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Jay Leno drives the Demon-powered SpeedKore carbon fiber Dodge Charger

Jay Leno drives all sorts of wild vehicles on his TV and YouTube series "Jay Leno's Garage," from concept cars to classics. Although many of the vehicles are museum quality, they don't all come through in straight by-the-book factory form, as Leno often likes to highlight the creative and insane builds from premium speciality aftermarket shops. One of his favorites is SpeedKore, which recently dropped by with its carbon-fiber-bodied 1970 Dodge Charger Evolution. After cementing itself as one of the best builds of the year at SEMA 2018, the high-performance Charger paid Leno a visit to show off its immaculately assembled blend of classic and modern Dodge. It's not the first time SpeedKore has stopped by, as they've previously shot videos together of the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, the 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R, and the 1970 Dodge Charger Tantrum. The Charger featured here wears its Evolution name because it is an updated take on the Tantrum build (which had 1,650 horsepower, by the way), but the two are quite different. The Charger Evolution uses numerous parts from Dodge's recent superstars, the Challenger SRT Hellcat and the Challenger SRT Demon. In fact, it's one of the only ways in the world to drive a Demon engine with a manual transmission. Under the hood is the 6.2L Supercharged Hemi V8 from a Demon pre-production car, and SpeedKore has tuned it up to 966 horsepower. It pairs with a Tremec M6 6060 six-speed transmission from the Hellcat. At full bore, the whine of the supercharger paired with the grumble from the custom stainless steel SpeedKore exhaust headers makes for a thrilling, if not unharmonized, battle cry. Whereas some restomods have cut corners, shoddy build quality, or imperfect fittings, Leno notes that SpeedKore's work is top-notch, despite the entire exterior body and many pieces of the interior being fully replaced with glossy clear-coated exposed carbon fiber. According to SpeedKore Vice President Dave Salvaggio, the Charger weighs about 3,400 pounds. Check out the full video above or read full details from our time with the car at SEMA. And as a bonus, Autoblog photographer Drew Phillips recently got to spend a day shooting the Charger. His gallery of photos appears below. Speedkore 1970 Dodge Charger View 53 Photos

FCA, Ford idle plants due to semiconductor shortage

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford and FCA will become the latest automakers to idle production facilities due to a semiconductor shortage. Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky will idle for a week, borrowing a down period from later in the year to compensate. Per Automotive News, FCA is idling its Brampton facility in Ontario, Canada, and one other site which has not yet been identified.  Louisville Assembly is the production site for the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair SUVs; Brampton Assembly produces the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger for FCA.  A Ford spokeswoman, who declined to identify the semiconductor supplier, confirmed the temporary shutdown to Reuters. In this, FCA and Ford join Nissan and potentially Honda in idling production in the wake of the shortage, which also hit Volkswagen late last year. The shortages are being blamed on consumer demand for silicon after production slowdowns resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Volkswagen said it had to adjust production schedules in China, Europe and North America to compensate.  Nissan said it planned to reduce production of the Note, a hybrid electric car, at its Oppama Plant in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, but did not give details of the scale of the output cut. The Nikkei newspaper reported that Nissan would slash its Note production at Oppama to about 5,000 units in January, from an initially planned 15,000 units. "A global shortage of semiconductors has affected parts procurement in the auto sector. As a result of this shortage, the Oppama Plant in Japan will adjust production in January, reducing production of the Nissan NOTE," Nissan said in a statement. (This article contains reporting from Reuters.)     Auto News Plants/Manufacturing UAW/Unions Chrysler Dodge Ford

2013 Dodge Challenger R/T hits the Redline

Dodge has added a bit of spice to its Hemi-powered Challenger for 2013, offering up this new Redline package that makes its official debut at the Chicago Auto Show. The R/T Redline builds on the Rallye Redline kit that was created for the V6 Challenger, and we like how these subtle changes add to the muscle coupe's already classic styling.
In addition to the black chrome 20-inch wheels with red accents, the R/T Redline adds subtle graphics along the beltline. Inside, cars equipped with the six-speed manual transmission get a performance tuned exhaust that allows the engine to send a full 375 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels. (Redline Challengers with the five-speed automatic produce 372 hp and 400 lb-ft.)
The Redline package retails for $1,995 and can be had on both Challenger R/T and R/T Plus models. Scroll down for the full press blast.