2000 Dodge Ram 1500 Van Base Extended Cargo Van 3-door 3.9l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

FCA CEO Mike Manley will run Americas for Stellantis after PSA merger

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley will run operations in the Americas when his company merges with FranceÂ’s PSA Peugeot early next year. FCA Chairman John Elkann announced ManleyÂ’s new post on Friday in a letter to employees. ManleyÂ’s role in the merged company had been a mystery. PSA CEO Carlos Tavares will run the overall company, to be named Stellantis. Shareholders of both companies will vote on the merger Jan. 4 to seal the deal creating the worldÂ’s fourth-largest automaker. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of March. PSA will get six seats on the new companyÂ’s 11-member board, which will be chaired by Elkann. The Americas, especially the U.S., are key to the new companyÂ’s success. Fiat ChryslerÂ’s Jeep and Ram brands are highly profitable, and Tavares has long wanted to sell PSA vehicles in the U.S. Manley has been the Italian-American automakerÂ’s CEO for 2 1/2 years, taking over when Sergio Marchionne died in 2018. Stellantis will have the capacity to produce 8.7 million cars a year, just behind Volkswagen, the Renault-Nissan alliance and Toyota. Related Video: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Citroen Peugeot Mike Manley Stellantis

The Dodge Challenger plays its trump card: all-wheel drive

Perennially stuck in third place behind the Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro in sales and enthusiast comparisons, the Dodge Challenger is doing something unconventional for a muscle couple. It's adding all-wheel drive. It's a new feature for Detroit's pony cars – none of the three have ever had it – and it could be a game-changer. Called the Challenger GT, the Dodge launches this winter for a starting price of $34,490. The Challenger GT comes with the Pentastar 3.6-liter V6 rated at 305 horsepower and 268 pound-feet of torque. It teams with an eight-speed TorqueFlight automatic transmission and is estimated to get 18 miles per gallon in the city and 27 mpg on the highway. An FCA spokesperson said no manual transmission or V8 models will be offered on the all-wheel-drive Challenger. It will be on display in January at the Detroit auto show. View 8 Photos All-wheel drive is a widely expected addition for the Challenger. The coupe shares underpinnings with the four-door Charger, which offers an all-wheel drive variant and the cars have similar powertrain offerings (the AWD Charger is also V6 and automatic only). Naturally, the Challenger borrows the Charger's AWD system and during regular driving conditions, the front axle disengages and full torque goes to the back wheels, allowing the Challenger to function as a rear-wheel drive car. It automatically goes back to AWD when more traction is needed. Handling is also fortified with a vehicle dynamic control system. Conversely, the electronic stability control has three modes and can be switched off for drift-happy enthusiasts. The GT has features familiar to other Challenger and Dodge owners, including an 8.4-inch touchscreen radio, Performance Pages (accessible through the Super Trak Pack button), and paddle shifters. A Sport Mode changes shift points to improve acceleration. It all rolls on 19-inch wheels wrapped in all-season rubber. The exterior gets a hood bulge, LED head- and taillights, and a decklid spoiler. The Challenger GT also offers a $995-interior package different than RWD models, adding Nappa leather, Alcantara suede seats, a nine-speaker Alpine audio system, performance steering wheel, and more. All of that is just window dressing. It's all-wheel drive that could be a difference-maker for consumers. The Challenger won't likely be able to take down the Mustang, which will finish 2016 as the pony car sales king.

Dodge Durango Shaker concept: A 392 V8 in front of six Viper seats

When done right, a parts-bin special can be a beautiful thing. This Dodge Durango Shaker concept for the 2016 SEMA show is one such vehicle, and it's easily our favorite Mopar debuting in Vegas. The key, of course, is pulling from the right bins. Take a tour and you'll see Charger, Challenger, and Viper pieces grafted onto this slick crossover. The featured special part is the big, 6.4-liter 392 Hemi V8 that's been dropped under the hood; it's sourced from the SRT Challenger and Charger where it makes 485 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque. With that in place, the fabricators cut a big hole in that hood for the Challenger's awesome optional shaker scoop. It wasn't an easy installation; it required a custom spacer for the intake to make sure everything lined up with the hole properly. View 17 Photos Apparently there were some Viper seats lying around, so six of them were stuck into this Durango. Makes sense. It does lose a bit of people-carrying capability as a result, since only two seats fit in each row, and the seats don't fold for extra cargo room. A Dodge spokesperson attested to the fact that all three rows are usable, if not totally comfortable. But then stock third-row seats aren't always that comfortable anyway. Seriously, though, Viper seats. We don't care how comfortable or usable the result is. Although you might not give it a second thought, even the fuel filler needed some special attention. This piece was also lifted from a Dodge Challenger, and it was taken along with the surrounding sheet metal. Because of the different orientation of the filler cover on the Challenger, the builders decided the easiest way to get it to fit was to chop the fuel filler section out and weld it onto the Durango. The designers also put a little blue Stig on the cover. And those are just the cool parts that were hard to install. This Durango features plenty of other slick details, like the custom bumpers, fender flares, and side skirts. Everything is painted B5 Blue with matte black and carbon accents all around. Up front, the bumper hides a pair of fog lights stolen from a Challenger Hellcat – and yes, they're the ones with intakes in the middle. The grille is also a custom piece, losing the standard crosshair design for better airflow. The fender flares cover up some seriously wide, 305-section tires at all four corners, which are hauled down by Hellcat brakes. The rear bumper bumper contains a stylish center-exit exhaust with dual tips.