Challenger and Camaro Showdown
August 16th, 2006
Chrysler picked a pleasant midsummer afternoon on Tuesday to show off its upcoming Challenger pony car to the media, but the party was briefly interrupted by the appearance of its soon-to-be showroom rival. The boys from Chevrolet picked this moment to roll through with a car transporter carrying its Camaro concept, which was on its way towards a media event of its own.
Jason Vines, Chrysler’s VP of communications, dismissed the “lameness” of what he claimed was a “wuss” stunt, and pointed out that his company’s muscle car didn’t need to be brought to the event on a trailer. The Camaro is very much drivable, as we know, so maybe the best way to handle this little squabble would be for each automaker to stop jawing and head over to Milan Dragway to settle the dispute like real men. We’d pay extra to see the PR guys take the wheel and line ‘em up; that’d be some quality entertainment. Read the rest of this entry »
2008 Dodge Challenger Going To Production
June 30th, 2006
Multiple media sources are reporting that the Dodge Challenger coupe is a go, and that Chrysler will make the official announcement tomorrow at Daytona before this weekend’s NASCAR Pepsi 400 Nextel Cup race.
The announcement is coming earlier than expected. Word is that Chrysler will promote Challenger all summer to create buzz (that won’t be hard) and drive traffic into its showrooms. This announcement comes the same weekend that the automaker is revealing a new ad campaign and fresh discounts for customers.
The Detroit news reports that the car should be in production by 2008, with a price slightly above that of the current Mustang. Only a V8 will be offered.
2008 Dodge Challenger Concept Car
February 18th, 2006
Trevor Creed was quoted as saying that if 25,000 people put down $5,000 each, production would be a certainty. The only criticisms of the Challenger so far seem to be sour grapes from the GM crowd, annoyed that the cartoonish Camaro’s thunder has been stolen, and from the import crew, which, ignoring the Mini and FJ Cruiser, proclaimed that only Detroit would look to the past instead of the future for inspiration.