In case you didn’t notice, Jalopnik went quiet for four days last week. But now, everybody is back(street) back, alright!
So to celebrate, we wanted to uncover some of the biggest stories were from the past seven days.
To find out what has been happening in the world of cars, we turned to you to hear what you’ve been reading about while we were out. And thankfully, you didn’t disappoint in your responses.
“Chry—wait, no, FC—fuck, Stellantis, and also Ford, both are doing a lot (so they say) to boost their future EV businesses. Atlantis CEO says that they’ll relaunch the Chrysler brand as EV-focused.
“Also, Interstellar says there will be loads of new EV Jeeps, Dodges, and Rams, all of which will be better than everyone else’s, naturally. Excelsior laid out its “Dare Forward 2030" proposal that it will launch 100 new products in the next eight years.”
There was some big news from Jeep maker Stellantis, which launched the not-at-all-ridiculous-sounding Dare Forward initiative. According to the Chrysler maker, the scheme will see it target “carbon net zero emissions by 2038.” The firm is also eyeing 100 percent EV sales in Europe and 50 percent EV sales in America by the end of the decade.
Suggested by: dbeach84
“Meanwhile, Ford sort-of, kind-of is now two companies, because that’s the cool thing all the kids are doing now. At least they didn’t change their name to Meta or Alphabet or Stellantis.
“It’s now ‘Ford Blue’ and ‘Ford Model E’, both of which make no sense. I mean, I guess ‘Ford Blue’ alludes to traditional Ford, and will be the ICE side of things, but also blue has been the color of choice for denoting EVs and hybrids since like 2001. Also, will there be an EV called the Ford Model E? I’m confused.”
It’s a good job this poster was on hand to fill us all in this morning, as they’ve also explained the developments at Ford. Last Wednesday, the American car maker announced it would divide itself into two distinct marques, Ford Blue and Ford Model E — which will focus on electric vehicles. As part of the move, Ford announced that former Tesla exec Doug Field would serve as the company’s chief EV and digital systems officer.
Suggested by: dbeach84
“Well, I took my A7 PHEV for its first annual checkup last week (it is doing just fine, thank you), diesel is at $5/gallon in my town so my X5 is sitting put for now, and my E39 M5 needs a new thermostat so I’ll be ordering the goods to fix it and flush the coolant this week. I am sure this is nearly as interesting as the new Polestar coupe concept.”
Thanks for the update. It’s great to hear your A7 is still doing well, and you’ll have to keep us posted on the E39 repairs! But yes, gas is incredibly expensive now, and even went up a further 50c in just one weekend. Madness.
Suggested by: oddseth
“Felicity Ace sank.
“Sydney Sweeney is a bona fide Jalop. Check out her Bronco build.
“Oh and Ford is splitting off its EV brand.”
Yet another whopping great ship that promised to unite us all has sadly met its demise. After a fire broke out on the Felicity Ace, which was carrying hundreds of cars made by VW group, the ship finally sank while being towed back to shore last week.
Suggested by: motodroid23
“I know it’s hip to hate on Elon among the GMG staff, but the guy got hundreds of Starlink terminals delivered to Ukraine in nothing flat, for free.
“So yeah. Fuck that guy for doing something good.”
Fine, I guess we can commend Elon for doing a good thing with his Starlink satellites. In the past week, the firm has delivered terminals to Ukraine in order to keep people across the country online and in contact with friends and family. Nice job.
Suggested by: toobs-n-stuff
“In my posts about EVs, I rip into them for having such a wimpy whirring sound instead of the sweet burble of a V8 when you’re cruising or how cool it sounds when you put your foot in it and have it roar.
“Apparently Dodge is tackling the issue head-on with ‘shocking’ sound blasting from their muscle cars EVs.
“That’s fine, Dodge. Now unveil that been-teased-too-long EV concept that really, really looks like it could be a 21st century 2nd gen Charger. And let us hear this “shocking” sound.”
Oh look, more EV news! This time it’s with regards to the new noise that Dodge’s upcoming electric muscle car could make. According to Automotive News, the firm is developing a “shocking” custom sound that it says is something “that you cannot imagine.” Exciting.
Suggested by: the1969dodgechargerguy
“I got the rear differential, axle, and suspension into one side of the 850.”
Nice job Rjjablo, that sounds great.
Suggested by: rjjablo
“The smallest car news is that stores have been getting in the A through D cases of 2022 Hot Wheels, cars that in normal years would have shown up starting in September.
“I picked up the Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400 and between the flares, the wing, and the paint job, this may be the ugliest new model non-fantasy car I’ve seen in years, yet it’s from the late, great Ryu Asada so I will be flamed for my opinion.
“Thankfully he also left us with the new Sierra Cosworth which is fantastic.”
Finally, the news we were all waiting for!
Any fans of tiny toys will be pleased to hear that 2022 Hot Wheels models have started to hit the shelves in stores across America. Sadly, it sounds like the new Mach E model hasn’t lived up to this poster’s expectations.
Suggested by: burnersbabyburners
“I’d say it’s gas prices and Rivian pissing off their customers. Also Lucid has started to ship some product... however they’re running into supply chain issues that will cause them to take longer to ramp up production.”
It’s been a mixed week for electric car makers. Rivian has hiked its prices up a whopping 20 percent, which sounds pretty bad for any perspective buyers. But then there was good news from Lucid, as it began shipping its cars. But, the firm then slashed production estimates for 2022 thanks to “production hell.”
Suggested by: manwich
“No slideshows for an entire week!
“This article has the startings of what will later be a slideshow of ‘Here’s the biggest news we missed last week’.”
You’d have thought that after more than 14 years of Question Of The Day, posters might have got the hang of this whole thing. But sadly, some people still don’t get that every day we ask a question and then compile your top answers. Or maybe after a week without them, you just forgot how it works?
Suggested by: willl84