Challenger News

[Steve Desjardins]

Muscle car fans, a classic ride silenced since 1974 will roar back to life this weekend.

Chrysler Group is preparing to announce before the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Saturday that it will build the Dodge Challenger, bringing to market as soon as next year a sports coupe to compete against the Ford Mustang.

Chrysler officials haven't announced details, but people familiar with the plans confirmed that the two-door, four-seat concept Challenger unveiled in January at the North American International Auto Show will go into production.

Chrysler built the Challenger for only a few years, 1970-74, but the car made a lasting impression.

The concept version's styling borrowed heavily from the classic 1970 Challenger muscle car, with twin hood scoops and a pistol-grip shifter. The concept is powered by a 6.1-liter Hemi V8 producing 425 horsepower through a six-speed manual transmission.

"Every NASCAR fan in the country will be drooling over that car," said Erich Merkle, an auto analyst with IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids

[Hannibal]

Saw on Speed Channel that Dodge will make some sort of announcement tomm prior to the NASCAR race at Daytona. I'm real excited but get ready for the 15k over sticker quotes for the SRT-8 model.

[Loaded]

ok so now base challenger then a challenger r/t? that sucks

[ScottB]

LIke I been saying - make mine SRT-8 Plum purple with a shaker hood.

[TriShield]

Originally Posted by Loaded

ok so now base challenger then a challenger r/t? that sucks

Two V8s only, R/T and SRT-8 from what I've heard through the grapevine. Not enough excess capacity to come close to how many Mustangs Ford builds per year.

It will likely be the most exclusive of all the new muscle cars.

[DUBSTER]

There Going To Sell Like Hot Cakes!!!!! Lol!!!! I Wonder If They Will Have Some New Colours.

[sjz]

Here's the CNN story:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/07/01/...eut/index.html
They also show a comparison with the new Camaro.
-Steve

[1fast400]

I called my dealer today and told them I wanted a fully loaded srt-8 as soon as it comes in