Challenger remake is a cinch to sell
6,000 fans pay deposits since Monday

December 6, 2007

BY TIM HIGGINS

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

It seems that selling the new Dodge Challenger SRT8 is no challenge at all.

Dodge dealers began taking orders for the redesigned muscle car Monday and already have taken more than 6,000 deposits for the vehicle, Chrysler LLC said Wednesday.

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On the first day alone, around 4,300 people placed orders.

"There's a lot of excitement on the car. ... We already have a dozen legitimate sold orders in the system," said Chuck Eddy of Bob & Chuck Eddy Chrysler Dodge Jeep near Youngstown, Ohio.

Customers so far have only seen the concept model of the car, which was unveiled during the 2006 Detroit auto show.

The production version won't be made public until February's Chicago Auto Show.

In rolling out the vehicle, Chrysler is first selling a limited-edition version of the 2008 Challenger SRT8. While the company has not yet said how many it will make, it will be less than 10,000, a company spokeswoman said.

"It is going to be a limited edition," said Kathy Graham, a Chrysler spokeswoman. "It's apparent that based on the first couple of days that we're going to hit our limit."

The $37,995 vehicle comes with a 6.1-liter V8 and dual carbon-fiber hood stripes, which the company says "hearken back to the original Dodge Challenger."

It's only offered in black, silver and orange, with the company saying that more than half of the orders are for orange.

"It's been almost 35 years since the last Challenger, and there's a lot of interest. There's a lot of people anxious for it. It's certainly an iconic muscle car," Mark Mallie, the Challenger brand manager, said in a statement posted on the company's media Web site.

Chrysler plans to later announce the complete Challenger lineup with entry-level models possibly expected in the 2009 model year.