"We're showing you this car earlier than Dodge wants us to because similar images are on the Web, and we don't think you should have to wait." Translation: please don't punish us Chrysler! Someone else broke the press embargo. Oh, and we LOVE you dear reader. Puh-lease. Anyway, Autoweek has broken the Challenger SRT-8's embargo cherry, revealing hi-res pics that show us The Doge Boys' plain Jane four-wheeled freight train. I'm sorry (if only because the muscle car fanboys are likely to descend on this post like a plague of big bore locusts), but I'm done with the whole retro-mod muscle car thing– and not because of concerns for our planet's health and well-being. I reckon if you morph the Charger, the Challenger and the [now you don't] Camaro, you'd end-up with a car that looks a lot like the Charger, Challenger and Camaro. Or the next Mustang. And don't get me started about back seats. While I LOVE big, gas-gargling V8s, can we move on here please? The Chrysler 300 proved that Detroit knows how to do the next gen bad-ass car thing. Gentlemen, it's time to move forward.
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But the past is so fun!
Didn’t Autoweek get in trouble with GM a couple years back for leaking the Z06 on the cover? Not for long, I recall, but no long-lead test drive.
We can “move on” when the next step is actually in front of us. Take the Mustang for example, even though I’m not a Mustang person. What other choices do I have right now for a sub $25k rear-drive coupe? Soltice/Sky come to mind but they’re smallish. Someone build a Nova/Ventura/Omega in modern form please! There’s something to be said for cheap, honest transportation.
I love the retro look and feel of these muscle cars… Now if they can only make them look a little bit more like Hot Wheels… just day dreaming…
Let’s face it, the need for v8’s is not really required for most transportation, but to be honest there is nothing like the kick of a v8 with a 4v that kicks in over 2500 rpm, but the kicks can be had on the v6 and v-tch 4’s if we get off this fwd thing and get back to american rwd technology, i.e. how come all the high powered, and race cars are rwd. And now with new turbo direct port injection, higher hp and higher mpg. Let’s get back our American Heritage.
I agree with you Robert this carbon copy retro trend stilts design evolutions. It’s one thing to pull ideas and details from the past and use them in a new evolutionary way to move forward and a waste of time to just copy designs from the past. Where do they go next after this? These guys don’t seem to look more than one generation ahead, they love to paint themselves into a corner.
Move on? I’d love to see a manufacturer make something that doesn’t resemble the bulbous fwd drive clones that you can’t distinguish from one another unless you read the name badge. These retro muscle cars have some distinctive character, something that seemed to get lost in the last few decades. Everything else looks nearly the same.
At least you won’t mistake the Challenger from a Mustang. Anyone put the Mazda3 next to a VW GTI, or a new Subaru or even a Ford Focus? I say bring on the retro muscle car.
No kidding, it’s time for something completely different. This thing has legs no more than two years long. I’d like to see a Challenger with this plate: FLSHNPN.
We clearly need these retro muscle cars so baby boomers who can’t afford the $2M auction price for the real thing can re-live the car fantasies of their youth. It’s a matter of national importance.
Steve K
Choices include
Mazda RX-8 (down to about $20,500 after incentives)
Mazda Miata (and the Miata hard top, which is sweet)
Solstice/Sky (piece of shit)
Mustang
Various trucks (hey, they have two doors and RWD)
that’s all I can think of off the top of my head
If only Toyota and Nissan could hop on the bandwagon and bring back the Corolla GT-S and 240SX…
My hyper-conservative father-in-law commented on the muscle car trend recently: “Gas is over three dollars a gallon and they keep coming out with these things…what the hell are those idiots thinking?” Mind you, this is a man who buys American and thinks global warming is a liberal conspiracy.
We know Detroit can make big, thirsty vehicles. But those big thirsty vehicles are what screwed them in the first place back in the 70’s. Why continue to invest so much into niche vehicles that represent, to many people at least, the bygone era of cheap fuel?
