2004 Chrysler Crossfire on 2040-cars

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40+ cars that barely avoid the gas guzzler tax

The Gas Guzzler schedule, with mpg ratings and charges that haven't changed since 1991, lays out which fuel-swillers owe what to Uncle Sam.
I started thinking about the "Gas Guzzler Tax" - considerably less well known as The Energy Tax Act of 1978 - when I was driving Dodge's new Challenger SRT Hellcat last week. Unsurprisingly for a car that can burn 1.5 gallons of gas per minute at max tilt, theoretically able to empty a full tank of premium in about 13 minutes, the Hellcat will be subject to the Gas Guzzler Tax schedule when it goes on sale.

Updated 2021 Chrysler Pacifica enters production

The updated 2021 Chrysler Pacifica entered production in Windsor, Ontario, this week, bringing with it the option of all-wheel drive to a Chrysler-branded minivan for the first time since 2004. While Chrysler, or whatever corporate name it was going by at the time, has offered all-wheel drive on minivans in the intervening years, the 2021 Pacifica offers it in combinations not previously available, most notably pairing it with the company's coveted Stow n' Go folding second-row seats. Offering both of these on the same model required re-engineering the Pacifica's exhaust and fuel system to allow room for the Stow ‘nÂ’ Go seats to fold away into the floor. The 2021 Pacifica's interior has some other noteworthy additions, such as a now-standard 10.1-inch infotainment display powered by the fifth generation of the company's Uconnect operating system. The latest infotainment suite includes upgrades to Amazon Alexa integration along with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The optional FamCam helps you keep an eye on passengers in the rear seats (joining the Honda Odyssey in offering such a feature).  "FCA invented the minivan segment, and the new-for-2021 Chrysler Pacifica continues to drive our leadership and innovation," said FCA's Tim Kuniskis. "Whether itÂ’s all-weather driving capability with Stow ‘n Go seating or more than 80 MPGe and no range anxiety with the only plug-in hybrid minivan in the segment, the new Chrysler Pacifica gives families what they want and options that best fit their busy lives." New for 2021, all-wheel drive is a long-awaited $2,995 option that brings the Touring's price up to $39,535, while selecting the hybrid model bumps that figure to $41,490. Interestingly, the Touring and Touring L models are the only front-wheel drive, non-electrified variants of the Pacifica. Called Limited and Pinnacle, respectively, the next two are only available with one or the other, and they're priced accordingly. The top-of-the-line all-wheel drive Pinnacle is priced in luxury car territory at $54,885, while the hybrid starts at $52,340.  It's worth mentioning the positioning of the all-wheel drive and hybrid models is reversed as buyers move up in the trim hierarchy. Shop for a Touring L, and you'll pay $1,155 more for a hybrid van than for one equipped with all-wheel drive. Step up to the Pinnacle model, and all-wheel drive costs $2,545 more than the hybrid system.

Stellantis tells UK: Change Brexit deal or watch car plants close

LONDON - British car plants will close with the loss of thousands of jobs unless the Brexit deal is swiftly renegotiated, Stellantis has told the UK parliament, the latest in a series of warnings from the industry since the country left the European Union. The world's No. 3 carmaker by sales and owner of 14 brands including Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat said that under the current deal it would face tariffs when exporting electric vans to Europe from next year, when tougher post-Brexit rules come into force. "If the cost of EV (electric vehicle) manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close," Stellantis said in a submission to a House of Commons committee examining the prospects for Britain's EV industry. Stellantis urged the government to reach an agreement with the European Union about extending the current rules on the sourcing of parts until 2027 instead of the planned 2024 change. In response, a government spokesperson said the business secretary had raised the issue with the EU. "Watch this space, because we are very focused on making sure that the UK gets EV and manufacturing capacity," Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Wednesday at a British Chambers of Commerce event. The potentially existential problem facing Britain's car industry is closely tied to the shift to EVs. Under the trade deal agreed when Britain left the bloc, 45% of the value of an EV being sold in the European Union must come from Britain or the EU from 2024 to avoid tariffs. The problem is that a battery pack can account for up to half a new EV's cost. Batteries are also heavy and expensive to move long distances. Experts have been warning since Britain left the EU at the end of 2020 that the country would need a number of EV battery gigafactories or potentially lose a hefty chunk of its car industry. Only Japan's Nissan has a small EV battery plant in Sunderland, with a second one on the way. Cost of failure Britishvolt, a startup which received UK government support for an ambitious 3.8 billion pound ($4.80 billion) battery plant at a site in northern England, filed for administration in January after struggling to raise funds. The company was then bought by Australia's Recharge Industries, which has yet to unveil plans for the site.