Even though I'd never buy one, I think it'd be a damn shame if Dodge doesn't produce one. As badly as car manufacturers are hurting right now (especially Chrysler), IMHO that's all the more reason to produce one. Ford hasn't had trouble selling every Mustang convertible it makes, and GM is still coming out with a ragtop Camaro... if Dodge gives up on a Challenger convertible it'd be very disappointing. If the funds are THAT tight, they need to cut costs elsewhere - Dodge NEEDS to make this happen. Ford and GM aren't giving up, Dodge shouldn't either.

Personally I wouldn't have a problem with them dumping the butt-ugly Sebring convertible and making the Challenger convertible its "halo" ragtop model instead.

 

That's a great thought - but it will never happen.

The Sebring convertible is the highest volume convertible car sold in the world - by anyone. It is one of the only bright spots for Chrysler. While I would never buy one, the profits derived from the sale of that model helps to keep Dodge in business to make our beloved Challenger.

Also, the Sebring shares much of its technology with other Mitsubishi models. It does not cost Chrysler that much to engineer and build that car.

 

I should be getting my 6 speed car sometime in the next 4 days. It's in storage less the 30 miles from my dealer and they are trying there hardest to get it out and to me.

 

I have also heard that the Challenger Convertible was nothing more than a styling exerise...
Would like to see them build it, but find out my wife and I are sunroof people, not convertible types, so I wouldn't but one.
I also saw a source that flatly stated that the bean counters at GM want the Camaro line killed if they don't sell at least 60,000 units in the first year....find it hard to believe, but with their money problems, could be correct
Also read somewhere that the 6.4 Hemi will not happen, and if you think about it....in this day and age, does it make sense. After all how much Housepower do you need? (What a minute, dumb question, forget I asked)
Hadn't heard about the 6.1 perhaps going away......
And, yes we are all very, very lucky that Chrysler went ahead with the Challenger...
I for one will be very surprised if the Challenger is still in production five/six years from now (I just have a feeling that it will be history repeating itself...much the same as the first generation Challenger. And I would rather see the new Challenger go out on top.....unlike the last few years of the first Challenger)

 

I too have heard that the 6.1 Hemi is the last of big motors from Chrysler and that the Challenger may have a 3 to 4 year run but no longer. Also, the convert car is not going to happen. Please understand that the Fed just gave the Big Three $25B to go green and not go fast.

 

As much as it pains me to do so, I'm inclined to agree with this. I'll be VERY surprised if the 6.4 ever sees the light of day, unless it's a very (VERY) limited edition model.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'll be surprised to see the Challenger last beyond 2012, especially if things don't get better any time soon.

 

Personally, I'd like to see them eventually make the Challenger a "green" car, just to keep the line going. How a car is powered is of little consequence to me. I bought the 09 strictly for its looks, just as I did my 70 model. Everything said and done, we ALL know that "green" is the wave of the future. Unfortunately, aside from the Tesla, virtually all "green" cars are butt-ugly (one time, I had a rental 2001 Ford Focus, one of the truly ugly cars of all times. One of my associates told me, "It looks like it outta be an electric car"). I wouldn't mind having a "green" car if it looked like a Challenger.

 

That is the part everyone is forgetting, right now the Glass is Half Empty. In a few years the auto industry maybe Glass Half Full again.

 

A "green car" is light, which means front wheel drive. The Challenger will never be either. But, you are correct. Why must the new batch of "green cars" be so ugly? Why can't they design an electric car that looks like a Challenger?

 

My opinion is I think we will be luck to see it past 2010.