Chrysler muscle car making a comeback
07-13-2006 | 10:46 AM
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Chrysler muscle car making a comeback
Chrysler muscle car making a comeback
By Barbara Powell Bloomberg News
Published: July 3, 2006
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan DaimlerChrysler is resurrecting its Dodge Challenger, one of the most powerful models from U.S. automakers' muscle- car era in the 1960s and 1970s, as it seeks to emulate the success of the revived Ford Mustang and give its stalled sales a boost.
The Challenger, which became a favorite for collectors after its four-year run ended in 1974, will return as a 2008 model, Chrysler executives, flanked by the race car driver Richard Petty, said Saturday in a news conference before the Pepsi 400 Nascar race in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The unveiling of a near-production model at the conference followed announcements this week by Chrysler that it was reviving employee-pricing discounts for July and was planning to sell its Smart minicar in the United States. Chrysler's U.S. sales are down 2.5 percent through May.
The Challenger can be profitable because it will use the same chassis as the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnum, said the automotive analyst Mike Jackson of the consulting firm CSM Worldwide in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Chrysler's chief executive, Tom LaSorda, declined to say whether the Challenger would have a V-6, as well as V-8 versions, which could expand the demand beyond hard-core performance car enthusiasts. He said the Challenger could be profitable at a lower volume because it can be made inexpensively off an existing chassis.
Chrysler is considering making the Challenger at the Brampton, Ontario, factory where the 300, Charger and Magnum are made, as well as several other plants, which LaSorda declined to name.
The car shown Saturday was a near- production model with a 6.1 liter Hemi engine and painted in a color reminiscent of vehicle's original "Hemi Orange" shade. The smallest engine on the early Challenger was a 290- horsepower V-8; the most powerful generated 425 horsepower.
Chrysler may sell about 30,000 Challengers a year, estimated Jim Sanfilippo, an analyst with Automotive Marketing Consultants in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Sales could be substantially higher than 30,000 a year if Chrysler adds a V-6 option like Ford Motor's Mustang, Sanfilippo said. The Challenger also can help Chrysler by building interest in the Dodge brand, he said.
LaSorda said he thought interest in the Challenger was high enough that dealers could presell a year's worth of vehicles in advance, although he declined to estimate unit sales.
"When Challenger was in the market, nobody wanted it," Sanfilippo said. "It was a Johnny-come-lately to the pony car competition. But now that baby boomers want nostalgia, it's about the crème de la crème of the muscle cars."
The Challenger was among the last of the muscle cars when it arrived in 1970. In its first year, 72,975 were sold. By 1974, the total fell to 16,437, and it was discontinued.
By contrast, the Camaro, which General Motors is considering bringing back, reached a record 260,201 sales in 1979. Sales of the Mustang, redesigned with retro styling in 2004, totaled 160,975 last year - the most of any sports car.
Chrysler, GM and Ford are losing sales and market share to Asian competitors like Toyota Motor as buyers turn to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and away from pickups, minivans and sport-utility vehicles.
Chrysler was the only U.S.-based automaker to increase sales in 2004 and 2005. It announced plans last week for the U.S. sales of the Smart, and on Saturday said it would revive the employee-pricing sales incentive that it offered last year.
The automaker also said DaimlerChrysler's chief executive, Dieter Zetsche, would be featured in a $100 million ad campaign touting for the first time Chrysler's ties to its parent in Stuttgart.
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan DaimlerChrysler is resurrecting its Dodge Challenger, one of the most powerful models from U.S
By Barbara Powell Bloomberg News
Published: July 3, 2006
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan DaimlerChrysler is resurrecting its Dodge Challenger, one of the most powerful models from U.S. automakers' muscle- car era in the 1960s and 1970s, as it seeks to emulate the success of the revived Ford Mustang and give its stalled sales a boost.
The Challenger, which became a favorite for collectors after its four-year run ended in 1974, will return as a 2008 model, Chrysler executives, flanked by the race car driver Richard Petty, said Saturday in a news conference before the Pepsi 400 Nascar race in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The unveiling of a near-production model at the conference followed announcements this week by Chrysler that it was reviving employee-pricing discounts for July and was planning to sell its Smart minicar in the United States. Chrysler's U.S. sales are down 2.5 percent through May.
The Challenger can be profitable because it will use the same chassis as the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnum, said the automotive analyst Mike Jackson of the consulting firm CSM Worldwide in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Chrysler's chief executive, Tom LaSorda, declined to say whether the Challenger would have a V-6, as well as V-8 versions, which could expand the demand beyond hard-core performance car enthusiasts. He said the Challenger could be profitable at a lower volume because it can be made inexpensively off an existing chassis.
Chrysler is considering making the Challenger at the Brampton, Ontario, factory where the 300, Charger and Magnum are made, as well as several other plants, which LaSorda declined to name.
The car shown Saturday was a near- production model with a 6.1 liter Hemi engine and painted in a color reminiscent of vehicle's original "Hemi Orange" shade. The smallest engine on the early Challenger was a 290- horsepower V-8; the most powerful generated 425 horsepower.
Chrysler may sell about 30,000 Challengers a year, estimated Jim Sanfilippo, an analyst with Automotive Marketing Consultants in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Sales could be substantially higher than 30,000 a year if Chrysler adds a V-6 option like Ford Motor's Mustang, Sanfilippo said. The Challenger also can help Chrysler by building interest in the Dodge brand, he said.
LaSorda said he thought interest in the Challenger was high enough that dealers could presell a year's worth of vehicles in advance, although he declined to estimate unit sales.
"When Challenger was in the market, nobody wanted it," Sanfilippo said. "It was a Johnny-come-lately to the pony car competition. But now that baby boomers want nostalgia, it's about the crème de la crème of the muscle cars."
The Challenger was among the last of the muscle cars when it arrived in 1970. In its first year, 72,975 were sold. By 1974, the total fell to 16,437, and it was discontinued.
By contrast, the Camaro, which General Motors is considering bringing back, reached a record 260,201 sales in 1979. Sales of the Mustang, redesigned with retro styling in 2004, totaled 160,975 last year - the most of any sports car.
Chrysler, GM and Ford are losing sales and market share to Asian competitors like Toyota Motor as buyers turn to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and away from pickups, minivans and sport-utility vehicles.
Chrysler was the only U.S.-based automaker to increase sales in 2004 and 2005. It announced plans last week for the U.S. sales of the Smart, and on Saturday said it would revive the employee-pricing sales incentive that it offered last year.
The automaker also said DaimlerChrysler's chief executive, Dieter Zetsche, would be featured in a $100 million ad campaign touting for the first time Chrysler's ties to its parent in Stuttgart.
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan DaimlerChrysler is resurrecting its Dodge Challenger, one of the most powerful models from U.S
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