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Filed under: Convertibles , Coupes , Sports/GTs , Etc. , Dodge , Rumormill In a recent post about the 2009 Dodge Challenger SE , KickingTires quotes director of Dodge brand marketing, Mike Accavitti, saying that there will be no convertible version of the reborn muscle car in Dodge showrooms. Apparently the platform would require too much additional hardware to handle the extra flex from cutting the roof off, and the added weight would push the car too far into the Sumo class. And that would be with just a simple manual soft-top, not one of them there new-fangled retractable hardtops that are the top du jour for convertible buyers. There's also the issue of cost and the fact that Dodge's market analysis seems to indicate there isn't a huge market for them. We understand the reasoning and know that even the coupes are going to be low-volume, but we would humbly like to suggest a limited run of SRT-8 convertibles at double the coupe's asking price. Say 20 or so. Buyers will...
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Filed under: Coupes , Sedans/Saloons , Sports/GTs , Supercars , Cadillac , Chevrolet , Dodge , UK , Celebrities Click above for high-res gallery Not long after we learned that the famous Top Gear trio was in the U.S. , a fan managed to snap some shots of Clarkson, Hammond and Mays testing their favorite examples of American muscle at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The hosts made their way to salt flats by way of Reno, Nevada where they had a few modifications done to each vehicle in the name of high speed safety, namely driveshaft loops and fire extinguishers. If you saw our previous post on the subject, you already know that Clarkson is driving a Corvette ZR1 , Hamster a Challenger SRT8 and May the super-fast but still luxurious Cadillac CTS-V , a car that shares much of its supercharged V8 architecture with the new force-fed mill in the 'Vette. We can already surmise that the ZR1 easily took top honors at Bonneville thanks to its slippery shape and abundance of power. Now, which...
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Filed under: Etc. , Cadillac , Chevrolet , Dodge , GM Click above for a gallery of the Top Gear crew in the U.S. The blokes from the real Top Gear are back in the States to test what us 'Mericans do best - big V8s, rear-wheel-drive and powerslides. Clarkson, Hammond and May flew into San Francisco on Wednesday and then made a B-line for Reno before heading south, reportedly to test the out a trio of American muscle at the Bonneville Salt Flats. If you're just as obsessed as us, you don't have to look at the photos in the gallery to know who snatched the keys to a Corvette ZR1, Dodge Challenger and Cadillac CTS-V. But we'll spoil the (lack of) surprise for you anyway. Clarkson grabbed the 'Vette, Hammond is getting his retro kicks in the Challenger and May - the consummate stately sedan man - is piloting the CTS-V. Top Gear is rumored to be back on the air towards the end of October, and we're hoping this segment kicks off the next season. Thanks for the tip, Ben...
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Filed under: Coupes , Chrysler, LLC. , Dodge Big name designers often skip from one job to another in the automotive world. Chrysler seems to be losing more than its fair share of artistic types, as the Auburn Hills-based automaker has lost two top designers in recent weeks. First, long time design chief Trevor Creed retired . Now Dodge Challenger Concept designer Micheal Castiglione has left for a smaller, more diversified design house. Castiglione has joined Ken Okuyama Design as their chief designer where he will work on everything from eye glasses and furniture to trains and planes. Okuyama also has some automotive interests, including the K.O 7 open wheel and the interesting-looking K.O 8 coupe (above). During his 15-year tenure with the Pentastar, Castiglione's best work came in the form of the Dodge Challenger Concept, but he also worked on the Jeep Compass concept and the Chrysler 300 production car. [Source: Car Design News ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: In the Autoblog Garage , Coupes , Chrysler, LLC. , Dodge Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Dodge Challenger SE Chrysler pays the bills with big sellers like the Dodge Ram and Caravan, but when it comes to passion and excitement, the 2009 Dodge Challenger sits with the Viper atop the Pentastar throne. The new Dodge Challenger is retro done right, with the wide stance and long hood of the original mixed with the clean lines and aggressive dimensions of a modern pony car. For the 2008 model year, Chrysler introduced only the SRT version of the Challenger. The first production model sold for $400,000 at auction, and the entire stock of HEMI-packing, Mopar goodness was history faster than it takes to hit 125 mph on a barren back road. The reality of today's high gas prices combined with strict new fuel economy standards means that, unfortunately, it's unreasonable for every Challenger to pack a fire-breathing, neck snapping 425-hp, 6.1L V8. So for 2009, Chrysler...
