TIM HIGGINS: Demand for Challenger could drive price through the roof
-- Detroit Free Press
Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
DETROIT Sure the sticker price for the new 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 is $37,995, but good luck finding that price on a showroom floor.

Several dealers are saying to expect to pay more - much more - if you want to be taken seriously to purchase the new muscle car that comes out next spring.

Chrysler has said it will sell fewer than 10,000 of the Challenger SRT8s - the first model in the return of the classic nameplate.

Some dealers are telling customers that only 4,500 will be made; others tell the Detroit Free Press they've been told around 5,500. The company isn't saying.

Chrysler LLC says more than 6,000 people have already pre-ordered the vehicle at dealerships across the country.

One Dodge dealer in New York already has bidding up to $50,000 on the online auction site eBay. Other dealerships are simply asking customers: How much are you willing to pay over sticker price?

"Be the first one in your neighborhood to own the all new redesigned 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8!!" Brian Hopper of Friendly Dodge in Penn Yan, N.Y., wrote in his ad on eBay.

Hopper told the Detroit Free Press he was inspired by how prices went sky high when special editions of the Ford Mustang first came out.

"We've had a lot of calls," he said.

Other dealers already have bids or are asking for $15,000 over the MSRP.

"Every dealer in the country is going to get one, and after that we're not sure how many we're going to get. They are basing it on how many cars we've sold in the past," said Darryl Pavlik, co-owner of Colonial Dodge in Eastpointe. "I'd heard they're going to bring $30,000 over sticker."

He added, "We're kind of thinking that we'll see what the market is going to bear."

Car shopper Bob Monaghan, 60, said a dealer told him that the cars would be selling for $80,000 to $90,000. "He started chuckling and said, `It's all for the high rollers,'" he said.