Chrysler has been the odd-man out in Detroit for quite some time. Both Ford and Chevy shook off their woes when the market crashed a few years ago and have been slowly rebuilding; Chrysler, on the other hand, took a ton of money from the government and still ended up being bought out by Fiat. But the company is looking at retooling their image and increasing sales to great effect, and this new bit is pretty cool I think. Any member of the U.S. military, active or retired, will receive $500 cash back when they purchase a Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram Truck or Fiat-brand vehicle. Only eligible vehicles apply. Auto transport companies often offer military discounts to our men and women serving in the armed forces, so if you’re getting some cash back why not get a discount to ship it as well?

Chrysler is bizarre. Through the whole bailout process, the Fiat acquisition, and the complete restructuring of the company, Chrysler has managed to actually increase their sales number and consumer confidence numbers over just four years. That’s huge. But their biggest problem has been reliability in their vehicles, and Chrysler is still being plagued by recalls and customer complaints saying that their vehicles don’t last as long and aren’t as reliable as other makers. Auto transporters note that a lot of non-running vehicles happen to be older Chrysler vehicles, which only makes sense considering that Chrysler vehicles typically don’t age well. Fiat has been waging a multi-front battle to take them to the next level, including redoing their whole marketing department and turning around their production plants, but reliability increases are slow. We’ll see what they can do over the next few years to rectify this problem.

Every automobile manufacturer is looking at Europe with disdain and silently shaking their heads at just how much money they’re losing. But Renault-Nissan is looking at capturing some valuable market share now, as opposed to later, because the European auto market will eventually turn around. Their idea? Introduce the cousin of the Nissan Leaf, the Renault Zoe, which has many more European influences than the Leaf and is built for the European market. Thanks to lease programs available, it will be roughly half the price of the Leaf, which will certainly help the cause. Auto transporters from Europe have noted a huge decrease in individuals seeking out auto transport services on the continent, but even they know it’ll rebound given enough time.

Toyota recently introduced their new RAV4 EV last week to scattered applause. The company has been working with Tesla Motors, perhaps most famous for their awesome all-electric Roadster, but it expects initial sales numbers to be relatively low – only 2,600 over the next three years. While that seems small, it’s planned: sales will be limited initially to Los Angeles and other California EV-friendly cities, though sales could climb higher if the vehicle is what we’ve been expecting it to be. Auto transporters have been shipping RAV4 models for years, and if you plan on shipping your new EV RAV4 I doubt it’ll take too much more to ship it, as they’re relatively the same size.

Tesla Motors has long been a name revered by some and looked down at by others. I’ve talked about Tesla before on other blogs, and I like their products despite the fact that they’re full-electric vehicles. But their full-electric vehicles get the same (almost) range of most other gas-powered vehicles, but for an insanely high price (the Tesla Roadster still retails for close to $100,000). But with the new Model S, which has been in planning for years, the company is looking forward. The new Model S retails for around $60,000, and while final crash tests are still pending the company is still producing the powertrain for the Toyota RAV4 Electric. Toyota is waiting to see how the Model S sells before expanding their partnership with Tesla, but if something is in the works auto transport companies might have even more Tesla vehicles on the backs of their auto transport rigs.