IL Insider: Dodge Challenges Reports of Challenger Production
Date posted: 05-15-2006

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Despite Web site reports that an auto supplier is working on components for the production version of the Dodge Challenger, the automaker is still studying whether the retro car makes good business sense, Inside Line has learned.

The muscle-car Web site claimed that the Challenger was on track as a 2008.5 model. "They don't know what they are talking about," Chrysler spokesman Jason Vines told IL. "There has been no official approval, and I should know — I'm on the product strategy team that gives the green light. We are doing the business case on that [the Challenger] and the Imperial.

"What we have done is reached out to suppliers and asked them for costs. It doesn't mean the car has the green light."

However, Vines said the decision on the Challenger will be "fast" and should be handed down by the end of the year.

The four-passenger Challenger concept was one of the show stoppers in Detroit this past January. The rear-wheel-drive concept version of the muscle car is powered by a 425-horsepower 6.1-liter Hemi engine linked to a six-speed manual transmission. The concept is patterned after the initial 1970 model, the one that is most sought after by collectors.

What this means to you: Don't jump the gun on the production Challenger. The powers that be at the Chrysler Group are still mulling this one over.