on track
This particular example of the Trackhawk is going to soon get an upgrade, taking its power output to 1000 horses. Can’t wait to see these two go head 2 head again to see if the added ponies make a difference.
Watch how things unfold in the video below
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Attendees at CES 2022 in Las Vegas will get their first in-person look at the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe as well as a concept car called the Chrysler Airflow as Stellantis looks make an impact on the highly influential show.
The Stellantis booth diagram at CES 2022 seems to lack vehicles from some of their brands, including Dodge and Ram.
Stellantis will showcase its salvo in electrification with more than just the Grand Cherokee 4xe, displaying vehicles spanning all of the company’s 14 brands, and featuring not just electrification, but autonomy and connectivity — technology that has been largely absent from its portfolios.
“The future of mobility is fueled by technology,” said Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO, in a statement. “Electrification, with our 30 electrified models available including fuel cell vans, connectivity and autonomy are all important facets of that future.”
Four platforms underpin Stellantis’s future
In July, Stellantis announced over €30 billion of investments in electrification and software through 2025 to execute its ambitious transformation.
The company’s show of force at CES is proof of the company’s massive product makeover. Going forward, battery-electric vehicles will use one of four platforms: STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA large, and STLA Frame. The platforms are designed to accept a variety of drivelines.
Of 14 brands, Jeep’s the star
Despite its wide array of brands, the company appears to be focusing most on Jeep.
Stellantis is showing the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe, shown here in Summit trim charging, at CES 2022 in Las Vegas.
Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe: Given that Jeep has already announced “Zero Emission Freedom,” its plan to offer a fully electric Jeep vehicle in every SUV segment by 2025, the arrival of the first Grand Cherokee plug-in hybrid electric model is no surprise. It’s expected to deliver 25 miles of all-electric range, while returning 57 MPGe. That’s impressive for an SUV with 375 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque.
When it comes to technology performance, the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee is equipped with a 10.1-inch display, Uconnect 5, an operating speed that’s five times faster than its predecessor, and equipped to handle over-the-air updates. Front passengers get a 10.25-inch touchscreen, while those in back can have 10.1-inch displays. And Amazon Fire TV streaming is built-in. Jeep will offer the Grand Cherokee 4xe in four trim levels: Limited, Trailhawk, Overland and Summit. The 4xe will not be offered on base Laredo models.
Stellantis will emphasize its new Wagoneer luxury sub-brand at CES, with a display that fills a quarter if the booth.
Jeep Wrangler 4xe: Adding an exclamation point to the Grand Cherokee 4xe is the Wrangler 4xe, which provides 21 miles of pure electric driving, not bad for a vehicle that will take you to the edge of civilization. Power comes from a 2.0-liter inline-4 and two electric motors that generate 375 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque, enough to tow 3,500 pounds.
There’s also a conventional hybrid mode that blends power from both the gas engine and electric motors. A third, “e-Save” mode puts a priority on recapturing energy normally lost during braking and coasting to build up the battery pack’s charge.
Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer: Jeep’s new luxury sub-brand is not expected to be shown in 4xe trim. But the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer is loaded with cutting-edge technology, with up to seven screens, including a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, a 12.1-inch infotainment touchscreen, a third screen for the front seat passenger, two video screens for the second row and another for the third row.
Integrated Amazon Fire TV, and a 1,375 watt, 23-speaker McIntosh sound system rounds out its tech package. Opting for the less-flashy Wagoneer nets an SUV powered by a 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 with a 48-volt hybrid system, delivering 392 hp and 404 lb-ft of torque, and returns an EPA fuel economy rating of up to 16 mpg city and 22 mpg highway.
Is a reimagined Chrysler on the way?
Stellantis is looking to make a splash at CES with the Chrysler Airflow Concept. The company only released this computerized image of the vehicle.
Chrysler Airflow: Details are sparse on this concept, which we reported on a year ago. Bravely resurrecting the name of the failed, but innovative, 1934 model, Stellantis is saying little about the Airflow concept, other than it is “leading the brand’s transformation to clean mobility and seamlessly connected customer experiences.”
We do know that it uses the underpinnings of the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan suggests it could readily be brought to market. Currently Chrysler has two models: the Pacifica and the aging 300. Certainly, the brand’s lack of a clear image and its meager product line-up are ripe for a radical revision, and whatever the Airflow has to offer could be the first step in a reimagining of the brand. More is expected to be revealed at CES, but initial images reveal a concept with has a steeply raked windshield linked to an equally aggressive back end by a coupe-like roofline.
