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Before Jay Leno, this 1970 Dodge Charger was a SEMA star

When Jay Leno drives an awesome car, enthusiasts take note, and this week the internet blew up over the 1970 Dodge Charger resto-mod that starred in a recent Garage episode. But you might not remember: this strapping Charger, called "Tantrum," was one of the highlights of the SEMA Show in Las Vegas last fall. Here's another look at a true Mopar monster. The power: Yep, Tantrum has 1,650 horsepower. That's more than two Hellcats worth of power under the hood. It's a twin-turbo 9.0-liter Mercury Racing engine with a quad-cam four-valve setup. Basically, it's a V8 boat motor developed for cars. Mercury Marine is the crew that developed the V8 for the 1990s Chevy Corvette ZR-1. That all-aluminum LT-5 under the hood cranked out 405 hp – an astronomical figure for the time – and helped make the ZR-1 an icon. Take a listen to Tantrum's 9.0-liter Mercury mill below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Who's behind all of this? SpeedKore, a Wisconsin-based performance shop that does one-off pro touring builds. It specializes in remaking Detroit muscle with modern features like carbon fiber, bespoke interiors, and powerful engines. SpeedKore is pretty good at it. Before it threw a Tantrum, it did the "Cudinator" used in some of the Fast and the Furious movies. You might not know: Tantrum won the Best Domestic category of the GT Awards at SEMA – chosen by your author. The sinister looks were the hook, and the crazy engine solidified its performance cred. Related Video: Image Credit: SpeedKore Design/Style Dodge Coupe Performance Videos Jay Lenos Garage 1970 dodge charger resto mod

Macron and Le Pen decry 'shocking' Stellantis CEO pay

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger in the French presidential vote, Marine Le Pen, on Friday both decried as “shocking” the multimillion euro payout to the CEO of carmaker Stellantis. Stellantis CEO Carlos TavaresÂ’ remuneration package of 19.15 million euros just a year after the company was formed became an issue as Macron and Le Pen campaigned ahead of the April 24 runoff vote. Polls show purchasing power and inflation are a top voter concern. Stellantis was formed last year through the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Centrist President Emmanuel Macron, perceived by many voters as being too pro-business, called the pay package “astronomical” and pushed for a Europe-wide effort to set ceilings on “abusive” executive pay. “ItÂ’s shocking, itÂ’s excessive,” he said Friday on broadcaster France-Info. “People canÂ’t have problems with purchasing power, difficulties, the anguish theyÂ’re living with, and see these sums. Otherwise, society will explode.” Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who enjoys support from many working-class voters, called for bringing in more workers as shareholders. “Of course itÂ’s shocking, and itÂ’s even more shocking when it is the CEOs who have pushed their society into difficulty,” she said Friday on BFM television. “One of the ways to diminish this pay, which is often out of proportion with economic life, is perhaps to allow workers in as shareholders.” Stellantis continued to back the package despite a 52.1% to 47.9% vote rejecting it at an annual shareholders' meeting chaired from the Netherlands, where the company is legally based, on Wednesday. The company, citing Dutch civil code, noted that the vote is advisory and not binding. The company later said in a statement that it took note of the vote, and will explain in an upcoming 2022 remuneration report “how this vote has been taken into account.” In the 2021 report, the company identified peer group companies that it used as a salary benchmark, including U.S. companies like Boeing, Exxon Mobile, General Electric as well as carmakers Ford and General Motors. Stellantis, whose brands include Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep, Opel and Maserati, reported net profits last year had tripled to 13.4 billion euros ($15.2 billion). The French government is the third-largest shareholder in Stellantis, with a 6.15% stake through the Bpifrance Participations S.A. French public investment bank.

Chrysler slows minivan production, hasn't built VW Routan this year

Chrysler has slowed production of its Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans this week, Automotive News reports. The Windsor, Ontario plant will cut its three shifts from eight hours each to four hours each in an effort "to align production with market demand," a Chrysler spokesperson told AN. Chrysler also builds the closely related Routan minivan for Volkswagen at its Ontario facility, but has not built a single example thus far in 2013.
Sales of Chrysler's minivans fell 15 percent for the first two months of 2013, and a large part of that has to do with the 26-percent drop of the Grand Caravan alone (the T&C was only down by one percent). According to Automotive News data, as of March 1, Chrysler had an unsold inventory of 24,713 Town and Country models and 18,547 Grand Caravans - a 69- and 43-day supply, respectively.
"No sense running full speed now, then have a lot of vehicles sitting around a few months down the line," Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson told AN. Full production is expected to resume again on March 18.