Jeremiah 29:11

Interesting comments on the LY platform down below. Also $330M for each variant of the LY platform means they have to sell a lot of cars.

Chrysler is trying to decide on which strategy to follow: a high-price, low-volume run, or a high-volume, lower-price run. Also in flux is the question of engines - restricting to just the Hemi, or allowing both the Hemi and at least one V6. However, a manual transmission will be available along with an automatic, each having five speeds; an SRT-8 version will have the 6.1 Hemi while the stock Challenger will have the 5.7 Hemi (no, they will not have the new crate Hemi, nor did we expect them to). At this point we believe there will be a first-year run of about 50,000 Hemi equipped Challengers, possibly with automatics, followed by a smaller run of Hemi Challenger SRT-8 cars with manual transmissions.

LY is the platform code for the second-generation LX cars (an unfortunate designation!); this basic platfom, which like the LX uses a Mercedes-style suspension with Chrysler engineering for better driving dynamics, higher reliability, and strong cost savings, will be used on the Mercedes E, CLS, and R classes, starting in, depending on the model, 2010 to 2012 (according to a supplier). That isn’t too surprising since the LX follows the basic Mercedes architecture, but, having been designed by Chrysler, is less expensive but more reliable. The Challenger may ride a shorter wheelbase to decrease weight, but on the other hand, it may simply be a two-door variant, much as the original Dodge Chargerwas a two-door version of the Coronet.

The concept car has a 116 inch wheelbase, while the other LXs use a 120 inch wheelbase; but it’s a custom-made, carbon-fiber-bodied one-off concept car. The 1970 Challenger was 191 inches long (with a 110 inch wheelbase); the concept is 198 inches, and two inches wider than the original. Built by Metalcrafters, it weighs 4,160 pounds.

The Dodge Challenger was styled primarily by Michael Castiglione, a 15-year Chrysler veteran, based on what people see in the original Challenger - a car with a huge, long hood and a short rear deck. While the LX series have longer hoods than most modern cars, the proportions are very different from the old E-bodies (current designs are much more practical for both cornering and space usage). However, Castiglione used some perceptual tricks, such as increasing the size of the front overhang, moving the rear-view mirrors back, and using a steeper windshield angle coupled with an angled cut in the door to make the hood seem longer. Making the car wider than the LX series (and the original, for that matter) and moving the rocker panels in made the Challenger look more like the original, with its tucked in rocker panels. Despite very different hard points in the design, Castiglione's interpretation looks so much like the original to the human eye that many thought it was the original car and not a new version!

The concept car itself was built very quickly by Metalcrafters, which builds Chrysler’s concepts; the body is made of carbon fiber, not steel or fiberglass. The car is wider and shorter (in both length and wheelbase) than the Dodge Charger. The wheels are far larger than those of the original cars, though styled to look similar: 20 inches up front and 21 inches in back. The color is original for the concept, though the Hemi has authentic orange paint. The Dodge-provided 13.0 second quarter mile time and 4.5 second 0-60 would not apply to actual production cars, since it comes via dual Flowmaster mufflers with no catalytic converters.

“During the development of the concept car,” says Micheal Castiglione, principal exterior designer, “we brought an actual 1970 Challenger into the studio. For me, that car symbolizes the most passionate era of automotive design.”

The two-door model Challenger takes many cues from the 1970 model (the most sought after by collectors), including floating headl

MGDMike

LOL'ed at that entire paragraph!