Prime Video confirmed Francis Bourgeois, Thomas Holland, and James Engelsman as the new hosts of The Grand Tour on Wednesday, two years after Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May drove off into the Botswana sunset for the final time.
The announcement, reported by Variety and Deadline, marks Amazon's attempt to continue the franchise with a drastically younger lineup. Six episodes will air globally later this year, featuring challenges across Angola, Malaysia, and California.
Holland and Engelsman built their following through Throttle House, a YouTube channel with 3.4 million subscribers and 75 million annual viewers. Holland specializes in high-performance vehicles and works as an automotive journalist and amateur race car driver. Engelsman brings an enthusiast perspective exemplified by his ownership of a Toyota Century limousine originally built for Japanese royalty.
Bourgeois commands nearly six million followers across social media, primarily through trainspotting content. The British personality also holds credentials as a mechanical engineer with professional experience at Rolls-Royce. His technical expertise includes identifying vehicle makes by engine sound alone.
The casting represents a calculated gamble. Amazon is betting on content creators with existing audiences rather than established television personalities. Whether that translates to the big production format remains uncertain. YouTube success doesn't guarantee streaming series chemistry, and the shadow of the original trio looms massive.
Bourgeois acknowledged the challenge directly. "The saying 'big shoes to fill' spring to mind," he said in Amazon's announcement, per Deadline. "Well, in this case it'll be like Mo Farah running in Size 14 wellies."
Holland brought characteristic humor to the reveal. "When I first heard they were rebooting The Grand Tour and replacing Clarkson Hammond and May, I said 'only a moron would take that job,'" he told Variety.
Engelsman noted the evolution of his partnership with Holland. "I've worked with Thomas for almost a decade making car films," he said. "Who knew that all this time, the one ingredient that was missing was a Francis Bourgeois?"
Studio Lambert takes over production from Expectation, bringing a different creative approach to the series. Executive producer Andy Wilman, who worked with the original trio since Top Gear's 2002 relaunch, voiced support for the new lineup. "We are properly happy to hand over the baton to Thomas, James and Francis, because quite simply—they are doing it right," Wilman said, according to reporting across multiple outlets. "They have a delightful chemistry that's all of their own making."
The original hosts have moved on to solo projects that play to their individual strengths. Clarkson continues farming at Diddly Squat in Oxfordshire, where the fourth season of Clarkson's Farm recently aired on Prime Video. He also opened The Farmer's Dog pub in the Cotswolds in August 2024, using it as a showcase for farm produce.
Hammond runs The Smallest Cog, a classic car restoration business in Herefordshire. He appeared in a Clarkson's Farm episode charging his former colleague £20,000 to chrome and lighten a tractor for the pub's ceiling. The restoration work featured Hammond's team stripping the vehicle down to under 750 kilograms to prevent structural damage.
May owns a stake in The Royal Oak pub in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire, where his often found sipping on his Gin and fronts James May's Great Explorers for Channel 5. He appeared via video chat in Clarkson's Farm to deliver a litany of pub ownership costs that visibly deflated his former co-host. May also recently launched James May and The Dull Men's Club, leaning into his reputation for understated interests.
The three formally wound down their joint company, W Chump & Sons, in September 2025 according to documents filed at Companies House. The business closed with £24,087,100 on the books, leaving each man approximately £6 million from the venture.
Their 23-year working relationship ended amicably, a rarity in television. Clarkson told The Times ahead of the final series he was "too old and fat" to get into the cars he likes and "not interested" in driving the cars he doesn't. The trio filmed their final scenes on the Makgadikgadi salt pans in Botswana, where The Grand Tour began.
The decision to end on their own terms, rather than through controversy or cancellation, marked a departure from how Top Gear concluded. Clarkson was sacked from the BBC in 2015 after assaulting a producer, which led to the creation of The Grand Tour for Amazon.
For the new hosts, the challenge extends beyond simply hosting a motoring show. The Grand Tour became Prime Video's most-watched unscripted UK original series globally, according to Tara Erer, head of UK and Northern Europe originals. Finding successors who could maintain that audience while bringing fresh perspectives required extensive searching.
Amazon clearly studied what worked about Throttle House. The Canadian duo's YouTube channel delivers high-quality production values, genuine automotive knowledge, and natural banter that echoes the original trio's dynamic without copying it. Adding Bourgeois provides an unpredictable element that could either energize the chemistry or create friction.
The motoring media world has been speculating about this casting for months. Rumors first surfaced last year when The Sun reported talks between Amazon and the Throttle House team, though some enthusiasts questioned whether Bourgeois belonged in a car show given his trainspotting background. His mechanical engineering credentials and demonstrated ability to engage millions of viewers across platforms apparently convinced producers otherwise.
Whether audiences embrace the new lineup or reject them as inadequate replacements will be decided when episodes air later this year. The format remains familiar—globe-trotting adventures, automotive challenges, and the inevitable chaos that occurs when you give three people cars and cameras in remote locations. Early coverage from sites tracking the automotive entertainment space suggests cautious optimism mixed with skepticism.
The original trio's chemistry developed over decades of working together, first at Top Gear and then through eight years of The Grand Tour. Holland and Engelsman bring an existing partnership spanning nearly ten years. Bourgeois represents the unknown variable. Either he becomes the glue that bonds the trio together, or he highlights what made the original combination irreplaceable.
Studio Lambert's involvement signals a production philosophy shift. The company produces The Traitors and other reality competition shows, suggesting The Grand Tour may lean more heavily into structured challenges and less on the freewheeling road trips that defined the Clarkson era.
For fans of the original trio, this version of The Grand Tour will inevitably feel different. That's unavoidable. Clarkson is farming. Hammond is restoring classic cars. May is presumably sitting in his pub enjoying gin. They're done with this chapter, and Amazon is betting a new generation of hosts can write their own.
The question isn't whether Bourgeois, Holland, and Engelsman can be Clarkson, Hammond, and May. They can't and shouldn't try. The question is whether they can build something distinct enough to justify the franchise continuing without its founders.
Six episodes will provide the answer. Angola, Malaysia, and California will serve as the testing grounds. The tent returns. The hosts are new. Whether the magic survived the transition won't be known until later this year when the first episode drops and millions of viewers decide if they're willing to give these three morons a chance.
At least they're honest about taking the job.