From Yahoo News:

GM Engineer Dies On Test Track - (MILFORD) -- General Motors officials and the Michigan State Police are investigating an accident at the company's test track in Milford. One engineer was killed and three others were injured when the Jeep Cherokee they were riding in flipped over. A G-M spokesman says the car's speed was not excessive, and the test road was flat. Investigators will try to find out what made the Jeep flip. There have been seven fatalities at the test facility in the past 75 years. The last death was in 1994.

Car Thieves Love Sport Utilities - (DETROIT) -- Car thieves love sport utility vehicles. That's according to a report released by Triple-A Michigan and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The report finds that the Chrysler-Dodge Neon was the most popular vehicle for thieves in 1997. The Ford Explorer and the Jeep Grand Cherokee are the next vehicles that are most stolen. The Michigan State Police say the Grand Cherokees are especially popular to steal for spare parts.

Here's another update from a reliable source about V8 99 Grand Cherokees:

I talked to the lead mechanic at another local jeep dealer yesterday about the new 4.7L v-8, and asked him about the repair issue.

He said that for the first two months or so, parts departments will not be receiving spare parts. If any internal parts fail, Jeep wants the engines back for failure analysis. They have a program called "Fast Track" (I think) which will get a customer a new replacement engine fast. They don't want the dealer to open up the engine; they want them back as is so they can determine the problem without anything being disturbed.

After that, they will be getting spare parts, but I think he also said something about the fast track program continuing, so I'm not sure exactly what the story is or how long engines with problems will be replaced. But the original parts guy I talked to was a bit confused, though he had parts of the story right.

Another eagle-eyed reader noticed a goof by the Jeep marketing people:

While browsing through the new Jeep Brochures I stumbled onto what appears to have been a slip by Chrysler's proofreader.

Give the photographs of the engines on the two Jeep handouts a good look. Sharp eyed busybodies (such as your's truly) will note that the 4 Ltr engine pictured for the Cherokee looks a tad different than what is basically the same motor displayed for the new Grand Cherokee.

That's right, the engine photo for the Cherokee 4 Ltr is a MIRROR image, someone at the printer's, or on the master sent by Chrysler, reversed the photo making everything on the right now appear on the left (something I suspect our friends in Washington DC would like to learn how to do).

Nothing earth shaking but a bit of a surprise none the less given the care and expense Chrysler has lavished on this year's rollout.