A possible lifeline for Fiat
The auto company plans to show the new Fiat 500, left, as well as the Chrysler Airflow Concept at the show.
New Fiat 500: While no longer sold in the U.S., despite the presence of Fiat dealers. Unlike the previous electrified 500, dubbed the 500e and sold only in California, the New 500 has a range of up to 199 miles, not the 87-mile range that proved so impractical on the 500e, and comes equipped with an 85-kW fast charge.
Whether it will be brought to the U.S. remains unknown. Fiat dealers have one model in their current U.S. line-up, the 500X, which might explain why they’ve only sold 2,107 vehicles in the first 9 months of 2021. Given its meager line-up, the future of this brand in the U.S. remains questionable. Without new models, such as the New Fiat 500, the risk of consumers being stuck with an orphan will continue to smother sales.
A strong French presence
Stellantis will also display three vehicles by brands not currently sold in the U.S. Perhaps the most intriguing is the Citroën Ami, a diminutive two-seat urban EV that uses symmetrical parts to keep costs down. Its cube-like shape maximizes its interior shape, and its tiny footprint allows it to recharge in three hours. There’s also the Citroën Skate Mobility Concept, a skateboard platform that can be used as a base for different pods that go on top of it. The company sees this as an autonomous mobility solution in urban centers.
A bit more excitement comes in the form of DS, a Citroën luxury sub-brand that was spun off as a standalone brand in 2015. They are showing the DS E-Tense FE21, a two-time defending champion in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Weighing a mere 1,984 pounds, its 52-kWh battery helps generate 338-hp, resulting in a 2.8-second 0-60 mph time. Sacrebleu!
Other brands MIA — so far
Curiously, Stellantis said nothing about Ram, Dodge, Alfa Romeo, Maserati or others under the Stellantis umbrella. What those brands will display remains to be seen — or not. It is possible that Stellantis is seeking to emphasize Chrysler, so the absence of those brands leaves bandwidth for the Airflow to garner significant press.
Jeep is laying off 150 workers that would have otherwise been employed at its Belvidere Assembly Plant, which actually produces the Jeep Cherokee instead of the long defunct, full-size Plymouth. Based on the timing, this decision appears to have something to do with the FCA-PSA Group merger that formed Stellantis.
We’re only able to guess the core reasoning. With FCA having abandoned monthly reporting for quarterly, allegedly as a way to promote transparency, we don’t actually know how the Cherokee is performing on the market. It’s something the Detroit Free Press also noted when it broke the story.
While last year’s domestic volume of 135,855 represents a sizable decline from 2019, it wasn’t a typical year where you could say that was indicative of anything more than there being a pandemic that forced a lot of dealerships to close shop or operate under heavy restrictions.
“The Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois, is rebalancing its staffing levels as it realigns production to meet global demand for the Jeep Cherokee. Following a review of its operations, 150 people will be indefinitely laid off, starting Feb. 20, 2021. The company will make every effort to place indefinitely laid off hourly employees in open full-time positions as they become available based on seniority,” according to a company statement issued by spokeswoman Jodi Tinson.
By contrast, we’ve heard nothing to suggest there will be any layoffs in Detroit related to the Grand Cherokee. But it didn’t have quite the sales slip that its little brother endured. Stellantis may simply have seen the Cherokee falling a little harder than the rest of the Jeep family while going over the books, and decided it wasn’t worth paying every single one of Belvidere’s 3,374 hourly and 206 salaried employees.
One of the main reasons Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is partnering with PSA Group is to help soften the financial blows of battery development, we literally just talked about it. But the French automaker has its own reasons for wanting to get into bed with the FCA, namely its rather diverse list of subsidiaries — with Jeep occupying spot número uno.
Despite being offensively American to some, Jeep is the sixth most-popular nameplate in the United States. It also happens to be world-renowned as an off-road brand and had made strong inroads in places you’d never expect. This has forced the brand to rethink its global appeal, requiring Fiat Chrysler to issue some market-specific models like China’s Jeep Commander PHEV and the Renegade 4xe — the latter of which is already sold in Europe and slated to launch this November in Japan. But these models are only the tip of the iceberg as FCA intends on meeting ever-tightening emissions regulations in major markets that aren’t the United States.
Purists will undoubtedly cry foul here. For many, if it isn’t powered entirely by combustible fuels and body-on-frame then it’s an abomination unworthy of the Jeep name. But these people are increasingly finding themselves edged out of the conversation as aggressive mandates in China and Europe leave the company with fewer options. As a positive, these changes are assumed to help improve the brand’s global volume — especially in Japan where Jeep is already the best-selling American brand.
