Say Hello to the New Baby Jeep

No, Jeep didn’t drastically change its design language, that’s actually a spy shot of the upcoming Fiat Qubo which isn’t sold in North America. So why is it relevant to us Canucks? Well, the Qubo has been confirmed to come to North America – not as a Fiat though, as a Jeep in 2013.

This new Qubo was spotted cold weather testing in Sweden which means it should be able to withstand Canadian winters as well. The updated Qubo will get a 1.3 litre and a 1.4 litre engine with a 1.6 litre diesel available as well. It’s expected that these Italian engines will carry over to the baby Jeep. In Europe the Qubo is front wheel drive, but expect all-wheel drive to be the order of the day for our version. It is wearing a Jeep badge, afterall. As a result, there won’t be too much part sharing between the Qubo and the jr. Jeep but they will still share certain componants such as the chasis, so expect to see some Fiat parts taken from the parts bin.

And don’t worry all you Jeep purists, this new Jeep will get round headlights and a verticle grille. Jeep CEO Mike Manly has assured everyone that the design of the Jeep will be very much like his last name. Let’s just hope they take care of that rolling over problem that the current Qubo and Citreon Nemo have going on.

[Autoblog]

Yikes! Citroën Nemo Horribly Fails the ‘Moose Test’

You may be wondering why we are reporting about a car that isn’t even sold here and seemingly has nothing to do with Canada.

Well, two reasons:

1) In Europe they perform standard safety tests on all vehicles sold there, one of which is called the ‘Moose Test’ (also known as the ‘Elk Test’ depending on which part of Europe you’re in). We have these types of tests as well in North America, but they are commonly referred to here as “emergency lane change” tests. Seeing as how we have a large population of moose (or is it meese?), this test is pretty relevant for us. Especally for the fine folk in Newfoundland where car-moose crashes are unfortunately quite common.

2) Fiat has a car that called the Qubo, which is essentially the Nemo with different badging. Fiat is coming to Canada and they have released their five year business plan for us Canuks, which includes an MPV down the line. It’s very possible that the Qubo will be said MPV.

The Nemo fails the test badly. In fact it failed so badly that it actually rolled over. A big reason why is that the Nemo is not offered with stability control. Luckily, the Fiat comes with stability control standard so this likely won’t be an issue should the Qubo make its way to our shores.

But, as we’ve seen, the stability control doesn’t always work at the precise right time in order to prevent rollovers.

Citroen has said, after seeing this video, that stability control will be standard on all Nemos starting in July.