New Stellantis CEO is Antonio Filosa, Former Head of Jeep

[JmattNYC]

They'll just dump the American brands. Their European and Asian market vehicles are doing fine.

This will be a great thing and mybe an elit group of american investors can take these brands from the european globalists. In the mean time i have some hope Mr. New CEO will do good things. Hopefully he will allow the American market to flourish without those awful EU views

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[Jeepdoggydog]

I wouldn't get hopes up too much about an increase in quality considering he is currently and has been Chief Quality Officer...



Fuel pump isn't Boschs fault, its the piss poor low sulfur low lubricity fuel we get in the US. Other countries don't suffer from the fuel pump failures because they use better fuel.


Unpopular opinion:

All this talk about lowering cost and getting back to simple and reliable are just pipe dreams. Jeep "getting back to it's roots" would tank the company even more. Those of us enthusiasts that grew up with Jeeps when a Jeep was a Jeep are a very small percentage of the market, we are becoming a smaller part of the market every day, and future buyers don't want what we want. They don't want simplicity they want all the bells and whistles. They don't care about longevity because we now live in a throw away society. Price is becoming less of an issue for younger buyers because credit is easier and easier to get.

I think we will see Jeep move farther away from what Jeep used to be. The only people that care about simplicity, reliability, and low cost won't be buying new vehicles in 10, 20, 30 years. The Jeep enthusiast is dying and we aren't the target market anymore. The younger tech-driven-replace-it-when-it's-not-shiny-anymore buyer is now the target market.

Interesting perspective, and there are market signs that support your view. When JP Magazine stopped printing in September of 2020 I felt the same way, I subscribed from 1996 until 2020. I suspected their readership decline was a major factor. Something else to consider about high prices is that car payments have become a contorting factor in bankruptcies signaling that the market for expensive vehicles is about to hit a bubble. I see lots of SUV, Jeep, and other utility owners demanding the state of the art technology features, adaptive cruise control, and all the other frills., but can't afford a Jeep or other expensive vehicles and have reevaluated what they actually do with their vehicles. Most folks that aren't tackling the Rubicon or Moab these days find they can get by with a Subaru for example. I wish the new CEO luck because it is a very challenging market.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The bit about European diesel fuel vs. the US and sulfur is wrong.
The USA allows 15 ppm sulfur.
EU allows only 10 ppm.

So the USA actually has stricter diesel regulations as far as sulfur content vs. the USA.

Now if talking "lubricity" yes - EU has higher standard there. It's held to a higher wear standard.
European diesel has a maximum wear scar diameter of 460 microns vs 520 microns for US diesel.

But sulfur isn't the reason for the differences in pump failures.

If it was all about sulfur, the US would be better off because sulfur does act as a lubricant.

 

[Mr Miami]

The bit about European diesel fuel vs. the US and sulfur is wrong.
The USA allows 15 ppm sulfur.
EU allows only 10 ppm.

So the USA actually has stricter diesel regulations as far as sulfur content vs. the USA.

Now if talking "lubricity" yes - EU has higher standard there. It's held to a higher wear standard.
European diesel has a maximum wear scar diameter of 460 microns vs 520 microns for US diesel.

But sulfur isn't the reason for the differences in pump failures.

If it was all about sulfur, the US would be better off because sulfur does act as a lubricant.

I still cannot understand why the US does not have more diesel vehicles, especially with the facts you are providing. When I have traveled to Europe, about half of the rental cars are diesels. Most recently, in Vienna, I rented a Nissan Qishqai (the name used in the rest of the world for the Rogue here in the US. It is a name for a tribe of people in Iran so that name would not go over too well here).

Anyway, I didn't even know it was a diesel until I put fuel in it and the cap said diesel only. It was that quiet. We cruised all over Europe, up and down the Alps, into Italy and Switzerland and and several other countries. I found a sweet spot at about 95MPH where you could not even hear the engine running from inside the cabin. And I was shocked when I filled up the vehicle with fuel (my wife thought the gauge was broken since we had driven so far and still had about a third of a tank remaining). On the first tank, a lot of highway driving but also a lot of hills and mountains, I got slightly over 48MPG. Yes, 48 MPG. In the end, when I filled up before dropping the car off at the airport, I averaged just under 50MPG. Handling was very good. My wife drove it several times and wanted to bring it home with us ... lol.