The 300 is using a retro nameplate (which is good) and applying it to a car that looks like a classic American sedan (which is good) that offers a powerful V8 (extremely good) with many modern cues, touches and a hot-rod chop top (all good).
However, building a Challenger that looks nothing like a Challenger would be as silly as building a GTO that looked nothing like a GTO. Ask GM, GTO and muscle car enthusiasts how well that went.
Say what you want about fuel prices and V8s, but there will always be a market for performance cars like this and like the gas guzzling turbo four cylinder Subaurus and Mitsubishis. The people who buy these cars are willing to pay the costs of insurance and fueling them, especially today. What high fuel prices are really going to hurt is automakers who are dependent on the sale of large, gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. Cars like this and the Mustang are one of the very few bright spots for their respective automakers.
There are people of all ages and all walks of life who love great muscle cars (even with V6s under the hood), not just baby boomers. These things have a style and image that resonate with the general population much more so than many of you think.
Classic styling never grows old and always looks special. Like the signature shapes of many muscle cars, the Mini, the Fiat 500, and the Jeep which still looks as it did when it debuted during WWII. And they stand out even more today than they did when they were concieved.
Kudos to Chrysler for giving Challenger fans and muscle car enthusiasts exactly what they wanted. A balls-out muscle car that does it’s name, look and heritage justice instead of shitting all over them.
What’s silly is constantly creating “new” and “original” nameplates with zero heritage or identity that nobody wants or cares about or trying to remake a once proud brand into a copy of a successful foreign brand instead of making what your company is known for and does best. American automakers do this all the time, even foreign automakers do this as the recent op-ed pointed out.
Ask yourself “What is Dodge without a Charger and Challenger?” It’s not a Dodge people want to be passionate about or covet. What’s Pontiac without a GTO or Firebird? What’s Buick without a Riviera, Park Avenue or Gran Sport? What’s Chevrolet without the Camaro, and what would it be without the Corvette?
Dead brands that nobody will care about, that’s what.
Time to move on? Wow. Tell that to the 10,000 people who pre-ordered this vehicle and have already sold out the entire 2008 production run. This car is bad to the bone, they stayed true to the Concept Car, and Chrysler has a potential big hit on their hands.
BTW, Mustang, despite dropping 20% this year still sells way north of 100K per year, and Chrysler’s “retro” 300C and Charger sold 250K units this year, despite being 3 and 4 years into their run.
Challenger is going to be like Wrangler, Chrysler will have difficulty producing enough vehicles. Days on the Lot is going be ZERO for a while for Challenger.
Sorry, but Chrysler has a hit a home run with Challenger, deal with it.
How great to come up with this now that the mustang is losing steam. I loved the new stang when it came out, but the retro styling is getting old already. And yes, that includes the mini and fiat 500s.
The Challenger looks better than anything else coming out of Xler. But I agree it would be nice if they’d put some effort into styling instead of using some of the lesser stuff from their past.
I don’t know why you’ve lumped the Charger in with the others, the current Mustang would’ve been more appropriate to single-out. When it debuted, Ford wasn’t shy in admitting that they amalgamated the best design cues from previous generation Mustangs.
The Charger doesn’t look much like any of the three generations of REAL Charger, and it has 2 doors too many as well. The most retro thing about the Charger styling is the rear fenders, which are reminiscent of the 1970-74 Barracuda.
The Challenger in particular was really a “one hit wonder”. It only existed in one body-style from 1970-74 (not counting the later rebadged Mitsubishi). It also had a powerful presence as a muscle car during it’s relatively short lifespan. Consequently, the look of the car is inexorably tied to the name. I’d bet that it wouldn’t go over well if it wasn’t a retro design, just as the GTO didn’t.
Chrysler seems to have gotten a pass in resurrecting some less-revered historical names without making any retro styling connection whatsoever: Magnum and Aspen. Sometimes I feel glad that they killed the Plymouth marque, so that they can’t trot-out new cars that tarnish the Barracuda or Fury labels.
