4 Wd 4 Door on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Stellantis sees vehicle loan durations extended amid banking turmoil

Stellantis is seeing clients seeking longer-term financing and leasing deals for their vehicles as a consequence of higher global interest rates, the carmaker's head for the business said. Chief Affiliates Officer Philippe de Rovira said loans which normally had a three-year maturity were now increasingly moved to four years. "This allows customers to get a car for a monthly instalment that is similar to that they had before," he said. The world's third largest carmaker by sales on Tuesday announced it had completed a plan announced in late 2021 to reshuffle and simplify its leasing and financing operations in Europe. Under its terms, Stellantis created a 50-50 single long term multi-brand leasing company named Leasys with Credit Agricole Consumer Finance. It also set up local joint ventures in European countries for its new Stellantis Financial Services unit, formerly Banque PSA Finance, with BNP Paribas Personal Finance and Santander Consumer Finance. "These banks have always had better funding conditions than those we can have as an automaker," de Rovira said. Benefits of the plan included cutting the number of financing and leasing entities the group runs in each country and the number of IT systems it uses, with expected savings exceeding 30% in this particular area, he added. De Rovira said the group had a huge portfolio of orders it had not yet delivered due to supply chain shortages impacting production. "Demand is not our main issue. The issue is to deliver as fast as we can cars that are in our order portfolio, which is still at record levels," he said. The group aims to expand its corporate leased vehicle fleet to more than one million units in 2026 and to double net income from its so-called banking activities to 5.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion) by 2030. De Rovira said Stellantis was not seeing a downward trend in vehicle pricing. "Probably the significant price increases we have seen in 2021 and 2022 will not be repeated because the context is changing, but for the moment we don't see decreases, we see stabilisation". ($1 = 0.9188 euros) (Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Jan Harvey) Earnings/Financials Plants/Manufacturing Alfa Romeo Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM

As Dodge Challenger changes, hybrid or however else, it's sure to stay retro

Unverified rumors claim Dodge will make major technical changes to the Charger and the Challenger (pictured) to comply with looming regulations. They'll likely be lighter than they currently are, they could get smaller in nearly every direction, and you can safely bet that they'll incorporate some degree of electrification. The retro-inspired, heritage-laced design is here to stay, however. Mark Trostle, Dodge's horsepower-addicted chief of design, told Muscle Car & Trucks that looks deserve a big chunk of credit for making the Charger and the Challenger as popular as they are. Horsepower and quarter-mile times help sell cars, but it's the "magic of their design" that lures buyers into showrooms to check out the modern-day muscle cars in the metal. "I wouldn't want to ruin something that's been so successful for us," Trostle concluded. He compared the Challenger to the Jeep Wrangler, another design icon in the Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) portfolio. The offroader entered its fourth generation in 2018; every part of it is new, and it's not a Xerox copy of its predecessor, but it's still immediately recognizable as a Wrangler. Trostle hinted he's planning this type of evolutionary design for the next-generation Challenger. After all, it's part of the company's history, and heritage is something no amount of money can buy.  While it sounds like development work on the next-generation Challenger is ongoing, Dodge isn't finished with the current-generation car yet. The nameplate will celebrate its 50th birthday during the 2020 model year, and it's reasonable to assume Dodge has something special planned for it.

2020 Dodge Challenger 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition puts on a Smoke Show

To celebrate the semicentennial of the Dodge Challenger this year, last November the muscle car brand announced a Challenger 50th Anniversary Edition. Available in seven of Dodge's high impact colors, Dodge said production would be limited to 1,960 cars, being 70 examples in each of the seven colors. Keeping the good thing going, the brand has just announced another 50th anniversary special, this one a Commemorative Edition with no cap on build numbers. The Commemorative Edition can be ordered on three 2020 Challenger trims, the R/T, R/T Scat Pack, and R/T Scat Pack Widebody, omitting the rear-wheel drive V6 GT model that can be configured as a 50th Anniversary Edition.    The Commemorative car is nearly identical to the Anniversary car. Outside, that means a Satin Black, hand-painted hood and black-wrapped roof and decklid, the Hellcat's air intake headlights, Satin Black fuel filler cap, Gold School-colored wheels, Gunmetal-colored brake calipers on trims that come with red Brembo brakes, and tons of badging all over from the illuminated "50" logos in the headlamps to the Satin Black Dodge logo in the taillamps. The interior gets sepia stitching on the heated and cooled performance seats, more sepia thread on for the Alcantara door bolsters, white gauges with yellow accents, berber floor mats, real carbon fiber trim pieces, and a bunch more badging. Paying homage to its elder, on startup a 1970 Challenger appears in the gauge cluster animation. Dodge says dealers will begin taking orders for the new celebrant this month, with deliveries to commence in the fall. The optional package adds $4,995 to the price of a 2020 Challenger R/T, $5,495 to the price of the R/T Scat Pack, and $5,495 to the cost of the R/T Scat Pack Widebody before the $6,000 cost of the widebody package itself. Whereas the 50th Anniversary car came in any of Dodge's eye-candy colors — F8 Green, Frostbite, Go Mango, Hellraisin, Sinamon Stick, TorRed, or the all-new Gold Rush — the Commemorative Edition is limited to the tamer end of the color palette, available in Granite, Indigo Blue, Octane Red, Pitch Black, Triple Nickel, White Knuckle, and the new Smoke Show hue. That latter color replaces Destroyer Gray, and can be ordered on the Charger as well. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.