2012 Dodge Grand Caravan Sxt on 2040-cars

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2024 Chrysler Pacifica celebrates 40 years of the modern minivan

While its nameplate is relatively new, the Chrysler Pacifica traces its roots to the model that defined the minivan as we know it today: the Plymouth Voyager. Chrysler is celebrating 40 years of building family haulers by making a handful of small updates to the Pacifica for 2024. Don't expect to find a "40 Years Edition" trim the next time you visit a Chrysler dealer. Changes for the 2024 model year are largely limited to new paint and interior colors. Red Hot and Baltic Gray join the palette, and buyers who order the range-topping Pacifica Pinnacle model can select a new interior color called Sepia. Chrysler has also pared down the Plug-In Hybrid range to two models called Select and Pinnacle, respectively. Customers can add the optional S Appearance, Premium S Appearance, and Road Tripper packages to the base Select trim. The final update for 2024 is minor but important. The Uconnect 5 infotainment system gains an Emergency Vehicle Alert System (EVAS) that warns the driver if it detects an active fire truck, an active ambulance, or "other nearby roadway hazards," according to Chrysler. Chrysler dealers across the nation will begin receiving the 2024 Pacifica in the coming weeks. Moving your family and your stuff for 40 years Plymouth, which Chrysler closed in 2001, built the first Voyager at the Windsor plant in Canada on November 2, 1983. The van went on sale as a 1984 model and became what most historians consider the first modern minivan. The idea of designing a box on wheels tailor-made for families wasn't new: the 1930s Stout Scarab, the original Volkswagen Bus released in 1950, the Fiat 600 Multipla launched in 1956, and the Renault Espace unveiled shortly after the Voyager filled the same void, but it's the Chrysler Corporation's definition of a minivan that stuck. The original Voyager was also sold as the Dodge Caravan (1984) and the Chrysler Town & Country (1990). The three models leveraged a unique set of attributes to stand out from other vans on the market, including car-derived underpinnings (many existing models were related to bulky commercial vehicles), front-wheel-drive, and a sliding door that made the cabin easy to get in and out of. Stow 'N Go seats didn't appear until the 2004 model year, but Chrysler's early vans featured removable rear seats for weekend trips to the hardware store. SUVs and crossovers often get blamed for killing the station wagon, but the minivan arguably started the war.

2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat pricing revealed in dealer documents

Dodge has released a lot of numbers about the 2021 Durango SRT Hellcat — we know it has 710 horsepower and it will only be built for about six months — but not revealed so far is how much the SUV will cost. While official pricing information remains under wraps, leaked dealer documents suggest it will start at approximately $81,000. Citing anonymous dealer connections, enthusiast website Mopar Insiders reported the SRT Hellcat will carry a base price of $80,995 when it goes on sale. Note that figure excludes the destination fee — and the inevitable dealer markup. For context, the entry-level 2020 Durango SXT starts at $30,795 when ordered with rear-wheel drive, and the all-wheel-drive-only SRT model costs $62,995. That means the Hellcat model will carry an $18,000 premium. For the price, buyers get a 6.2-liter V8 engine topped with a mammoth supercharger, two-piece slotted rotors behind 20-inch wheels, a black radiator grille, a front splitter, and an array of Hellcat emblems. Inside, Dodge added red stitching and red accents in the instrument cluster, among other model-specific visual cues. Buyers can easily bump the aforementioned MSRP over the $90,000 mark. Highlights from the list of extra-cost options include a rear-seat entertainment system with a DVD player ($1,995), red leather upholstery ($1,595), a power sunroof ($1,295), and a trailer tow package with brake control ($1,195). Racing stripes are a $1,195 option, while three-season tires will add $595 to the bottom line. Fully loaded, the Durango Hellcat costs nearly $95,000. Although that's a lot to pay for a Durango, the Hellcat-powered model isn't an ordinary SUV, and it's not going to be a common sight. It's celebrated as the most powerful factory-built SUV in the world; it takes 3.9 seconds to reach 60 mph from a stop. And, Dodge confirmed it will only be able to build the model for about six months, though the SRT Hellcat won't be a serialized, limited-edition model like the 840-horsepower SRT Demon.  Still according to Mopar Insiders, Dodge dealers across the nation will begin to receive their Durango SRT Hellcat allocations in November 2020. Production will start in January 2021, and end in May of that year. If you want one, we suggest getting in touch with your nearest Dodge dealer sooner rather than later to ensure you don't miss out. Related Video:    

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