How will Top Gear fare without Jeremy Clarkson and Co.? We'll get the answer on May 8, 2016.

Chris Evans, the top-rated motoring show's new host, shared some exclusive new details regarding the new program during an interview with BBC 1's James Martin last Saturday.

According to him, the new series will feature 16 episodes, a slight departure from the more recent iterations of Top Gear format that used shorter, more frequent seasons of 6-8 shows. Evans says that they have already "already started making the films."

He added that the first Top Gear road trip under his reign as host will be an intercontinental trip across America.

Evans was named host of the iconic BBC Franchise earlier this year after Jeremy Clarkson - the show's presenter of more than a decade, was fired by the network after feuding with a producer.

In response to the sacking, Clarkson's co-presenters, Richard Hammond and James May elected not to renew their contracts with the BBC in order to follow him to his new network.

Evans, a close friend of all three, initially ruled out the idea of hosting Top Gear. On his own BBC radio show, he explained:

"So whenever I said I categorically rule myself out of 'running for office' [...] it was because I didn't want to be a pawn in a chess game involving two - and in fact three, including Jeremy - of my friends."

In the end, he accepted the job after sitting down with May during a family vaction. The other two hosts also wished Evans well on his new gig.

The trio's sudden free-agent status incited a huge bidding war in the TV community with numerous British and American networks vying for their services.

In the end, it was Amazon that won their services. Much like Top Gear, the e-commerce giant will debut the first season of its new automotive show sometime in 2016.