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The Dodge Demon's massive hood scoop sucks air like a jet intake

You know what they say about cars with big hood scoops? They usually hide big blowers. At least that's the case with the Dodge Demon and its 45-inch wide hood scoop, the largest ever fitted to a factory production car. The fifth Demon teaser, "Forced Induction," shows off the increased capacity of the car's air intake and the resurrection of the Air Grabber hood scoop on Dodge's upcoming quarter-mile killer. View 4 Photos As with previous teasers, few details have been given outside of the Subaru-trouncing scoop's dimensions. Dodge says the scoop drops air inlet temperatures by more than 30 degrees. Where the more pedestrian Hellcat only has one air catcher headlight, both inner lights on the Demon are used to feed in air. The hood itself appears to channel air in and to the right into a new airbox that appears to be fitted with a K&N-style filter. Dodge seems intent on preventing any asthma issues with the new car. Standing in front of the car might literally take your breath away. Outside of that, the images don't show any new cryptic messages like previous teasers, or at least none that we can spot. One thing we did notice was that the engine block appears to be painted red, not orange like on the Hellcat. Doing some back and forth comparison also shows that the supercharger appears to be the same size as the current one. Of course, this is all speculative, so if you spot anything, drop a note in the comments. Related Video:

Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango to lose color options temporarily

In the market for a Jeep Grand Cherokee or Dodge Durango? Well, if you fancy a more expressive color for your new SUV, you'd better get your order in, or plan on waiting until well into 2015.
The SUVs will be limited to just four monochromatic shades - black, white, silver and gray - until at least February, thanks to an upgrade to the paint shop at the two vehicles' Jefferson North factory. For the Grand Cherokee, that means it's losing more than half its color palette while the Durango is dropping two-thirds of its color catalog.
The loss of colors is inconvenient, but the upgrade will have a slightly bigger effect on the overall supply of SUVs, as Chrysler will need to end its relentless build pace at the factory for a three-week shutdown starting on December 22. The good news for fans of the SUVs is that once the work is completed, we should see a gradual expansion of the color palettes for both the Durango and Grand Cherokee, beyond even what's offered now.

EV cost burden pushing automakers to their limits, says Stellantis' CEO Tavares

DETROIT — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said external pressure on automakers to quickly shift to electric vehicles potentially threatens jobs and vehicle quality as producers struggle with EVs' higher costs. Governments and investors want car manufacturers to speed up the transition to electric vehicles, but the costs are "beyond the limits" of what the auto industry can sustain, Tavares said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference released Wednesday. "What has been decided is to impose on the automotive industry electrification that brings 50% additional costs against a conventional vehicle," he said. "There is no way we can transfer 50% of additional costs to the final consumer because most parts of the middle class will not be able to pay." Automakers could charge higher prices and sell fewer cars, or accept lower profit margins, Tavares said. Those paths both lead to cutbacks. Union leaders in Europe and North America have warned tens of thousands of jobs could be lost. Automakers need time for testing and ensuring that new technology will work, Tavares said. Pushing to speed that process up "is just going to be counter productive. It will lead to quality problems. It will lead to all sorts of problems," he said. Tavares said Stellantis is aiming to avoid cuts by boosting productivity at a pace far faster than industry norm. "Over the next five years we have to digest 10% productivity a year ... in an industry which is used to delivering 2 to 3% productivity" improvement, he said. "The future will tell us who is going to be able to digest this, and who will fail," Tavares said. "We are putting the industry on the limits." Electric vehicle costs are expected to fall, and analysts project that battery electric vehicles and combustion vehicles could reach cost parity during the second half of this decade. Like other automakers that earn profits from combustion vehicles, Stellantis is under pressure from both establishment automakers such as GM, Ford, VW and Hyundai, as well as start-ups such as Tesla and Rivian. The latter electric vehicle companies are far smaller in terms of vehicle sales and employment. But investors have given Tesla and Rivian higher market valuations than the owner of the highly profitable Jeep and Ram brands. That investor pressure is compounded by government policies aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union, California and other jurisdictions have set goals to end sales of combustion vehicles by 2035.