BLK 6050

From Motor Trend:

No Challenger Convertible, Camaro on Hold
Dearth of Convertibles: Tight Money Puts the Mustang Drop-Top in the Catbird Seat
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By Mike Connor
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Chrysler will not offer a Dodge Challenger convertible. The car is "dead as a doornail," a source says. And the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro convertible planned for midyear 2009 is on hold. Blame thin operating capital at Chrysler LLC and General Motors, the latter determined to fend off bankruptcy.

Chrysler designed the LX-based Challenger without planning for a convertible. That may be hard to believe, but it means re-engineering the unibody Challenger as a convertible would take the kind of money that Chrysler doesn't have.

The Camaro convertible is off the table probably for a year as GM tries to save cash and claw its way back to profitability. Analysts predict U.S. car and light truck sales in '09 will be even worse than in '08 and the Chevy Volt and Cruze will have to succeed before GM can spend on such extravagances. Whether the Camaro convertible comes back from the hiatus depends on how well GM weathers the storm. If GM's situation improves, Chevrolet could return the Camaro convertible to its product plans for the 2011 model year, just in time to add a fresh new version of the car.

This is good news for Ford, which suffered steep declines in Mustang sales in 2008. The V-6 Mustang convertible has otherwise been a strong seller in the Ford lineup.

73Challenger

This is not surprising.

Why in the world would car makers spend huge sums of money developing and testing specialty cars that sell in low volume?

I have said this countless times on this forum, we are EXTREMELY lucky that Chrysler made our beloved Challenger at all!

So, stop whining about a ragtop, and enjoy the gift that we've got.

RUBBERBNDMAN

Maybe a future for the good old T top...[8D]

kevin2323

that would be nice....pontiac is doing it with the new solstice coupe....bring it back old school baby!

Rudy61SRT8

If anyone wants a convert i'm sure any custom shop can do it for 5 grand.

Challenger One

With all the problems in the car industry I dont think it will happen. There trying to survive and spending more on special low volume cars is not where the focus will be Im glad Ive got one hope there will be a few more made and things get better for auto makers

dodgebrothers

Just another unwelcome, but understandable omen for the car industry. Can't blame them on the decision, but the mess they're in is another matter...

davecpa

for those of you out there that are old farts like me you remember the Chrysler K car from the 80's which in my opinion was one ugly car that came out of a down turn in the car market back then... i sure hope we dont start building cars like that again.

[IMG]local://upfiles/714/084B6C358A2743FC9C3770CCFDAEC683.jpg[/IMG]

RoswellGrey

Dave, I agree you with the looks of the K car. But it's hard to argue with their success, though. And since Chrysler is in about the same position it was during the gas crisis in 1973, maybe a new K car is needed to save the company again.

kramtrah

Dave, while I was just a teenager watching these things come out new, the K and it derivitives plus its 2.2(oh yeah, the 2.2 wonder), actually brought back Chysler from the brink. Sure they followed that with more boring and bland stuff through the 80s and into the mid 90s. But hey, the K, it did its job and they marketed their comback.