I like it, think it has a nice look.
Still, I’m looking to sell the Speed3 in about a year and pick up the new ‘Maro.
SBC FTW.
AGREED!!!
I don’t get the fascination with going backwards. At least the Camaro, and to a lesser extent the Mustang, “advances” the design language. This one just looks stupid and its so BIG!!!
who cares if it’s retro or whatever, it looks good. if it also drives well and so on, good for it. there are a lot of pretty cars from the past I wouldn’t mind seeing recreated, updated, or at least alluded to more obviously. why throw away decades of good design just because “it’s been done before”?
would anyone object if BMW ditched bangle and suddenly started making cars that looked a lot like the 2002 and 3.0CS? or if jaguar produced a new e-type?
I don’t see anything wrong with producing a niche car that plenty of people are going to buy.
Move on to what? Another craptacular hybrid that doesn’t get nearly good enough MPG to justify the cost? Another Camry clone? Some more econoboxes that inspire me to buy razorblades? I know, one of those cute little thingamajigs from Europe!
Personally, I’m waiting for the 100% hydrogen/electric/nuclear/windpowered car before I trade in my pick-up.
While the big 6.1 and 5.7 liter hemis are well and good, traditionally pony cars have been available with a variety of engines for different situations. This broadened their appeal and helped spread the development costs of the truly high-performance models.
The original Challenger came with the 225 slant six as standard and was a worthwhile and more stylish alternative to a Dodge Dart. (Anybody remember the “Challenger Deputy”?) The vast majority of Challengers came with the 318 cubic inch V-8 which provided a nice balance of reasonable performance and handling and good (not great) gas mileage. Of course, there were bigger and more powerful engines available as options.
If the Challenger sticks around for a few years I think we can look forward to the anticipated 4.7 liter “hemi” (based on Chrysler’s 4.7 liter V-8, but with a new head), as well as a version powered by the old 3.7 liter V-6.
The rumored “Chrysler ‘Cuda” with single front headlamps would seem to be a worthwhile variation that would allow Chrysler to further spread costs.
And a convertible version of the Challenger would probably be a good seller, also.
I’d like one of these things, maybe with a small 8. It may be hard to understand the attraction if you didn’t grow up wishing you were old enough to buy a pony car, but I find them quite alluring.
For 2009 the Challenger range will extend beyond the SRT8.
The R/T will offer the revised 380HP HEMI and the base Challenger will offer the 3.5L V6. Both engines will have a choice of automatic or six-speed manual transmissions (with pistol-grip shifter!).
Some special editions are planned and you can expect to see the return of Mopar’s famous 60s colors we saw on the Charger Daytona like Top Banana, GoManGo, Sublime, Plum Crazy and maybe even Panther Pink.
TriShield, you are correct. And the 5.7L Auto will come with MDS, which should put highway mileage in the mid 20’s. 25 MPG and 380HP? Awesome.
I think it looks great although I’ll agree with a previous poster that, based on the same platform as the 300, it surely is too damn big.
Nostalgia has a short shelf-life, however, so Chrysler better make some serious hay while the sun is shining.
Right on Robert!
Those who support these simple-minded retromobiles are encouraging the product degradation of the big 2.8 in the same way that the white leather loafer set motivated the decrepitization of Cadillac in the 80s and 90s.
Chrysler has already admitted that the Hemi name rings hollow to the present generation of sports car buyers, and they know that there is a real risk of Challenger sales collapsing after the first year’s run. Meanwhile, there exists an entirely unserved demographic of enthusiasts who are startled awake in sweaty fits in the middle of the night by the nightmarish prospect of never owning an efficient, versatile RWD funmobile.
Honestly, which vision represents a stronger outlook on the future for a manufacturer? Even 30-40 years ago muscle cars were the poster children for Big 3 navel-gazing. And we want to revisit that!?! With all due respect to the nostalgic amongst us, it is worth remembering that “you can never go home again”.