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Dodge Grand Caravan reportedly will cease production in 2020

The Dodge Grand Caravan looks like it may finally be reaching its demise next year. A report from Automotive News Canada says the old Dodge minivan will cease production in May 2020. The report cites AutoForecast Solutions as the source of its news. FCA confirmed to us that the van will be going away eventually, but the company is not ready to put an official end date on it yet. For the time being, it looks like the Grand Caravan’s long run will eventually grind to a halt in Windsor, Ontario, the vanÂ’s only production site. With the introduction of the Chrysler Voyager as the budget minivan option from Chrysler, FCA may think it no longer has any use for the outdated Dodge. The Grand Caravan has a starting price of $28,535, whereas the new Voyager is priced from $28,480. ThatÂ’s an almost identical starting point, but we still donÂ’t know what kind of incentives FCA will offer for the Voyager. There are typically big cuts for the Grand Caravan, which have pushed recent average transaction prices down to $24,972. We imagine itÂ’ll be much more difficult for FCA to offer discounts of that magnitude to Voyager shoppers. Still, AutoForecast Solutions told Automotive News it believes FCA will transition folks away from the Grand Caravan. “For the 2020 model year, theyÂ’ll likely run to fleet and then get the consumers to buy the new Voyager,” says Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. Eliminating the Grand Caravan would be a strong bet on ChryslerÂ’s strategy of splitting the Pacifica into two different model lines. Nearly every month, FCA sells more Grand Caravans than Pacificas. The Pacifica is the far superior minivan to own, but you canÂ’t argue with a cheap price. Once the Grand Caravan is gone, budget minivan buyers will have no choice but to buy a Voyager if they want the cheapest new option out there. Entries from the few other manufacturers that produce minivans are all going to be more expensive than the Voyager. The 2020 Pacifica and Voyager team are slated to reach dealers later this year, but it wonÂ’t be until next year that weÂ’re able to fully take stock of how this plays out for FCA.

Trump tells Detroit 3 CEOs he wants more US jobs, calls environmentalists 'out of control'

As expected, President Donald J. Trump met with top executives from FCA, Ford, and General Motors this morning as part of a larger push to generate jobs in America. "I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!", Trump said in a tweet ahead of the meeting. Not everything said in the meeting was made public, but the President later tweeted that he had a "Great meeting with automobile industry leaders." FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne, Ford chief Mark Fields, and GM's Mary Barra all echoed the positive vibes after the meeting. In a statement, Barra called the discussion "very constructive and wide-ranging," adding that it focused on "policies that support a strong and competitive economy and auto industry," and "that supports the environment and safety." That's noteworthy, because Trump is reported to have said "I am to a large extent an environmentalist. I believe in it, but it's out of control." Fields, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said, "We're excited about working together with the president and his administration on tax policies, on regulation and on trade to really create a renaissance in American manufacturing." The Ford CEO was specifically talking about Trump's withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "We've repeatedly said that the mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation, and TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that, and we appreciate the president's courage to walk away from a bad trade deal," he said. Marchionne focused on American manufacturing in his statement after the meeting. "I appreciate the President's focus on making the US a great place to do business. We look forward to working with President Trump and members of Congress to strengthen American manufacturing." Perhaps equally as interesting as what was said and who was invited are what wasn't said and who wasn't invited. Trump has been very vocal about his distaste for US automakers' plants in Mexico, but no mention was made of the North American Free Trade Agreement by Trump or any of the Detroit CEOs after the meeting. We also have to wonder if Trump plans to meet with representatives from German, Japanese, and Korean automakers that have made massive investments into American plants and produce a large number of cars in this country. Related Video: News Source: Reuters, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automotive, Donald J.

Dodge Viper ACR still can't quite capture Nurburgring record

Dodge Viper production ended just a few weeks ago. So in an effort to go out with a bang, a crowdfunded effort sent a pair of new Viper ACRs to the Nurburgring in order to reclaim the production-car lap record. Despite its best efforts, the team failed to top the Lamborghini Huracan Performante's time of 6 minutes and 52 seconds. The Viper's best lap was 7 minutes and 3.45 seconds, leaving a seemingly insurmountable gap between it and the Lamborghini. This past week, the Vipers went out again. Unfortunately the new time of 7:3.23 only shaved a few tenths. Road & Track reports that the hot weather played a major factor into the car's performance. August is hot in Germany, and the northern part of the track had a recorded temperature of 111 degrees. This was killing tires and therefore grip. While Kumho has been kind enough to supply the team with tires, an endless supply of rubber doesn't help if they keep getting cooked. In two hours, the team managed just two hot laps, killing 16 tires in the process. It's not over. A return trip is in the works. The team believes it can slide under the 7 minute mark. Still, it looks like it's going to take some really ideal conditions to make it work. Either way, the Viper ACR is and will remain one of the fastest production cars ever built and something of the likes we'll never see again. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: Road & TrackImage Credit: Dodge Dodge Coupe Performance dodge viper acr