The Return of the Coupe… as a SUV

By Christopher A. Sawyer

I remember being at BMW’s assembly facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina for the launch of the X6. The drive event took place on a dreary, rainy day with walls of fog in the hills up and down which we would drive, and most of the talk centered around the utter silliness of this coupe-like SUV. Though I will admit to liking underdog vehicles (I have an especially soft spot for the NSU Ro80), I was the only non-BMW person on the launch who thought the X6 made any sense. Unlike my colleagues, I saw it as a sport coupe SUV, sort of like a Mercedes CLS for the faux off-roader. It struck me as the perfect transport for the executive who wanted the high seating position of an off-road vehicle, but not the boxy styling, utilitarian image or even the off-road capability that comes with those vehicles.

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Fiat-Chrysler From the Inside

By Christopher A. Sawyer

This past June, I had the chance to participate in Chrysler’s media drive day at the Chelsea Proving Ground. It’s a favorite in that it’s possible to drive one of each of the available models from Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Fiat. That meant finally getting some seat time in the Fiat 500, as well as scoping out the changes made to the rest of the lineup post-Cerberus.

For the most part, I was impressed with what had been accomplished in a very short time, and to a lineup that — except for the 300/Charger/Challenger, Fiat 500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler — was not built on the best foundations. It made me wonder just how well the relationship between the two companies was progressing.

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