Chrysler concepts are muscle backed up by outrageousness

David Booth
For CanWest News Service


Friday, August 25, 2006


DETROIT -- An upscale, tres chichi hair salon is hardly the place you'd expect for DaimlerChrysler to present the all-new Dodge Challenger, even in prototype form.

The Challenger is, after all, the very embodiment of all things macho in a brand already known for being steroidal.

Nevertheless, I am sitting in the Michael Angelo -- yes, that passes for class here in suburban Detroit -- Hair Salon & Color Gallery, DaimlerChrysler's temporary concept car headquarters, typing furiously after having just driven two of the coolest prototypes to come out of Chrysler in a very long time.

That the Challenger will go into production in 2008 was the worst-kept secret in the automobile world. From the time the wraps were taken off at this year's North American International Auto Show, the excitement surrounding this most iconic of Chrysler's muscle cars virtually guaranteed the Challenger would eventually end up in Dodge showrooms.

And it is going to be a huge hit. Much has been made of the new Challenger being larger than the original, having been built off Chrysler's LX platform, which also underpins the 300 sedan.

But, despite its wheelbase being 150 millimetres longer than the 1970 model that serves as its inspiration as well as 50 mm wider, the new Challenger is very much in proportion and as pretty in the *esh as it is in photos.

Period-perfect dual hood scoops adorn the new Challenger's hood, and the deep crossbar grille reprises the original.

Huge wheels -- 20-inch in front and 21s in the rear -- also help maintain that proportion and, according to DCX, lend the Challenger the "muscular stance of a prize*ghter eager to challenge the world." Ambitious stuff, but something the Challenger should have no problem backing up with actual performance.

Powered by the same 6.1-litre V8 as the 300C SRT8 but mated to a six-speed manual transmission sourced from its big brother Viper, there's a healthy amount of power underfoot. As we were driving the original concept car, there was little opportunity to really open it up and, besides, all prototypes are inevitably much heavier than production versions of the same car. But I expect that by the time the Challenger arrives as a 2008 model, there will actually be a few more than 425 ponies under the hood. No one should worry that the Challenger's performance won't live up to its famed predecessor's legacy.

The Challenger may have been expected, but Chrysler's Imperial concept was truly a shot from left *eld. As outsized as a Rolls-Royce and not at all dissimilar stylistically, the Imperial is a throwback to the '50s when American cars were large, bold and chromed to the max.

The 22-inch wheels, for instance, are huge and, according to DCX, give the Imperial "a noble stance." More importantly, they look quite similar to the new Phantom's wheels, which, along with the high shoulder squared-off look, give the Chrysler the look of a minime Roller. The rear suicide doors only add to the illusion as does the majestic front grille.

It's not an illusion dispelled by the interior. More reminiscent of the Maybach than the Roller inside, the Imperial is resplendent in copious amounts of leather and suede. The rear, with its twin bucket seats and multiple controls (all fake in the prototype) set into the roof, are very similar to those in the rear cabin of the Maybach's incredibly expensive 62. And its rear-seat legroom is just as expansive. That's because, like the Challenger, the Imperial is built on the LX platform, but with an overall length some 432 mm longer than the 300 sedan.

The interior -- even though not a single gauge or button worked -- is just as stylish as the exterior. The gauge set is modern art deco with translucent torquise accents con

 

The Challenger looks great and I believe it will be a hit; however, the Imperial looks like an idea that GM would have came up with. This car screams out a moving coffin, insert corpse (in other words a Buick). They need to have the Imperial to be a more modern style luxury car.