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Cars

New year, new week coming in with some brand new Chrysler news updates coming from their CEO Christine Fuell who also looks after the North American arm of Alfa Romeo under Stellantis in the US.

The good news is that we will still expect to see the brand’s first ever EV model would be a five-door crossover (SUV) next year in 2026 – so still right on time to begin its all-electric masterplan, although they would still offer a hybrid option to begin with since the all-EV demand is slow. But we do know so far is the design of that first model would be a mix of both concept cars with less of the 2022 Airflow crossover and more of the recent Halycon four-door prototype sedan from last year.

Other than that, when we will see a production version of that lovely Halycon sedan? We don’t know but this is also still projected to come out around 2028 and according to Christine, they are looking to bring the Halycon into market that is both modern-looking and also affordable. 

Sounds like they are working on a proper 300 replacement that was discontinued last year but again, this would be an all-electric model that aligns with their EV vision alongside the crossover – and if so, the price would start under $40,000.

What else? Oh, the Pacifica minivan – the only Chrysler current model out on the market right now – would get a facelift next year at the same time as the new crossover. Yes, there will also be an electric variant of the Pacifica but that will likely come out as a completely new model rather than as an additional trim when the current generation Pacifica doesn’t have a lot of life towards the end of the 2020s. 

That way, buyers can continue to buy it in its current form while it lasts and if there’s any other customers who wants a Pacifica in future, then an all-new electric model would suit them best in the next decade.   

I guess it’s going to be bit similar to Mitsubishi ASX really when the ageing one is still out there from 2010 while they’ve added a completely separate model of the crossover last year for thejr European market off a rebadged Renault Captur much like the Mitsubishi Colt hatchback being a cloned Renault Clio.

For now, we will have to wait and see since most of Chrysler’s electric masterplan is currently kept under wraps, with three models being just right to move forward like the popular Pacifica minivan, an SUV crossover and a four-door sedan.

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In recent times, Nissan needed a new lease of life by looking for a divorce from long-time partner Renault, whom they’ve been partners together for 25 years now that dates back to 1999. Yes, they are at a new low as said above & if things don’t change over the next 12-14 months then this may be the end of this well-known Japanese car company that produces the Godzilla GT-R, especially without Carlos Ghosn when he left a few years ago due to these allegations that gone against him. 

There’s one car company though ready to save their day and that is Honda as looks like it’s a huge chance to start Nissan’s new chapter with them at some stage by buying the rest of Renault’s 15% stake and so would Mitsubishi Motors to form a new three-way pact together where Nissan holds some of their shares as well. 

Pretty sure Mitsubishi wouldn’t want to stay with Renault when most of the stuff they do together nowadays only came from rebadged models like the Kangoo commercial van, Clio hatchback and Captur compact SUV — while Mitsubishi uses Nissan’s X-Trail platform for their flagship Outlander SUV model albeit with a completely different design shape. 

First of all, Nissan can go and so can Mitsubishi as they’d be a great fit under Honda. Now at this time, it’s unlikely that Mitsubishi would want to go back to making these fantastic sports cars considering customer demand into making tons of SUVs and pick-up trucks like the Eclipse Coupe, GT3000 sports car and of course, the Lancer Evolution sedan. 

You never know what could happen when the time is right that makes financial sense as saw the revival of Honda Prelude two-door compact coupe the other day to rival the Toyota 86. I mean, Mitsubishi can get the Eclipse coupe back under Honda’s watch but again, that’s wishful thinking unless they feel they like they are at a steady ground to roll back something unique to their rally roots. At the end of the day though, it’s all about what’s best for Nissan as well as the Japanese automotive industry including the people working there to design & make cars for customers to buy & use for the road.

And for Renault, they are free to pursue what’s best post-Nissan and Mitsubishi.

It would be cool if they team up with Chrysler’s raft of brands away from Peugeot & Citroen backed Stellantis like Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram to form under one alliance -and have them work together on some cool high-performance & even electric sedans, pick-up trucks, coupes and SUVs.

Not only that, the Chrysler Group can take advantage of the Alpine F1 Team by taking over Renault’s existing Viry Motorsport plant by making engines again under SRT Hellcat – as don’t think Renault would want to use the Nissan money on its own to reverse their difficult decision of not shutting down the Formula 1 engine program at Viry-Chatillon.

That way, Chrysler can cover most of the costs in order to create a top-notch works engine as it’s a shame that Renault will no longer make their own engines unfortunately by using Mercedes customer engines after next year. But again, you never know what could happen when Renault finally splits from Nissan at some stage – and who knows if Renault would want to help Dodge go back into NASCAR someday and maybe IndyCar too on top of NHRA Drag Racing as long as it makes perfect sense.

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We thought this latest Top Gear Australia revival by Network 10’s paid streaming service Paramount + wouldn’t get a second free-to-air window as last said earlier this yea,  but it’s now on the main free-to-air channel after all as just premiered tonight – a months later from its original first-run Paramount + screening (May). It remains to be seen if TGA will be given on-demand access on 10 Play for those who didn’t get to watch this tonight.

The only difference 10 viewers will get on Top Gear Australia is a series of commercial breaks in each episode that goes up to 90 minutes, which is the same length we get from the original UK Top Gear episodes as it was before when these UK episodes last aired on Nine.

Everything else you will see isn’t that much with dedicated motoring redhead like Blair “Moog” Joscelyne reviewing performance-road cars in a similar way Chris Harris does for the UK show. 

Alongside him is a former professional athlete & an entertainer competing in challenges with Moog alongside Beau Ryan and Jonathan LaPaglia much like how the UK last had former England all-round cricketer Andrew Flintoff & comedian/presenter Paddy McGuiness.

Also, the car they use when they bring in celebrity guests to drive around the race track is the Subaru BRZ compact sports car coupe whose identical twin Toyota 86 was last used on the UK show. And lastly, don’t know where that new race track is as it’s not the Camden Airport airfield that the original Top Gear Australia version used on SBS (Season 1 & 2) and later Nine (Seasons 3 & 4) a long time ago. But what we do know that this latest studio building is filmed in Sydney’s Cockatoo Island.

Fingers crossed to see what the ratings will be like on 10 as we don’t know if Top Gear Australia will be back for 2025.  

Yes, the original UK show is currently not on air with Season 34 already cancelled midway through production following Freddie Flintoff’s freak crash two years ago. However, it looks like they had run its course unfortunately as this show no longer has the same popularity they once had before when Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May left back in 2015-16. The show’s website may still live on but time will tell if TGA has unfinished business that would reflect well on Paramount +’s investment via 10. 

In the meantime, October has been living large with these first-run streaming shows now popping up on free-to-air – with Nine currently showing Bali 2002 (two episodes done with Episode 3 to come on Monday) & Ten doing the same with Top Gear Australia (1 done with 7 weeks to go).

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