STELLANTIS BREAKS THE AE STUPID METER. AGAIN. – Rants

November 23, 2025

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Editor’s Observe: This week, Peter takes on Stellantis, calling them out for his or her abject stupidity in going all-in on an “off-road” EV for one in all their key product launches subsequent 12 months. In On The Deskwe present our readers the runner-up to this 12 months’s “Reply To The Query That Completely No One Is Asking.” We additionally preview the 2026 Dodge Durango, together with the all-new 2026 Audi Q3. And we take one other take a look at the 2026 Honda Prelude hybrid-electric sports activities coupe. Our AE Track of the Week is “Again To Mates” by Sombr. In FumesPeter continues with Half V of his sequence on his all-time favourite racing machines, Jim Corridor’s Chaparrals. And in The Linewe’ve F1 outcomes from Las Vegas. We’re on it! -WG

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. Simply once we thought it was secure to place the AE Silly Meter away for the 12 months, Stellantis has blessed us with this: The 2026 Jeep Recon, an “off-road” EV with 250 miles of vary (allegedly) and a sticker value of $66,995, together with delivery.

The place do I start? Initially, what 12 months is it once more? These aren’t the halcyon days of 2021, when the auto trade was going all-in on EVs, and woefully misguided CEOs ( who you might be) have been waxing eloquently about how the “Grand Transition” to EVs was upon us and in case you’re not in it to win it you have been destined to lose, big-time.

No, that is 2025, nearly 2026, and those self same CEOs are in “duck-and-cover” mode because the EV “factor” has floor to nearly an entire halt. The truth is, costly EVs are lifeless within the water, with Ford sellers burdened with piles of F-150 Lightnings on their tons screaming for assist and GM’s vaunted “Manufacturing facility Zero” shut down. If any EVs are within the works, they’re going to be comparatively “reasonably priced” just like the upcoming Chevrolet Bolt.

To not point out the truth that, as I predicted, the Charger EV can be lifeless within the water from the second it was launched – and it was – and now Stellantis operatives are busy stuffing HEMI V8s and “Hurricane” Twin-Turbo straight sixes in them in a dramatic “180” pivot again to ICE energy.

Wait a minute, wasn’t the brand new CEO – Antonio Filosa – supposedly orchestrating a brand new product push that can resurrect the fortunes of Stellantis? We’ve been buried in press releases touting a “new” highly-focused Stellantis, an organization that can be aware of its sellers, kinder to its suppliers (after constantly being loathed by all the trade) and all about product, product, product.

So, I may say, “what the hell occurred?” But it surely’s way more correct to ask WTF?

And but, right here comes the 2026 Jeep Recon. “Constructed for journey, the all-new 2026 Jeep Recon is the one totally electrical Path Rated SUV, delivering rugged functionality in a completely electrified kind,” in keeping with Stellantis PR minions.

Actually? That’s what Stellantis goes with for one in all its key product launches subsequent 12 months?

Oh, there’s extra, in fact. “Electrified and path prepared, the Jeep Recon delivers 650HP, 620 lb.-ft. of on the spot torque and an estimated all-electric vary of as much as 250 miles, plus 0-60 mph acceleration in as little as 3.6 seconds,” in keeping with Stellantis PR minions.

As if any of that basically issues. The “estimated” vary is precisely that, estimated. And the horsepower and 0-60 time are inconsequential as a result of, suffice to say, in case you dip into any of that functionality within the outback you can be pitching a tent and ready for somebody to come back together with a cost.

I’ll spare you the quotes from Stellantis executives touting the excellence of the Recon, as a result of it’s all unmitigated bullshit. And so they comprehend it. The choice was made to go forward with this product after years of hand-wringing, and it’s a big mistake. The truth is, it broke the AE Silly Meter. That is nothing greater than advertising at gunpoint. Or, as Mr. T famously mentioned, “I pity the fools.”

If there’s one auto firm that constantly takes two-steps ahead and five-back, it’s Stellantis. The truth is, it shoots itself within the head regularly. Give it some thought. Fiat is an afterthought (and deservedly so), Alfa Romeo as a model is woefully underserved and perpetually on the ropes due to it, and Jeep is promising twelve months of particular Wranglers, signaling that Jeep operatives are, in actual fact, utterly out of concepts. And now, right here comes the Recon. The truth for Filosa & Co. is that if it weren’t for Ram Vans they’d be boarding up the home windows out in Auburn Hills.

The Jeep Recon is solely the flawed product, on the flawed time, from the flawed automotive firm.

And it’s the winner of the 2025 Autoextremist “Reply to The Query That Completely No One Is Asking” Award, hands-down.

Congratulations to all concerned.

(See On The Desk for this 12 months’s runner-up to the AE award. -WG)

And that’s Excessive-Octane Reality for this week.

STELLANTIS BREAKS THE AE STUPID METER. AGAIN. – Rants