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Jeep® SRT8® offers thrills, luxury



The Jeep® Grand Cherokee SRT8® offers a blend of power and serious performance that is both a pleasure and thrill to drive thanks to the clever work of Chrysler Group engineers, The Detroit Bureau said.

The Bay County Journal's auto reviewer said it appears the Jeep team asked a room full of Grand Cherokee enthu-siasts what they'd want in an ultimate Jeep and decided to include the entire list in the SRT8's design.

On the race track, Motor Trend said the 6.4-liter HEMI® pulled the Jeep vehicle from 0 to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds?1.3 seconds faster than the 4.8-liter Porsche Cayenne and 1.5 seconds faster than the BMW X5 xDrive 35i.

During Motor Trend's figure eight tests, the Grand Chero-kee SRT8 beat the Porsche Cayenne S around the twisted loop by 0.3 second and bet-ters the BMW X5 xDrive 35i by a full half second.

?Throwing this 5200-pound SUV around corners gives you the same guilty pleasure as finishing a meal that earns you a T-shirt,? Motor Trend said.

                                            

Dodge Charger is unabashedly American



The 2011 Dodge Charger is not for eve-ryone, but it is unabashedly American and offers a unique blend of style, comfort, practi-cality and per-formance in this segment of big, boring se-dans, Autoblog said.

Autoblog notes there are other full-size sedans that would seemingly stack up against Dodge's offer-ing, but the editors had a hard time putting machines like the Buick LaCrosse, Ford Taurus, Honda Accord, Hyundai Azera or Toyota Avalon in the same class as the Charger.

?The Dodge Charger that was brought back to life in the recent past looks like nothing you've ever seen,? a Gulfnews.com review said. ?It has a truly aggressive stance, a macho look and appears to have everything we want in a Muscle car - except that it has two extra doors.

Automobile Magazine said the new Charger's exterior di-mensions are all within an inch of the previous car, but the overall impact is far greater and the car is significantly more aerodynamic as well. Full-width rear taillights give the back end a lot more distinction and also echo the muscle-car-era Charger, Automobile said.

Autoblog said every bit of the 2011 Dodge Charger's sus-pension has been reworked, resulting in a quick handling car that still manages to feel very refined from behind the wheel with a ride that is at the same time well-controlled and firm enough to inspire confi-dence.

Talking technology, Autoblog said the Uconnect infotainment system is a huge step forward. The article zeroed in on the buttons, dials and knobs that operate the climate control sys-tem and stereo, noting it may seem redundant to control such features both from the touchscreen and the center stack, but in practice the two sets work in perfect harmony.



Dodge driver feels pain and gain

It's pretty certain that any remaining questions about whether Brad Keselowski and his No. 2 Dodge would make it in the Sprint Cup Series were answered by his ?Ironman? per-formance in winning Sunday at Pocono Raceway while driving with a foot badly injured in a crash four days earlier, RaceinToday.com reported.

                     
                         Brad Keselowski

According to Sports Illustrat-ed, Keselowski said he was lucky to be alive after hurl-ing into a barri-er at 155 mph.

Keselowski's victory thrust him into prime position to claim one of two wild-card spots for the Chase for the champion-ship, the Detroit Free Press said. The two drivers with the most victories in 11th to 20th place earn a wild-card spot for the playoffs.

In a FoxSports.com column, Darrel Waltrip wrote, ?That win and the way he handled him-self after the race took Brad to a new level in my book. While people were wanting to call him a hero, you saw Brad quickly say the real heroes were the 30 soldiers that died when their helicopter was hit by a rocket and crashed in Afghanistan.

                    
                      The No. 2 Dodge Miller Lite car after a win
                      earlier this season.                          


150 ways to Mopar-ize your Fiat 500

If you're looking to add that certain sense of style to your Fiat 500, Mopar® has more than enough options?at nearly any budget?to help you through the process, Car-Buzz.com said.

Autoblog suggested that the folks at Mopar, Chrysler's customizing arm, are very happy to see the little Italian land in the states. To show their enthusiasm, Mopar has announced ?a plethora of parts that will allow Cin-quecento owners to make their new hatchback their own, Autoblog added.

?The Fiat 500 is one of the most customized vehicles in Europe,? said Mopar CEO Pietro Gorlier, in an Automobile article. ?We ex-pect that trend to continue here in North America. Our all-new Fiat 500 is the perfect canvas for customization.

               

Motor Trend reported that the accessories will range in price from as low as $21 for a chrome gas cap to a $1,400 full body kit. For example, a $48 custom key cover ? fun, interchangeable, and fashionable ? comes in sets of two and are the easiest way to dress up both you and your 500, the Motor Trend article said. There's also no denying the cheekiness of the full car cover that looks like a classic 500, although it does run a steep $849, the magazine added.



Ram 1500 Tradesman earns accolades

                               

Equipment Today magazine named the Ram 1500 Tradesman to its 2011 Contractors' Top 50 Products awards list.

?Recipients of the award were selected based on the volume of reader inquiries and views over the past year for new products pub-lished in Equipment Today magazine and posted on the ForCon-structionPros.com website," Equipment Today Editor Becky Schultz said.

The Ram brand's Tradesman ?has all the guts, but skips the frills for an attractive sticker price, KABC-TV's Dave Kunz wrote. The plain but powerful Tradesman should be a hit with everyone from independent contractors to large-fleet operators, Kunz said.

"This one is a stripped down work truck," Mike Levine, founder and editor of PickupTrucks.com, told KABC-TV. "It is meant to do a job, and it's meant to do that job very well."


Chrysler Group News Update is published by Chrysler Group Communications and intended for distribution to dealership employees to highlight company and industry news. It includes third-party news sources that do not reflect Chrysler Group views or policies.