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Filed under: Aftermarket , SEMA , Tuners , Dodge Hurst is no stranger to offering up special edition Mopars. The 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst packed a 440ci "TNT" V8 with 375 horsepower, as well as a fiberglass hood and trunk, Satin Tan leather interior, and a Spinnaker-White paint scheme with gold trim. Ok, that was nearly 40 years ago, but Hurst is still going strong and planning to renew its Mopar connection with a limited edition Dodge Challenger that will make its debut at SEMA this year. The Hurst Challenger will be available in four trim levels and include features like a supercharger system good for 500 horsepower, 5-spoke Hurst alloy wheels, and a "Pistol-Grip" Hurst shifter. Pricing will start at a $10,000 premium over the stock Challenger and could go as high as $20,000 for the top level model. Follow the jump for the press release from Hurst. Gallery: 2009 Hurst Dodge Challenger SRT8 [Source: Hurst via Edmunds.com ] Continue reading SEMA Preview: Hurst/HEMI Challenger...
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Filed under: Coupes , Sports/GTs , Chevrolet , Dodge , Ford , GM Credit goes to our friends at Jalopnik for orchestrating the shot you see above, which took some quick planning and a lot of luck. General Motors recently held a sneak peak media drive for the Chevy Camaro V6 out in San Diego, and unfortunately only the biggest buff books and Edmunds Inside Line were invited (tsk, tsk). Jalopnik decided to crash the party the best way they know how - by showing up driving the Camaro's two biggest competitors, the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger. Classic Jalopnik, and how they managed to find two black ones we'll never know. This is the first published picture of all three modern muscle cars together, at least that we know of. Jalopnik EIC Ray Wert and his team weathered an extremely miffed GM PR person to get it, and word is we'll have video later of the heated exchange. What GM got miffed about is unknown, since last we checked San Diego had no laws against driving your car...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Supercars , BMW , Dodge , Rendered Speculation Combining a Dodge with a BMW doesn't sound like a good idea. But then again, sound and sight are two different things. So just when we thought we'd seen it all, we're thrown for a surprise. A Russian illustrator by the name of Remio, evidently quite skilled with the Photoshop and CAD, has managed to blend the new Dodge Challenger with the BMW M1 Homage show car, and the results are rather surprising. While some rendered speculation can prove to be quite close to the mark when the subject goes into production, we'll have to file this one squarely in the "never gonna happen" folder. Shame. [Source: Cardesign.ru via CarScoop ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Aftermarket , Motorsports , Dodge 2006 Dodge Challenger Super Stock concept With a name like Challenger, Dodge's new muscle car had better put down some serious quarter-mile times or else be able to propel itself into outer space. Fortunately, Chrysler's performance parts division Mopar is preparing to do one (if not the other) when it unveils its new Drag Race Package for the Challenger at the annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals at the Bandimere Speedway in Denver next week. While specific details on the package - which we previewed in our exclusive video last week - remain scarce before the official debut, the Challenger Drag Race Package marks the 70th anniversary of Mopar and forty years since the company's last factory-built drag-race package. Based on the Challenger SRT8, the Drag Race Package features a composite "Body-in-White" direct from the factory and a host of lightweight components, to say nothing of all the parts being deleted for drag-strip...
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Filed under: Coupes , Dodge , First Drive Click above for high-res gallery of Autoblog autocrossing Yesterday at Chrysler's annual media gathering to show off new products at the its proving grounds in Chelsea, MI, the struggling automaker wanted to demonstrate the performance capabilities of its SRT branded vehicles. SRT staff set up an autocross course on the vehicle dynamics pad and brought out examples of every SRT vehicle from the Caliber SRT-4 to the mighty Dodge Viper ACR. Before we were allowed to hop in the cars, we had listen to a short briefing that described the course and some safety rules. And before being allowed to climb into the big snake, we had to complete at least a couple of laps in one of the five Challenger SRT-8s to get familiarized with the course. For a big 4,140-lb coupe, the Challenger proved surprisingly nimble. We learned that with the electronic stability control enabled, it's almost impossible to get the back end to swing wide. The stability control...
