1968 Chrysler Newport Custom 383 Auto on 2040-cars

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FCA to skip summer shutdowns as automakers rev up U.S. assembly lines

DETROIT — Several of FCA's facilities will skip their usual summer shutdowns to get a jump on rebuilding inventory, the company confirmed early Wednesday.  The plants that will remain open include three in the United States (Jefferson North in Detroit, Toledo Assembly in Ohio, and Sterling Heights Assembly in suburban Detroit), one in Canada (Brampton Assembly in Ontario) and two in Mexico (Saltillo Truck Assembly and Saltillo Van Assembly).  This will allow dealers to address depleted inventory of popular trucks and muscle cars, Automotive News reports. Other facilities not named will observe their normal one- and two-week breaks.  Automakers are speeding up U.S. assembly lines to meet recovering demand, increasingly confident coronavirus safety protocols are working to prevent outbreaks in their plants but wary of the challenges workers face outside. Screening workers for COVID-19 using temperature scans and questionnaires, the automakers have detected some people who reported for work despite being sick. Some plants have been briefly shut down for disinfection, but so far, there has not been a major outbreak within a U.S. auto plant since most reopened May 18, company and United Auto Workers union officials said. The risk of an infection picked up outside a plant spreading along assembly lines remains a prime concern, however. An outbreak could shut down a factory costing a manufacturer millions of dollars a day. The disruption caused by the pandemic is creating other challenges as well. At Ford Motor Co's F-series pickup truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky, the company has given more than 1,000 workers leave related to COVID-19 concerns. It hired temporary workers to fill their jobs as the plant accelerates production of trucks critical to Ford's financial recovery. Demand for pickup trucks helped boost U.S. auto sales in May, and contributed to stronger than expected overall U.S. retail sales for the month. Officials of UAW Local 862, which represents workers at the Louisville plant, said a lack of child care was a significant issue for members. It had led many to stay away from the plant and collect increased unemployment benefits provided under the federal CARES coronavirus relief act. Ford has now begun arranging subsidized child care for UAW workers, Gary Johnson, the automaker's head of manufacturing told Reuters.

2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Quick Spin | Dad tested, kid approved

The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is a compelling minivan, which feels less weird to say the more we say it (and the more we drive it). Adding a plug-in powertrain to an already solid family hauler makes it more interesting, and leaves the world just a little less greenhouse-gassy for those children you'll be carrying around in it. So, when we had the chance to actually take one home with us, we strapped in the car seat and put it through some real-world usage. For reference, the non-hybrid Pacifica comes with the standard Pentastar 3.6-liter V6, connected to a nine-speed automatic transmission. It provides 287 horsepower and offers 19 miles per gallon city, 28 highway, and 22 combined. The Pacifica Hybrid adds two electric motors and a variable transmission to its more efficient, less powerful Atkinson cycle V6, providing a total of 260 horsepower. The Hybrid also has a 16-kWh battery pack to power its electric driving. It's rated at a combined 84 miles-per-gallon equivalent. Our test kid, Wolfgang, loved the Pacifica Hybrid. He repeatedly asked for rides, which is not unusual, but seemed to prefer the Chrysler to his other options. He even got upset the one time we put him in Mama's Mercedes GLK while the Pacifica was in the driveway. Wolfgang especially loved the buttons to open and close the automatic doors. After heading indoors, he'd occasionally point out the window toward the minivan saying, "Button." He also thought the horn was hilarious. He's heard his fair share of car horns so far in his young life, but none have ever gotten the same belly laughs that the horn in the Pacifica evoked. We have no idea why. It sounds like a normal car horn to us. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Getting the car seat in and out of the Pacifica Hybrid was super easy. The captain's chairs make it even easier. The LATCH anchors were prominent, and easy to find by feel when reaching over the seat. It also helps that you can access the inside anchor by hopping to the other side of the vehicle, and the openness of the second row provides more room to work with. Once in the car, the huge door openings made it easy to get the little guy in and out of the rear-facing seat. While driving, the quietness of the cabin helps facilitate the sort of rudimentary conversation a toddler can hold.

Best car infotainment systems of 2022

Declaring one infotainment system the best over any other is an inherently subjective matter. You can look at quantitative testing for things like input response time and various screen load times, but ask a room full of people that have tried them all what their favorite is, and you’re likely to get a lot of different responses. Some prefer systems that are exclusively touch-based with a simplistic user interface. Others may prefer a non-touch system that is navigable via a scroll wheel. You can compare it to the phone operating system wars. Just like some folks prefer Android phones over iPhones, we all have our own opinions for what makes up the best infotainment interface. All that said, our combined experience tells us that a number of infotainment systems are at least better than the rest. WeÂ’ve narrowed it down to five total systems in their own subcategories that stand out to us. Read on below to see our picks, and feel free to make your own arguments in the comments. Best overall: UConnect — Various Stellantis products If thereÂ’s one infotainment system that all of us agree is excellent, itÂ’s UConnect. Both UConnect 4 and the latest UConnect 5 software are included in this praise, too. It has numerous qualities that make it great, but above all else, UConnect is simple and straightforward to use. Ease of operation is one of the most (if not the single most) vital parts of any infotainment system interface. If youÂ’re expected to be able to tap away on a touchscreen while driving and still pay attention to the road, a complex infotainment system is going to remove your attention from the number one task at hand: driving. UConnect uses a simple interface that puts all of your key functions in a clearly-represented row on the bottom of the screen. Tap any of them, and it instantly pulls up that menu. We like the radio/media interface — itÂ’s super easy to swap stations or sources. The menu structure is easy to grasp, and of course both Apple CarPlay/Android Auto are available if you want them. UConnect 5 is a big visual improvement over UConnect 4, but thankfully it retains the same ease of use as the outgoing system. WeÂ’ll also point out that Stellantis is able to adapt UConnect to different screen shapes and sizes with great success — it works stunningly well in the vertical 12-inch screen of the Ram.