I am hearing news all over the place that the big gas guzzlers are selling very badly now. They're having a tough time selling SUV's in general. GM has closed down some plants that made gas guzzlers. GM and Honda are selling more economy cars now. There's probably a lot more news like that which I haven't heard.

I'm thinking this might cause Chrysler to get into even deeper trouble since they make a lot of gas guzzlers. I'm thinking this might cause an early end to the Challenger production run.

 

Even more worrisome is it might cause an end to Chrysler itself. They're in exactly the same position they were in at the time of the gas shortage of '73-'74 when the government had to bail them out. At least then, Chrysler was smart enough to come out with the K cars, which ended up keeping the company alive. I fear now that Cerbeus wouldn't want to spend the time and money it would take to retool Chrysler's basic lineup and will simply give up on the company and sell it off in pieces or shut it down.

 

Yeah that's what I meant. We all expected the Challenger to be made for at least 3 years, but now with everything that's happening, it could be a lot less than that. So if you're tired of waiting for your 2008 Challenger, I wouldn't let go of it, because you never know when they'll stop making them.

 

It's definitely very possible that chrysler won't be around much longer. They really are behind the times. Their only hybrid is a V8 powered suv, I think that says something. They pretend to be with it with concepts like the zeo but really, stuff like that is 20 years off and doesn't even resemble something slightly production ready. Their little nissan car will be good for them and if they can get over 30mpg out of the demon it might make a good sports car alternative in a few years when automakers have converted everything into econo hatchbacks. I've gotta say though, cars like the mazda2 and ford fiesta actually look pretty nice so I don't think we're in for a rehash of the late 70s and 80s where automakers got affordable and efficient mixed up with slow and ugly.

While toyota is leading the way with the prius, and gm is looking to outdo them with the Volt, dodge isn't leading anywhere outside of offering something different (Charger, 300c, c-aliber?) But maybe that could be enough. Maybe in 5 years dodge will be the only place left to go when you want your gas guzzling 2 ton car fix.

 

Good point Billionaire... Chrysler as a whole could go down real quick if they don't move fast. For years it seems thier line-up has netted the worst average fuel mileage of the big three by quite a margin. The current line-up probably isn't going to make them competitive in the high milers either. They better get creative and move on some ingenious ideas if the want to try to breath some life into the machine. As exciting of an addition the Challenger makes to the current line-up I don't think the current models net the mileage needed to score in the current market. Even the V6 version doesn't get the numbers that it needs to compete mileage wise. Not looking very promising at this point, but who knows what they might have up thier sleeves. Time will tell... until then I will be enjoying my Challenger soon... hopefully...