*Mopar, Chrysler's performance-parts arm, has developed accessories for the Jeep Wrangler that include a winch bumper (with winch), a chrome grille, and an off-road navigation system. On the drawing board is a lift kit. By offering these accessories through Mopar, a Jeep buyer could have them installed by the dealership at the time of the vehicle's purchase.
*In tough economic times you don't want to ask things like, "Can it get much worse?" But these days, how can you help it? Gas prices are shattering records, and rumors are flying that we'll be paying $7 or more per gallon by the end of the year. New truck sales have fallen off a cliff, and every OE manufacturer is scaling back truck production, switching assembly lines from trucks to cars, or both. If there's a silver lining to all this mess, it's this: The work force in this country will always need trucks, so pickups won't be going away anytime soon. Just be prepared for "personal-use" trucks to become car-based vehicles with truck beds, just like SUVs evolved into crossover vehicles.
*Bye-bye Hummer? Reacting to the free-fall in new-truck sales, GM is "undertaking a strategic review of the Hummer brand," the General said in a recent press release. Meaning? Anything could happen to Hummer, "from a complete revamp of the product lineup to a partial or complete sale of the brand." Trade journal Automotive News reported that "several global companies have shown interest in Hummer, making the sale of the brand a strong option." AN did not say which companies but did say one not on the list was Tata, recent buyer of Land Rover.
*Late In May, The Southern Four Wheel Drive Association (SFWDA), United Four Wheel Drive Associations (UFWDA), and the BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service to restore access to closed off-highway recreation trails in the Upper Tellico OHV area in North Carolina. The Forest Service closed the area due to pressure from the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the North Carolina and Tennessee Councils of Trout Unlimited, as well as Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project. The SFWDA feels that the Forest Service took incorrect steps by closing the trails and the lawsuit is intended to reopen them. There are several ways you can help in this fight: Donate online at www.sfwda.org, www.sharetrails.org/rescue-tellico, or through the United Land Action Fund at P.O. Box 15696, Chesapeake, VA 23328. You can also purchase Rescue Tellico items at www.cafepress.com/rescuetellico. All proceeds are donated to the Rescue Tellico Fund.
*Our Friends At Sema Report That Proposals For NEW wilderness areas in the Southwest were approved by the House Natural Resources Committee. Among the bills was a proposal to expand federal protection to 190,000 acres of Southern California desert and forest by creating four new wilderness areas and increasing the size of six existing areas. In addition, it would add about 5,000 acres to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. Under the bill, 41,000 acres of Joshua Tree National Park would be labeled "potential wilderness" until the National Park Service settles property claims, at which point they would become true wilderness areas. A second California proposal creating a wilderness area in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park was also approved, designating approximately 70,000 acres in the Mineral King Valley as wilderness. After several months of negotiations, the Committee also approved a bill creating the Sabinoso Wilderness Area in northeast New Mexico. Through continued discussions with the Bureau of Land Management and other stakeholders, the amount of land in the proposal was reduced from 19,880 acres to 15,995 acres.
*Sema Has Good News As Well: The Bureau Of Land Management has released three new management plans covering two national monuments and millions of acres in a remote area of northern Arizona. The proposal covers 2.8 million acres of federal land from north of the Grand Canyon to the Utah border and allows OHV use on more than 1,700 miles of existing trails and dirt roads in the monuments and across other portions of the management area. All three plans will outline how the areas will be managed for development, mineral recovery, and OHV recreation for the next 20 years.