1995 Dodge Stealth R/t Turbo Hatchback 2-door 3.0l. on 2040-cars

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Dodge offering novel 1-year lease on '14 Challenger and Charger models

Dodge is just days away from unveiling refreshed versions of the Charger and Challenger at the 2014 New York Auto Show, models promising updated styling and new powertrain options. Depending on how you look at it, the company is either so confident in its forthcoming 2015 models that it's offering an interesting Double-Up lease deal on the current vehicles, or it's so eager to clear out existing stock that it's resorting to novel lease deals. In any case, what they present is an interesting scenario, one which allows buyers to get the existing model right now, and then trade up to the facelifted 2015 models in one year.
Starting April 17, when the refreshed cars debut through the end of August, buyers can lease a 2014 Charger or Challenger for one year and exchange it for a three-year lease on a 2015 model next year, with no additional money down and the same monthly payment. Customers can even switch vehicles when the new lease starts. If drivers want to buy the '15, they get $1,000 off the purchase price. To be eligible, both leases must use the same dealership and be financed through Chrysler Capital. The Double-Up deal excludes the SRT versions of both cars and Charger SE models.
To offset the flood of one-year-old models coming back to dealerships, Dodge has struck a deal with rental car agency Enterprise, which has agreed to buy them all. "One-year leases are highly unusual in the industry," said company spokesperson Ralph Kisiel, and the fleet sale deal is what makes it possible.

This 93-car Iowa auction is like a Big 3 classic muscle museum

Bill "Coyote" Johnson has been buying cars since high school and has amassed a collection totaling 113 vehicles, according to NBC 6 News. But time has changed his motivations and priorities, and he's decided to auction 93 of those cars, many of which are classic muscle from Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Plymouth and Pontiac. The megasale will take place Sept. 14, 2019, in Red Oak, Iowa, at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. A 1969 Plymouth Road Runner infected Coyote with a love for Detroit muscle when he was just a teenager, and his desire quickly turned into an obsession. He's spent the past 40 years finding, buying and working on a variety of makes and models. Unlike some collectors, Coyote didn't discriminate against certain brands and has rides from each of the Big 3 automakers. Included in the auction are Camaros, Satellites, Super Bees, Chargers, Challengers, Barracudas, Coronets, GTOs, Mustangs, Cutlasses and others. Possibly the most intriguing aspect of the auction is that all of these cars will be sold as-is with no reserve. Many of them will need work, depending on quality standards, but this seems like a golden opportunity to find a classic car without leaving a bank account in shambles.  The auctions are open for bidding online now, and the full auction will take place on September 14. Check out the full listings and bid at VanDerBrink Auctions.

EV cost burden pushing automakers to their limits, says Stellantis' CEO Tavares

DETROIT — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said external pressure on automakers to quickly shift to electric vehicles potentially threatens jobs and vehicle quality as producers struggle with EVs' higher costs. Governments and investors want car manufacturers to speed up the transition to electric vehicles, but the costs are "beyond the limits" of what the auto industry can sustain, Tavares said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference released Wednesday. "What has been decided is to impose on the automotive industry electrification that brings 50% additional costs against a conventional vehicle," he said. "There is no way we can transfer 50% of additional costs to the final consumer because most parts of the middle class will not be able to pay." Automakers could charge higher prices and sell fewer cars, or accept lower profit margins, Tavares said. Those paths both lead to cutbacks. Union leaders in Europe and North America have warned tens of thousands of jobs could be lost. Automakers need time for testing and ensuring that new technology will work, Tavares said. Pushing to speed that process up "is just going to be counter productive. It will lead to quality problems. It will lead to all sorts of problems," he said. Tavares said Stellantis is aiming to avoid cuts by boosting productivity at a pace far faster than industry norm. "Over the next five years we have to digest 10% productivity a year ... in an industry which is used to delivering 2 to 3% productivity" improvement, he said. "The future will tell us who is going to be able to digest this, and who will fail," Tavares said. "We are putting the industry on the limits." Electric vehicle costs are expected to fall, and analysts project that battery electric vehicles and combustion vehicles could reach cost parity during the second half of this decade. Like other automakers that earn profits from combustion vehicles, Stellantis is under pressure from both establishment automakers such as GM, Ford, VW and Hyundai, as well as start-ups such as Tesla and Rivian. The latter electric vehicle companies are far smaller in terms of vehicle sales and employment. But investors have given Tesla and Rivian higher market valuations than the owner of the highly profitable Jeep and Ram brands. That investor pressure is compounded by government policies aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union, California and other jurisdictions have set goals to end sales of combustion vehicles by 2035.