Popular concept: Dodge set to revive Challenger
07-13-2006, 09:41 AM
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Popular concept: Dodge set to revive Challenger
Popular concept: Dodge set to revive Challenger
By Jim Mateja
Tribune auto reporter
Published July 1, 2006
A new Challenger is coming to town.
After returning to its 1970s muscle-car roots with the Charger in the 2006 model year, Dodge will add a companion Challenger, perhaps as early as the 2008 model year.
Chrysler Group called a news conference for the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday for what it calls a major product announcement.
It is expected to confirm that the Challenger concept, a hit on this year's auto-show circuit, will go into production. When Challenger first appeared in the '70s, it immediately went on the racing circuit.
"This is a fabulous move," noted Rebecca Lindland, analyst with Global Insight. "It continues the revival of the American muscle car and should force GM's hand to produce the Chevy Camaro concept. It may even force Ford to explore more possibilities than just the Mustang to compete."The Camaro concept joined Challenger on the show circuit and both won raves, as well as demands that they be built. Chevrolet dropped Camaro in 2002. Challenger went out of production 35 years ago.
"The problem the domestics have had for years is that they abandoned their blue-collar buyers and ventured out into new horizons and forgot their roots," Lindland said.
The domestics attempted to win over Toyota and Honda buyers with high-mileage sedans, rather than wooing the millions of NASCAR fans with performance.
"The domestics have the muscle-car heritage to fall back on, and the Japanese don't," Lindland said of the days when Big Three cars dominated the streets. Muscle cars were leaving thick strips of radial residue on the pavement while the Japanese were leaving dollars in their buyers' pockets.
"Challenger is as far away as you can get from a Honda," Lindland said. "A lot of people don't appreciate history, but if there's one group that does, it's car enthusiasts. It's not a sacrilege to say there's room for both muscle cars and economy cars. The Sierra Club can have the Hondas and Toyotas."
To bring Challenger to market quickly and relatively inexpensively, it will be derived from the rear-wheel-drive Chrysler 300 platform and built alongside it at the Brampton, Ontario, plant.
To satisfy muscle-car purists, it will be a two-door coupe. Dodge took some flak for Charger's four doors for not being true to the original model.
In further keeping with its roots, Challenger will get a beefy Hemi V-8 engine, teamed with a 6-speed manual transmission. Dodge boasts that, with the Hemi, the Challenger is capable of a zero- to 60-m.p.h. time of 4.5 seconds, a 13-second quarter mile and top speed of 174 m.p.h. Huge 20-inch radial tires kept it glued to the pavement.
Dodge has chosen to focus on m.p.h. at a time of high gas prices. But to create cachet, the strategy has merit.
There's no word on price. Estimates are that Challenger may be in the $20,000 to $25,000 range to go head-to-head with Mustang.
Challenger also is expected to be a limited-edition model with forecasts of about 20,000 units annually. Chevy anticipates volume of more than 100,000 units annually if it puts Camaro into production.
"If priced under $30,000, we expect Challenger volume could be 70,000 units or more, if over $30,000, maybe 40,000 units," Lindland said.
By Jim Mateja
Tribune auto reporter
Published July 1, 2006
A new Challenger is coming to town.
After returning to its 1970s muscle-car roots with the Charger in the 2006 model year, Dodge will add a companion Challenger, perhaps as early as the 2008 model year.
Chrysler Group called a news conference for the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday for what it calls a major product announcement.
It is expected to confirm that the Challenger concept, a hit on this year's auto-show circuit, will go into production. When Challenger first appeared in the '70s, it immediately went on the racing circuit.
"This is a fabulous move," noted Rebecca Lindland, analyst with Global Insight. "It continues the revival of the American muscle car and should force GM's hand to produce the Chevy Camaro concept. It may even force Ford to explore more possibilities than just the Mustang to compete."The Camaro concept joined Challenger on the show circuit and both won raves, as well as demands that they be built. Chevrolet dropped Camaro in 2002. Challenger went out of production 35 years ago.
"The problem the domestics have had for years is that they abandoned their blue-collar buyers and ventured out into new horizons and forgot their roots," Lindland said.
The domestics attempted to win over Toyota and Honda buyers with high-mileage sedans, rather than wooing the millions of NASCAR fans with performance.
"The domestics have the muscle-car heritage to fall back on, and the Japanese don't," Lindland said of the days when Big Three cars dominated the streets. Muscle cars were leaving thick strips of radial residue on the pavement while the Japanese were leaving dollars in their buyers' pockets.
"Challenger is as far away as you can get from a Honda," Lindland said. "A lot of people don't appreciate history, but if there's one group that does, it's car enthusiasts. It's not a sacrilege to say there's room for both muscle cars and economy cars. The Sierra Club can have the Hondas and Toyotas."
To bring Challenger to market quickly and relatively inexpensively, it will be derived from the rear-wheel-drive Chrysler 300 platform and built alongside it at the Brampton, Ontario, plant.
To satisfy muscle-car purists, it will be a two-door coupe. Dodge took some flak for Charger's four doors for not being true to the original model.
In further keeping with its roots, Challenger will get a beefy Hemi V-8 engine, teamed with a 6-speed manual transmission. Dodge boasts that, with the Hemi, the Challenger is capable of a zero- to 60-m.p.h. time of 4.5 seconds, a 13-second quarter mile and top speed of 174 m.p.h. Huge 20-inch radial tires kept it glued to the pavement.
Dodge has chosen to focus on m.p.h. at a time of high gas prices. But to create cachet, the strategy has merit.
There's no word on price. Estimates are that Challenger may be in the $20,000 to $25,000 range to go head-to-head with Mustang.
Challenger also is expected to be a limited-edition model with forecasts of about 20,000 units annually. Chevy anticipates volume of more than 100,000 units annually if it puts Camaro into production.
"If priced under $30,000, we expect Challenger volume could be 70,000 units or more, if over $30,000, maybe 40,000 units," Lindland said.
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