Dodge Charger

We don't want to sound like we're complaining, but sometimes being a small, far-flung, right-hand-drive country has its downsides. While being an Australian certainly has some perks (we'd list them but we just keep coming back to Tim Tams, sprinklers slung over Hills Hoists in summer, and outstanding '80s cricket moustaches), it also means we miss out on a bunch of overseas car brands and models we'd rather like to take for a spin.

The Dodge Charger Widebody has been unveiled, and will go on sale in the US from early 2020. Thanks to the new wider front and rear wheel arches, the wide body Charger is 89mm wider than the standard sedan. The wide body configuration is standard on the Charger SRT Hellcat, and optional on the Scat Pack. The Charger Hellcat has a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 engine making 527kW of power and 881Nm of torque. Dodge says it can complete the 0-60mph (0-97km/h) standard in 3.6 seconds

The current Dodge Challenger and Charger are old. The chassis on which they're based is 13 years old, to be precise, meaning they're proper dinosaurs in the fast-moving automotive world. They won't stay that way forever, though. Mike Manley, successor to Sergio Marchionne at the helm of Fiat Chrysler, has confirmed they'll be replaced with electrified vehicles "in the next decade".

The global boss of Mopar has rebuffed rumours that the Hemi V8 engine is set to end production in 2019. Various US media outlets have speculated that production of the Hemi V8 was destined to wind up, as tighter emissions targets and a renewed focus on fuel consumption, put large-capacity V8 engines in danger. "There's no doubt there has been speculation," Pietro Gorlier, head of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' parts and service arm, Mopar, told Australian media at the SEMA show.

There won’t be anything new in the Dodge stable for 2016, with the Journey seven-seater the only vehicle on offer for the year. We’re still waiting to see whether the next-generation versions of the Dodge brand’s muscle cars – the Challenger and Charger – will be made in right-hand drive.