The motor was a 1.6 turbo. When you buy fuel, you purchase the one with the "blue" option and it already includes the diesel additive that you purchase separately here in the US (costs about 10 cents per liter more but nothing else to add).

Overall, it was a great alternative to gasoline and much less expensive.

 

[Redfour5]

I would probably agree with much of the rest of your post - but - market studies suggest the latest buyers would actually leave out much of the tech. It's prior generations that drove it, the people coming into the market are more like "meh, don't need it, leave it out". It's almost like a backlash against the machine.

And the prices that they come with...

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You guys are all too young to remember that some engines started on gas then switched over to kerosene when warmed up.

 

[legacy_etu]

You guys are all too young to remember that some engines started on gas then switched over to kerosene when warmed up.

That sounds like a variation of tractors that have a small pony engine that you start first and then use that engine to turn over the big engine?!!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That sounds like a variation of tractors that have a small pony engine that you start first and then use that engine to turn over the big engine?!!

Ah, you mean the pony engine!
This is different..........
There were tractors that literally started on gas, then you closed the gas valve and opened the kerosene valve and it ran on kerosene.
There were some cars that could do that as well.

My 1936 F20 was a kerosene tractor. the fuel tank had two sections, the rear was small, a couple of gallons, the rest was larger, for kerosene.. You started on one and switched to the other. Because kerosene was what it was, after a long day of hard work, you actually might have to drain some oil out, so there were multiple petcocks on the side of the oil pan.

Saab had a kerosene capable car in the 70s during the "fuel crisis".

 

[legacy_etu]

Ah, you mean the pony engine!
This is different..........
There were tractors that literally started on gas, then you closed the gas valve and opened the kerosene valve and it ran on kerosene.
There were some cars that could do that as well.

My 1936 F20 was a kerosene tractor. the fuel tank had two sections, the rear was small, a couple of gallons, the rest was larger, for kerosene.. You started on one and switched to the other. Because kerosene was what it was, after a long day of hard work, you actually might have to drain some oil out, so there were multiple petcocks on the side of the oil pan.

Saab had a kerosene capable car in the 70s during the "fuel crisis".

What’s the advantage of running kerosene, availability, cost?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

What’s the advantage of running kerosene, availability, cost?

Yes. Cheap, and plentiful.
Since it was used for lamps and so on it was sold all over the place, and during war time, you could get it but gasoline was hard to get.

 

[Mr Miami]

You guys are all too young to remember that some engines started on gas then switched over to kerosene when warmed up.

No, I don't remember the kerosene conversion but I do remember when GM tried to convert their 350 ci. gas engine to run on diesel (I think it was a Chevy engine in an Olds or something like that). The engine was never designed for the pressures of a diesel and I know that there were a multitude of problems and some literally blew up.

So goes conversions when things aren't properly designed and tested.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

No, I don't remember the kerosene conversion but I do remember when GM tried to convert their 350 ci. gas engine to run on diesel (I think it was a Chevy engine in an Olds or something like that). The engine was never designed for the pressures of a diesel and I know that there were a multitude of problems and some literally blew up.

So goes conversions when things aren't properly designed and tested.

What I'm talking about - kerosene, wasn't a conversion! No one converted anything.

Very different as far as the GM diesel fiasco.

The kerosene engines were never converted, and in fact, little change is actually needed. They'd run fine on either, but can't be started on kerosene due to the higher flash point. Once warm, you could plow all day long with full power! And they did so well, thousands of them are still around today, still pulling 2 14" bottoms through the sod in contests and demonstrations.

 

[Sweetums]

Many US military trucks could handle multiple fuels to aid in logistics. The M35 truck would run on gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and even heating oil.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Many US military trucks could handle multiple fuels to aid in logistics. The M35 truck would run on gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and even heating oil.

Necessity - you may not have the "correct" fuel at every location. I've heard/read about that. (no personal experience, obviously, but it would seem to be a MUST)

 

[Sweetums]

Yep, it's also why Special Forces got a series of the Kawasaki KLR650 that runs on diesel. You don't want to spin up a whole new supply line for gasoline when everything else in the inventory runs on diesel or jet fuel.

I wanted to buy one back when they were found cheap (around $5k), just to pull up to the pumps and start putting diesel in my motorcycle.

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