Amazon is bringing The Grand Tour back.
September 4. That’s the date. No more waiting around for vague rumors, they’ve finally pinned down a premiere across Instagram.
It’s not the same old trio anymore.
James May, Jeremy Clarkson, and Richard Hammer—wait, Hammond—they moved on. Other projects, other grass. Someone else had to turn the wrenches this time around.
In comes a weird mix of creators.
There’s Throttle House. James Engelsman and Thomas Holland. They run a popular YouTube channel, review cars, and banter enough to fill a void. Joining them is Francis Bourgeois.
He’s a TikTok star.
Mostly known for train videos, really. He calls himself a railway enthusiast, a mechanical engineer. Now he’s sitting behind the wheel. It’s an odd combo. You have car guys meeting a guy who just really likes trains.
Will fans care?
They’ll probably hate it at first.
The banter between the original three was comfortable. It had decades of history behind it. This new crew doesn’t have that baggage yet. They don’t have the shorthand. Winning over people who loved the old chaos? That’s hard work. It’s an uphill battle.
But Amazon doesn’t care too much. They just want content.
Six episodes. All dropped at once on the fourth. You can binge them.
What are they driving?
They’re going to the Angola desert in track cars. Then Malaysia. Car culture there is intense, different. Then California for the latest tech. And apparently they’re going to challenge an entire nation’s legal system at some point.
“Same show. New knobs.”
That’s Amazon’s headline. Bold. Accurate enough.
They tried this cast change before, actually. In February they teased the idea. There was a video, really, with Jeremy Clarkson pretending to sort applications.
He rejected people with beards.
He rejected someone for looking exactly like James May.
He approved this new group.
Clarkson gave his blessing.
So the old guard isn’t fighting it.
Is that enough? Maybe. Fans are loyal, but they’re also fickle. They might give the train guy a chance. They might not.
Come September we’ll know if a YouTube couple and a rail enthusiast can drive this legacy forward or if it’ll just crash in the desert.
