2008 Chrysler Aspen Limited on 2040-cars

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2017 Chrysler Pacifica videos detail features and hybrid tech

In a new video, Chrysler put a few designers and engineers in front of the camera to discuss the behind-the-scenes work on the 2017 Pacifica that was revealed at the Detroit Auto Show on Monday. They take a closer look at some of the details that went into the new minivan, like getting the occupants seated lower down in the vehicle, the fact that the hybrid Pacifica takes about two hours to fully recharge on a Level 2 charger, the eight-passenger seating, and the "Are We There Yet?" app for kids to let them know how much longer it is to grandma's house. Sure, dismissing the Town & Country name to reboot Pacifica has drawn plenty of attention. Nevertheless, based on the our first impressions of seeing it in person and crawling around it at the Detroit Auto Show, and the terrific notes struck by Chrysler's recent product, this has the potential to be a really good minivan. Chrysler also revealed its first marketing spot for the Pacifica. Having come out with a cool looking minivan, the brand guys decided to have fun with an anti-buzzword, anti-curated, anti-viral two-minute spot called Real Life that plays up the anti-cool you would normally associate with the family school bus. You can watch that in the video above, and check what the engineers and designers have to say in the videos below. The Town & Country is dead. Long live the Pacifica. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: Chrysler via YouTube [1], [2], [3], [4], Carscoops Design/Style Green Marketing/Advertising Chrysler Minivan/Van Hybrid Videos chrysler pacifica

Time to catch up with Jay Leno's Garage, including his Lamborghini Espada restoration

If you're already jealous of the time, effort and money that Jay Leno can devote to his massive car collection, prepare to get a little greener with envy with this latest video from Jay Leno's Garage. Instead of the usual format of discussing a model for about ten minutes and then taking it out for a test drive, this week Leno gives viewers on a tour of over a dozen projects concurrently happening in his stable. The breadth of the vehicles shown and the things being done to them run the entire span of the automotive hobby. At the same time, Jay's shop is working on just a simple restoration of his 1969 Lamborghini Espada (pictured), and at the other side of the building, the team is rebuilding a wood-bodied 1914 Detroit Electric from scratch. He eventually plans to slot a more modern electric drivetrain into it. If bikes are more your interest, there's a freshly completed Brough Superior just waiting for a ride, and if American models are your thing, a Ford Bronco is getting a Coyote V8 installed into it. You have some very specific tastes if you can't watch this clip and start wishing at least one of these vehicles could be in your own garage. Other than the personal projects his mechanics are working on in the shop, Jay gets to have them all, plus plenty more.

Marchionne recruiting activist investors to prompt GM merger

Sergio Marchionne may have been rebuffed in his previous advances at General Motors, but he's not about to give up that easily. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Fiat Chrysler chief is now turning to activist investors to help coax GM into joining forces. Marchionne has been a staunch and ceaseless advocate of the need for consolidation, arguing that the industry needs to amalgamate into larger groups that will share resources and reduce overhead. Under his leadership, the Fiat group consolidated its own operations, and officially merged with Chrysler last year. But he's also been pursuing additional mergers with the likes of Volkswagen, Peugeot, Ford, and Opel (to name just a few). Now he's pursuing a merger with GM, which has not shown much enthusiasm towards the idea. For one thing, GM is a much larger company, and probably doesn't need FCA as much as FCA needs it. For another, it has a troubled past with Marchionne, who in 2005 dissolved an agreed merger (of sorts) with GM, yet still managed to get the General to pay Fiat some $2 billion in the process. However, Marchionne is evidently hoping that the intervention of activist investors could compel GM CEO Mary Barra and company to proceed with a merger anyway. For precedent, he's looking at the recent negotiation between GM and some of its stakeholders that prompted the company to buy back $5 billion of its own shares, demonstrating Barra's willingness to deal with investors. The more compelling precedent, however, may have been set in 2006, when activist investor Kirk Kerkorian locked arms with Carlos Ghosn to get GM to consider joining the alliance between Renault and Nissan. GM ultimately declined, and Ghosn turned instead of Daimler (which of course has its own history of having merged with Chrysler). Only time will tell if this initiative will prove more successful, but one thing's for sure, and that's that Marchionne isn't about to relent in his pursuit of a major merger partner.