2012 Dodge Charger R/t Sedan 4-door 5.7l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Vin Diesel and Dodge finally make the partnership official

Thanks to The Fast and the Furious franchise, actor Vin Diesel is nearly synonymous with muscle cars, in particular those from Dodge and SRT. The partnership is finally official, with Diesel appearing in a number of new ads for the automaker. Three new spots, titled "Rally Cry," "Monsters," and "Shepherd," showcase Dodge's entire product line, including the nearly forgotten Journey crossover. We can only assume it's taken the Viper's place in the automaker's lineup, as the soon departed coupe is nowhere to be seen. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Another missing element is the recently revealed Dodge Demon. Presumably, Dodge felt three months of teasers and a good bit of New York Auto Show coverage were sufficient advertisement for the car. Plus, we can't count on the Demon to go around a corner the same way that some of the cars in this ad do. It's hard to turn with two wheels in the air. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Advertisement or not, it's always great to hear a soundtrack of big, V8 muscle. Plus, this only further feeds into Vin Diesel v. The Rock, as the latter has been promoting Ford products for the past few years. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Chrysler investing $20M in Toledo plant to support 9-speed auto production

In 2011, Chrysler announced a $72-million investment in its Toledo Machining Plant to modernize production of the eight- and nine-speed torque-converters for automatic transmissions made there. That upgrade work won't be finished until Q3 of this year, but Chrysler has already announced a further $19.6-million investment to increase production capacity for the nine-speeders.
The extra units will be necessary because the nine-speed transmission they'll be mated to is going into three popular models: it will debut on the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, then go into the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart. The company predicted that this year alone it would sell 200,000 units equipped with the nine-speed tranny, and it is spending some $374 million in addition to the investment in Toledo to upgrade production capacity for it.
The work attached to this new investment won't begin until Q3 of 2014, and it will be finished by the end of that year. There's a press release below with all the details.

Chrysler minivans under investigation for stalling after fuel refill

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, at least one man has reported that his 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan stalled unexpectedly on the highway shortly after being refueled. The unidentified man who contacted NHTSA regarding the issue cited as many as eight similar instances reported by other drivers.
NHTSA has announced that it will launch an inquiry into this issue, which could affect as many as 160,000 minivans from Dodge and Chrysler that were sold in 2007 (or more, if a problem is found that extends to additional models years, we'd assume). As of yet, there's no formal investigation, let alone a recall, on these vans, as the agency is merely determining if further action is needed.
Two months ago, Chrysler recalled nearly 700,000 vehicles, the majority of which were minivans, from the 2008-2010 model years to replace ignition switches after an investigation found that their weak springs and detent positions could fool a driver into thinking the car was in the "Run" position, when it's actually in the "Accessory" position.