Ford sweeps Texas Truck Rodeo awards, Chrysler defends SUV crown

Filed under: SUV , Truck , Etc. , Crossover , Chrysler , Dodge , Ford , Jeep The Texas Auto Writers Association has awarded the 2012 Ford F-150 a slew of honors. The pickup took home the Truck of Texas title by beating out its competitors at the annual Truck Rodeo. The award is the association’s most prestigious honor, but Ford also picked up a few other nods.

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Ford sweeps Texas Truck Rodeo awards, Chrysler defends SUV crown

Report: Jeep Wrangler’s body-color roof option taking off

Filed under: SUV , Jeep , Design/Style , Off-Road Jeep is expanding the availability of its body-color hard tops on the Wrangler for 2012. The company says that last year, 80 percent of Wrangler Sahara buyers selected the base hard top, while of those, 20 percent went all-in for the body-color option. Next year, Wrangler Rubicon buyers will also be able to get their off-road bruiser dressed to the nines. According to Ward’s Auto , the Wrangler recently experienced its best sales month in the history of the model last month, with 14,355 units rolling off of showroom floors.

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Report: Jeep Wrangler’s body-color roof option taking off

2012 Jeep Wrangler fuel economy figures improve

Filed under: SUV , Etc. , Chrysler , Jeep , Off-Road Chrysler has managed to squeeze a little extra fuel economy from the 2012 Jeep Wrangler . According to the Environmental Protection Agency , the model now gets up to 17 mpg city and 21 mpg highway, good for 18 mpg combined when saddled with a five-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission. That’s a thirteen-percent improvement over the 2011 model’s 15 mpg city and an 11 percent boost over the old bruiser’s 19 mpg highway

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2012 Jeep Wrangler fuel economy figures improve

Report: Marchionne insists Jeep Wrangler to stay American-made

Filed under: Truck , Jeep , Off-Road In the wholly owned Fiat stable are its eponymous brand, along with Lancia , Abarth , Maserati and Alfa Romeo – plus, as of relatively recently, all of the Chrysler brands. According to Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, of all of those brands, the one with the greatest global cachet is Jeep . Marchionne believes that Alfa had global chops as well, but Jeep remains “first and foremost.” And while Marchionne remains keen on creating global production synergies with his expanding automotive empire, there is at least one sacred cow. According to a new Ward’s Auto report, the compulsively sweater-clad CEO has a few words that will make builders of the Jeep Wrangler in Toledo happy – he thinks the legendary SUV’s American heritage is too important to risk assembling it in any other country

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Report: Marchionne insists Jeep Wrangler to stay American-made

Rumormill: Land Rover to launch convertible Evoque?

Filed under: Convertible , SUV , Crossover , Land Rover , Rumormill , Luxury , Off-Road Land Rover is no stranger to the topless utility vehicles. In fact, it was one of the originators, and still offers the Defender as an open-air prospect. But that’s a hard-core off-roader. The Evoque , in this and many other ways, charts new territory for the brand.

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Rumormill: Land Rover to launch convertible Evoque?