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While positively dwarfed by the sales enjoyed by practically every Japanese brand selling domestically, Jeep still saw 13,360 deliveries in the Land of the Rising Sun in 2019 — placing it right between Volvo and Peugeot. With help from the Renegade 4xe, Fiat Chrysler thinks it can improve those numbers for 2021. According to Automotive News, the automaker expects to sell roughly 4,000 Renegades in Japan next year to that end. Around 10 and 20 percent of those are presumed to be of the hybrid persuasion.
From AN:
That overall volume may not sound overwhelming compared with North American Jeep sales, but the hybrid Jeep’s arrival taps into growing Japanese interest in both the brand and electrified vehicles in general, especially hybrids.
“We understand we need to be present with electrified vehicles,” FCA Japan CEO Pontus Häggström said. “Japanese consumers are keen on technology. This is the latest technology the group has.”
Jeep intends on electrifying every single model in its lineup by 2022, specifically so it can continue doing business around the globe. Barring some regulatory changes in the United States, plenty probably won’t be targeting North American customers. But they’ll be handy in other markets where the average engine size is much lower. Jeep’s even going to hybridize the Wrangler (which will be sold in the U.S.) and promised it wouldn’t lose a single shed of its off-road prowess.
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In the case of the Renegade 4xe, Fiat Chrysler ditched the standard powerplant for a 1.3-liter gas burner (front axle) and a 60-horsepower electric motor (rear axle) mated to an 11.4 kWh battery. Jeep even has a Trailhawk version of the hybrid that positively trumps the old 2.4-liter Tigershark’s maximum output with combined (electric/ICE) 238 hp and 199 lb-ft of torque.
That’s not too shabby and will undoubtedly make it an appetizing alternative to something like the Suzuki Jimny, which may soon have the non-electric, mini-SUV off-roading world all to itself. Though it was recently removed from the European market after its positively tiny motor failed to meet emission regulations for 2021. Suzuki has gotten around this by selling the tiny 4×4 as a “light commercial vehicle” while it attempts to figure out a more permanent solution. But if that doesn’t illustrate exactly why Jeep is so sprung on hybridization, nothing does.
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Jeep/FCA
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FCA CEO Mike Manley told attendees at the company’s annual shareholder meeting held online that the new Jeep Wrangler would be here by the end of 2020.
After sitting on the sidelines when it came to electric vehicles and their derivatives Fiat Chrysler revealed it’s now in the game with the introduction of the Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid.
FCA CEO Mike Manley discussed the importance of the new entry during the company’s annual general meeting held online Friday. Prior to the Wrangler, the company’s only real efforts at electrification were the current Chrysler Pacifica hybrid and a past iteration of the Fiat 500e.
That vehicle was so reviled by then-CEO Sergio Marchionne, he implored people not to buy it because he said the company lost too much money on the sale of each vehicle. The new Wrangler hybrid will usher in a new era at FCA.
“Jeep’s icon the Wrangler will arrive on the market with a 4xe version that will be on the front line of our electrification strategy in North America,” he said during the automaker’s annual general meeting held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Detroit News.
All Jeep plug-in hybrids will adopt this badge in the future, starting with the new Wrangler hybrid.
Going forward, all electrified Jeep products will carry a special “4xe” badge. Now the arrival of the hybrid Wrangler wasn’t really a surprise, as had been discussed for some time and made an earlier appearance at CES in Las Vegas in January.
No real details were given at the time, but now Manley said it will be available in the U.S. by the end of this year. China and Europe will get it sometime in the first quarter of 2021. Manley didn’t offer up what Jeep models are next to be electrified, if you will.
However, at CES the Wrangler was joined by Compass and Renegade hybrid vehicles. It wasn’t even the first real event for those vehicles either, Jeep having teased versions of the Compass and Renegade plug-ins last year.
The new Jeep Wrangler hybrid is slated to arrive at the end of 2020.
If it hasn’t torn up those original plans, we can expect to see the new plug-in hybrids deliver up to 31 miles range and the ability to operate at speeds up to 62 mph in all-electric mode. The gas and electric power sources, the brand said last year, combine to deliver about 240 horsepower.
The hybrids are critical to the commitment to offer electrified versions of all Jeeps by 2022 to meeting tougher carbon emissions standards in other parts of the world. Orders for the plug-in Jeep Compass and Renegade crossovers in Europe will start in by early July.
Manley did not talk about the brand’s larger, pricier models, which will need to find a place for a plug sooner rather than later, especially the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, which will be built in Warren, Michigan.