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Filed under: Aftermarket , Tuners , Coupes , Sports/GTs , Dodge Click above to enlarge this shot and see the dyno graph Whenever a new performance vehicle makes it into the hands of eager customers, a run to the dyno never seems to be far behind. This has again proven to be the case with the new Dodge Challenger, as a company known as Speedfactory has just done the deed on its new steed. What sets this particular vehicle and its dyno numbers apart from other SRT8s, though, is its Vortech supercharger . Considering that the 6.1 liter HEMI V8 under the Challenger's long, scooped hood is the same one available these last few years in other SRT-branded eight-cylinder vehicles, we're not too surprised to see that the system is pretty mature and posts rather good horsepower and torque numbers right out of the gate. Coming in at about 495 horses at the rear tires, Speedfactory surmises that its Challenger is making around six hundred ponies at the crank. If owners of the GT500 weren't...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Dodge Click above image for gallery of high-res shots courtesy Delbert Shoopman Looks like late night television's most famous car nut is the latest person to fall under the spell of the new Dodge Challenger SRT-8. Autoblog friend Delbert Shoopman says he was walking around the NBC lot in Burbank and happened upon one black Challenger parked directly across from the Tonight Show studio. Further snooping revealed a Jay Leno parking tag on the spot (above). We snooped a bit ourselves and found a blurb on Chrysler's internal blog, Firehouse, where they talk about Jay's latest acquisition. Seems Jay picked it up yesterday at Valley Dodge in Van Nuys. It will join his 1970 Challenger among the hundreds of other cars in Leno's Garage when he isn't driving it around the Valley or stopping off at local car meets. We'll keep an eye out for him at Bob's Big Boy and VCR to see what he thinks of his latest toy. We're guessing he will get quite...
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Filed under: Coupes , Sports/GTs , Plants/Manufacturing , Dodge Click above for more shots of new Challengers awaiting the crusher Tons of used-up vehicles are sent to the great junkyard in the sky every day courtesy of huge hydraulic crushers. We collectively shed a tear whenever a desirable old classic meets its maker before some enterprising soul is able to save it from this unfortunate fate. All of the Mopar fans waiting patiently in line for a new Dodge Challenger may want to look away for a moment, though, as we have pictures of quite a few new Challengers headed for a horrible flattening . These vehicles are either preproduction models, test mules or cars with some sort of major defect that could not be rectified. So, to the boneyard they go. Despite the fact that this happens every single day to less interesting cars, seeing photographic evidence of a desirable model such as the new Challenger being pancaked makes us wonder if there isn't something else that these vehicles could...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Time Warp , Coupes , Dodge , Special/Limited Editions Dodge Challenger Super Stock shown from 2006 SEMA Show Fans of going as fast as possible in a straight line, which includes some of us at Autoblog, have reason to rejoice. Chrysler has officially announced that the drag package for its upcoming Challenger, initially shown at SEMA in late 2006 , will be released on an unsuspecting public. Previous rumors have the drag pack getting hi-po versions of the 5.9-liter Magnum and Hemi V8's, while jettisoning around eight-hundred pounds of dead weight unnecessary for mass-acceleration. The National Hot Rod Association is said to be going through the package as we speak in order to certify it for racing duty. After all of the necessary paperwork is complete, the Challenger is expected to race in the Stock Eliminator class. According to Chrysler spokeswoman Patricia Georgevich, Chrysler is looking at a possible introduction in July. [Source: Inside Line ] Read | Permalink...
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Filed under: Car Buying , SUVs , Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler , Dodge , Jeep Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2009 Dodge Journey Making a step towards a more fuel-efficient vehicle lineup, and reducing the number of overlapping vehicles between its brands, the plug has been pulled on a Chrysler-branded version of the 2009 Dodge Journey . Chrysler LLC will instead focus the resources on a Nissan-manufactured compact car. While the automaker currently captures the bulk of its sales from light trucks and SUVs, Chrysler is trying to pare down its lineup significantly to cut costs. So far, they have cut four models. Moving forward, the Jeep Commander SUV is expected to be dropped next year, and the company has already said they were canceling the PT Cruiser Convertible . While the 2009 Dodge lineup gains the aforementioned Journey, Dodge Challenger , and a redesigned Dodge Ram pickup, Chrysler's product lineup for the next twelve months looks particularly bleak with nothing significantly...
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