The new Amazon car show hosted by ex-Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May will be called The Grand Tour, it has been confirmed.
Since it was confirmed that the trio were to host a new car show on Amazon’s online video service, following their departure from BBC’s Top Gear last year, speculation on the show’s name has been rife.
The name The Grand Tour has been announced today on social media channels including the show’s official Facebook page and on the Twitter accounts of each presenter.
It has been revealed that the name of the new show has been inspired by the fact that each episode will be hosted in different locations across the world.
Jeremy Clarkson said: “We’ll be travelling the world hosting each episode in a different country, from a giant tent. It’s a sort of ‘grand tour’, if you like. So we’ve decided to call it The Grand Tour.”
Richard Hammond commented on Twitter: “We've got a name. And it was bleeding obvious cos it's what we're doing: coming from a different place every week.
“Best of all, we've got a massive tent as our studio. Same tent, different view, different crowd every week on our Grand Tour.”
James May acknowledged the vast number of people who gave suggestions for naming the show online, tweeting: “I’m sorry if your name wasn't used for our new show. But neither were any of mine.”
Amazon is paying £160 million to produce 36 episodes of The Grand Tour, spread over three series. The first series of the new car show is due to launch to the public in autumn 2016.
The name Grand Tour reportedly reflects the presenters’ aim to make the show feel noticeably different in format to that used for Top Gear when they were hosts.
Under the direction of Clarkson, Hammond and May, Top Gear established itself as the biggest car show in the world. But when Clarkson was dismissed in March 2015 for punching a producer, the show came to an abrupt end and May and Hammond both opted to leave the programme the following month. It was then revealed towards the end of last year that the presenters had been signed up by Amazon to host a new car show for their online video service.
BBC is scheduled to relaunch Top Gear on 29 May with a new hosting line-up featuring Chris Evans as the main presenter, joined by Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, Sabine Schmitz, Eddie Jordan and Rory Reid.
