Chrysler (Page 25)

After one week of serious face-to-face conversation, bargainers for the UAW and Ford Motor Co. are on the brink of consensus on a four-year deal for the automaker's 41,000 unionized rank and file that might include a $7,500 signing bonus and union-won promises of new and retained jobs at Ford.

The Chrysler Group has issued a voluntary recall of select Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles that carry the popular new 3.6L Pentastar V6 due to a concern of debris left over from the manufacturing process causing a possible loss of power.

A new Mitsubishi auto dealership is opening in November near Portsmouth, N.H., in the town of Stratham. Stratham Mitsubishi is setting up shop at the same location where new Jeeps were sold for almost half a century until hard economic times choked off sales and put the dealership out of business.

TrueCar.com rightly asks the question, "What recession?" as it reports that new car sales are up 10.1 percent over last September. The car site is predicting that annual new car sales for 2011 will be 12.75 million.

Earlier today we brought you the news that the UAW announced that most of the Local union branches who had voted to ratify the new General Motors labor contract have voted in favor of the new deal and now, the move is official as the United Auto Workers have voted to ratify the new GM 4-year labor contract.

The final step of the full approval of the new labor agreement between General Motors and the UAW is voting for ratification by the Local union branches around the country and with 31 of the 50 or so Locals in the US, it looks like the new 4 year GM-UAW contract will be approved sometime today.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a preliminary investigation into select Jeep Liberty sport utility vehicles over concerns that the airbag system could deploy without an impact – a situation that has potential to cause severe injury along with an increased likelihood of a crash should the airbags open while the vehicle is being driven.

Two weeks ago the internet was abuzz with a rumor that the Dodge Viper had reclaimed its production car record at the famed Nürburgring course in Germany and today, the Chrysler Group has officially announced the results of their recent Viper runs at “the ‘Ring” – with a video showing their incredible 7:12.13 lap.

UAW retirees from General Motors Co. of Detroit and Chrysler Group LLC of Auburn Hills, Mich., will get enhanced health and dental benefits in 2012 via the UAW Retired Medical Benefits Trust, the union announced on its Facebook page.

Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios has announced that the first playable demo for the upcoming Forza Motorsports 4 will be available on October 3rd for Xbox Live Gold members (October 7th for everyone else) and when the game is launched in the US on October 11th, Forza aficionados will have a chance to snag a ton of extra content with the Season Pass.

While the Hemi powered Challenger R/T and SRT8 392 might get the lion’s share of attention, the new 3.6L Pentastar V6 adds some much needed power to the entry level 2011 Dodge Challenger and the Rallye package allows it to look a great deal like the more powerful counterparts packing V8 engines.

People who go to the auto show in Orange County, Calif., through the end of this weekend will be able to test drive dozens of 2012 cars, trucks and vans -- everything from the new Volkswagen Beetle to the Fiat 500 and Chevrolet Sonic.

When the Chrysler Group had their gala grand opening at the new Motor Village dealership in Los Angeles last year, their vision for the next generation of five-brand Chrysler dealerships became a reality but due to a handful of angry local dealers backed by California law, Chrysler will sell the Motor Village to Hollywood-based New Century Automotive Group.

So much for a quick settlement: Contract negotiations between the UAW and Chrysler Group LLC have been extended to Oct. 19, both sides of the talks said this evening. Last week's extension of the 2007 contract expired today. Just as quickly as the UAW was announcing today's extension with Chrysler, it issued a short statement saying Ford Motor Co. would move ahead of Chrysler and be up next in the negotiation rotation.

The Chrysler Group was just named one of the 60 Best Companies for Diversity. The list was published in the September 2011 issue of HispanicBusiness.

When the UAW stopped talking with Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group to give its full attention to putting together a four-year contract with General Motors Co., the two smaller car companies in the Detroit Three family reacted in different ways to the interruption.

With the UAW's four-year contract with General Motors Co. all but in the rearview mirror, the auto union will immediately set its sights on the quick wrap-up of a contract with Chrysler Group LLC, a company on wobbly financial ground, and Ford Motor Co., a profitable enterprise that is ripe to be a strike target, down economy or not. The two companies employ 67,000 members of the UAW.

Just a few days after Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne sent an angry letter to UAW President Bob King when King failed to show up at a contract negotiation meeting with the auto boss, workers at Chrysler’s Dundee Engine Plant in Dundee Michigan have voted heavily in favor of striking.