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Fiat Chrysler picks Google, Samsung for global connected car system

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler said on Tuesday it will use technology from Alphabet Inc's Google and Samsung to connect all its vehicles by 2022, providing music and video and facilitating future car-sharing and self-driving capabilities. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) will use Google's Android operating system globally instead of a mixture of software that varies by region, a spokesman said. The automaker will also use a cloud-based digital platform from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Harman unit. Unlike its rivals General Motors and Ford, FCA has spent virtually nothing on developing self-driving vehicle technology. This saves the company large amounts of money, but makes it reliant on outside parties to provide technology and systems. FCA said it will launch the new capabilities in the second half of 2019. The company said the system will aid owners "by predicting maintenance needs, locating fuel and charging stations, receiving traffic prompts and restaurant offers and providing live customer-care assistance at the push of the button." Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Technology Emerging Technologies connected car

2020 Dodge Charger pricing starts at $31,390

We've been talking about the 2020 Dodge Charger for three months, and it's finally time to start doing the math on trade-in values and loan payments. The 2020 Charger lineup starts with the SXT in rear-wheel-drive trim priced at $29,895, plus a $1,495 destination charge for a total of $31,390. That's a $425 bump over the 2019 model. The rest of the range doesn't get a price bump higher than $250 save for the Hellcat Widebody. The 2019 Charger didn't offer Widebody variants, so those are new for 2020. The lineup with MSRP changes from 2019: Charger GT RWD $33,390 ($150 more than 2019) Charger SXT AWD $35,090 ($25 more) Charger R/T $37,890 ($150 more) Charger Scat Pack $41,490 ($250 less) Charger Scat Pack Widebody $47,490 (brand new model) Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody $71,140 ($2,150 more than 2019 non-widebody) Daytona 50th Anniversary Edition $75,635 (brand new model) There's a price differential of $44,245 from bottom to top. Even more relevant to the Charger faithful, there's a displacement and power differential from the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 in the SXT with 292 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque to the 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 in the Charger Hellcat Widebody Daytona 50th Anniversary Edition with 717 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. Dodge plumps the Scat Pack in the middle as having the "most horsepower per dollar," with its 392-cubic-inch Hemi V8 pumping 485 hp and 475 lb-ft. In the amusement park business, this is what's called "Fun for everyone." The Scat Pack Widebody makes a break from its standard sibling with stiffer springs, larger sway bars, and shocks, and retuned dampers. Changes throughout the rest of the lineup save for the SXT center on new wheel and tire options, and an updated Performance Handling Group on the GT and R/T trims. The 2020 Charger order book opens in the fall, but America's family-friendly muscle car won't start hitting dealer lots until early 2020.

Speedkore AWD twin-turbo Carbon Charger, best birthday gift ever

The backstory the Speedkore Performance AWD twin-turbo Carbon Charger teased a couple of weeks ago might be cooler than the car itself. Alan Palermo commissioned the carbon-fiber-bodied Dodge Demon Speedkore brought to SEMA last year, the one that supplanted the 6.2-liter Hellcat V8's supercharger with twin 6875 Precision Billet T4 turbos. That blasted the Demon's usual 840 horsepower up to 1,400 hp at the flywheel, 1,203 hp at the rear tires, good for an 8.77-second quarter-mile time at 162 miles per hour. Palermo's older brother remarked, "He liked the car but was more of a four-door guy," so Alan commissioned the AWD Carbon Charger as a 65th birthday gift for his sibling. Speedkore worked with Magnaflow on the sedan, starting with a 2019 Charger Pursuit as a base. The Wisconsin tuner secured a 2020 widebody Charger from Dodge, then 3D-scanned the bodywork to create the molds reproducing most of the sheetmetal in pre-preg carbon fiber. The hood, bumpers, fenders, rockers, rear spoiler, and rear diffuser are all fashioned from the lightweight stuff.  Beyond those Precision turbos laid in by Gearhead Fabrications, Speedkore installed a custom upper plenum, Boost Leash C02 progressive boost controller, custom Thitek heads, a Fore Innovations triple-pump fuel system feeding Injector Dynamics 1,700-cc injectors, and custom HP Tuners engine software calibration. Test results showed 1,525 hp at the crank when running 26 pounds of boost.  Hellraiser Performance engineered a new transmission working an FTI torque converter at one end and a carbon fiber driveshaft at the other. Instead of fortifying an off-the-shelf AWD system, Traction Products supplied a custom transfer case machined from billet shunting power to a set of Bogart Competition Series wheels wearing Mickey Thompson ET street rubber.  Speedkore fitted last year's Demon with a front-exit twin exhaust, with a single opening on each front fender, and left the rear bumper cutouts for the traditional exhaust empty. With the Carbon Charger sedan more of a family guy, Magnaflow sorted out a quad-pipe front-exit exhaust with two openings on each front fender, and ran a three-inch stainless steel Competition Series exhaust to the rear. The driver can switch between the two, the latter version providing a "moderate interior sound."  The folks at Speedkore say they'll keep tweaking the Carbon Charger after the show to get it right for the senior Palermo. We say, "Happy birthday, sir. Enjoy."