ORIGINAL: awsure
This is what we call:
Underpromise & Overdeliver in my business. If they forecasted sales of 50k or more and fell short by two cars you would hear calls for the hangman. Especially if they were a public company. I would not put too much emphasis on this except to note that management is taking a cautious approach.
That's the best explanation I've seen so far. They're trying to guarantee that the Challenger looks like a huge success.
Justinec101 is right, too. If they sell like hotcakes Dodge can always ramp up production. I've seen shortages of foreign cars before because they didn't import enough to meet demand, or they couldn't respond fast enough to meet demand. I've never seen an American car that was in too short supply unless that was by design. Dodge might choose to limit production of SRTs even in '09 to maintain their value and exclusivity, or even to keep from hurting their CAFE numbers. But I think they'll build all the R/Ts and SEs they can sell and be glad to do it!