I decided to stop in at my local dodge dealership to see if they had any brochures on the challenger. As I expected none of the sales people new much about the challenger and they even admitted I knew more than they did based on the research (this forum) I have done. Actually treated me very well and got the manager to talk with me about the Challenger. Told the manager I was interested in only the R/T 2009 model and he was not sure when they would start production but thought around July they might get some in. We also talked about the SRT models and they are getting in 5 cars. I indicated to him that I had heard most dealers would get 1 then based on sales they could get additional allocations. He grinned and stated this was correct and they do a lot of sales. I also asked him how much over MSRP they were selling them for and stated 5000 over and have sold three but two are left that are not presold as of yet. He also indicated he has over 40 people on the list for the R/T. I thought 5000 over was not bad and told him other dealerships nationwide were selling them for 10000 to 20000 over MSRP. Again he grinned and stated other dealerships had contacted them and wanted to purchase one or two of his vehicles for 10000 over MSRP but they decided not to do it and save them for the customers in the Salem area.

The manager did not know what the production numbers would be but thought Chrysler would try to build as many R/T versions that it could since there was excitement for the car and based on the number of folks on the list for the car. I also asked him if he would sell the R/T for MSRP when they start delivery of them and kind of hesitated and was not sure but thought as the production increased he would.

Most of you will find this boring since really no new info I am providing but thought it was fun to talk with our local dealer and make initial contact with them regarding the challenger. Of course I will shop around and ultimately purchase the car with the dealer who will offer me the best deal, but really appreciated the way the local dealership treated me and could see they are very excited about the challenger. Might even buy it from them even if they are a few hundred over some other dealership just because of how they treated me. Also want to test drive one and will have to wait on the R/T since he has presold the three and sure the other two will sale very quickly before delivery (SRT 2008).