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2020 Chrysler Pacifica Review & Buying Guide | A marvelous minivan

The 2020 Chrysler Pacifica is one of our favorite minivans, and the plug-in hybrid version, the Pacifica Hybrid, is even better. Roomy, comfortable and — dare we say — stylish, itÂ’s good enough to at least garner consideration from folks who would otherwise not be caught dead driving a minivan. It also offers a ton of standard and optional features to make life better for the driver up front all the way back to the kids seated in the comfy third row. While the well-mannered and techy Honda Odyssey is also worth cross shopping, we think the Pacifica is practical and enjoyable enough that weÂ’d even choose it over a lot of three-row crossovers. What's new for 2020? For the 2020 model year, Chrysler drops the L and LX trims, replacing them with a budget minivan that bears its own nameplate — the Chrysler Voyager — and starts at $28,480. That means the cheapest Pacifica you can get is the Limited trim, starting at $35,240. There are also a few extra features added here and there to the various trim levels, but nothing major apart from the flashy Red S Appearance Package available on the Limited versions of both the Pacifica and Pacifica Hybrid. This gets red and black Nappa leather upholstery, grey contrast stitching and piping, some red S emblems inside and out black 20-inch alloy wheels (18-inch on the Hybrid), Harman Kardon sound system and an advanced safety package. There are more significant changes in store of the Pacifica later this year when the 2021 model arrives, including some design tweaks and the addition of available all-wheel drive. What's the Pacifica interior and in-car technology like? The Pacifica interior is a lovely place to spend time. Up front, thereÂ’s plenty of room to stretch out, and lots of places to stash items within easy reach. WeÂ’re big fans of the huge cupholders, which are capacious enough to house two 32-ounce Nalgene water bottles side by side. The materials are nice, with good attention to detail. We were quite fond of the perforated leather seats, smooth leather steering wheel and attractive stitching in our long-term Pacifica Hybrid tester. As for tech, thereÂ’s plenty, and itÂ’s good. We like the big multimedia touchscreen in the center stack, and find this iteration of ChryslerÂ’s Uconnect multimedia system to be intuitive and responsive. The Pacifica offers a number of helpful driver aids, including adaptive cruise control and plenty of parking cameras.

Fiat Chrysler’s Sergio Marchionne throws more cold water on Tesla, EVs

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has once again sounded off on industry upstart Tesla and its wunderkind boss, Elon Musk. In the process, he doubled down on FCA's reluctance to follow its competitors headlong into electrifying its vehicle fleet, saying "we're not betting the bank on going fully electric in the next decade. It won't happen." Marchionne made his comments on Monday during remarks at the New York Stock Exchange, where he was marking the 70th anniversary of Ferrari. They come as Tesla struggles to ramp up production of its Model 3 sedan, its first mass-market offering, and the company continues to hemorrhage money. Here's what he said: "We still don't have a viable model for delivering an electric car. As much as I like Elon Musk, and he's a good friend, and actually he's done a phenomenal job of marketing Telsa, I remain unconvinced of a new economic viability of the model that he's pitching. So I think we need to be careful, because when we embrace electrification, and I made comments on the fact that we lose money on every Fiat 500, the electric that we sell in the U.S. Now that's reflective of the 2011-2010 costs in terms of components. Those costs have come down. If I were to do it again, I would certainly reduce the amount of the loss, but I would not make any money. And you can't run economic entities on losses. It doesn't happen. "So how do we find a convergence of technology bringing prices of components down and allows us to price accordingly — or we need to navigate through this process in a combined way between combustion and electrification to yield at least a minimum of economic returns that allows for our continuity? The last thing you want is me to be successful selling cars for 24 months and then go bust. That's not a good story. Especially in a place like this which rewards economic success. Let's not sit here and design our own future in the tank. Let's try and do it properly. We will do all the right things. We are investing without making a lot of noise on electrification. We will combine it with combustion to yield the right level of CO2. But we're not betting the bank on going fully electric in the next decade. It won't happen." It's not the first time Marchionne has publicly expressed doubts about Tesla's business plan.

Fiat and UAW back at negotiating table over Chrysler stake

We knew there'd be no Chrysler IPO before the end of this year, but Fiat is determined to get the best run going into 2014 and is back at the poker table with the UAW. The delay was said to be Chrysler's desire to clean up a tax issue with the IRS; turns out that also bought the carmaker time to try and close a deal for the UAW's 48.5-percent stake in the company before the IPO happens.
Whereas the price Chrysler was willing to pay was once more than $1 billion under the UAW's asking price, the gap has closed to just $800 million of late. A recent valuation of the company at $10 billion - a valuation the UAW has disputed - means Fiat would be looking to pay about $4.2 billion instead of the $5 billion that the UAW seeks. But the UAW needs to hold out for the highest amount it can get because its pension obligations through the Voluntary Employee Benefit Association (VEBA) are $3.1 billion greater than the VEBA's assets, which include the Chrysler stake.
There's a clause in the agreement that Fiat can buy the VEBA shares for $6 billion, but Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has said that the UAW "should buy a ticket for the lottery" if they even want $5 billion. The UAW, though, has more time to wait; it's Fiat that wants access to Chrysler's $11.9-billion war chest and that would like to avoid the risk of paying the full $6 billion for the UAW share if the float really takes off. With other valuations of Chrysler as high as $19 billion, a hot IPO could make that $6 billion look like a bargain.