The new Dodge Charger is set to hit the market by the end of the year, but the first to go on sale will be the electric versions of the Charger Daytona. According to the original plan, the gasoline versions should hit the market only in a year. However, information has appeared in the American press that the Stellantis concern is accelerating the launch of the Charger Sixpack version with a 3.0 inline turbo six, and it will hit the market in early summer. The rush is due to the fact that customer interest in the gasoline model was much higher than expected, which cannot be said about the electric car.
The partnership announced in the summer between Volkswagen and Rivianacquires new details. The German concern has decided to increase its investment in Rivian from $5 billion to $5.8 billion. If earlier the partners only announced the joint development of software and some components, now they intend to create a full-fledged electric vehicle architecture. It will be based on existing Rivian technologies, and the first joint models will appear in 2027.
Another new Volkswagen for the American market will be presented much earlier. Next week, the Volkswagen Tiguan crossover will debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show. As before, the American Tiguan will differ from its European relative in its increased wheelbase. That is, we are talking about an adapted version of the European Volkswagen Tayron model, which is confirmed by a teaser with an image of the taillight.
Indian Mahindraannounced the imminent debut of two electric crossovers. The Mahindra XEV 9e and Mahindra BE 6e models will open a promising family of electric vehicles, which was announced two years ago. An original electric platform with components from the Volkswagen Group and BYD traction batteries with a capacity of 60 or 79 kW h has been prepared for the cars. Details will appear before the end of the year.
Jury of the European competition Car of the Year 2025has announced this year's finalists. The list includes seven models – Alfa Romeo Junior, Citroen C3, Cupra Terramar, Dacia Duster, Hyundai Inster, Kia EV3 and Renault 5/Alpine A290 (the organizers considered them one model). Ahead is the traditional test program, and the results of the competition will be announced in January at the Brussels Motor Show.
AVTOVAZ has postponed the launch of the Lada Iskra model to the spring of 2025, although it was originally planned to start its production in the winter. The reason was the protracted reconfiguration of the conveyors: Iskra will be produced on the same line as the Lada Granta liftbacks, and sedans of this model will be sent to the conveyor to the Niva. In addition, it became known that in 2025 the Russian government intends to allocate more than 45 billion rubles to AVTOVAZ, which will go to the development of promising projects of cars and power units, as well as to increase production capacity. Next year, the company intends to produce 500 thousand cars.
Today we also talked about the Chery Tiggo 9 crossover, Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon SUVs, Jiyue Robo X hypercar, Lexus ES and Audi A5L sedans.