Crysler is bringing the Dodge Challenger back this year, in a a redesignof the quintessential 1970s "muscle car.” The car is being introduced at a period when many car buyers are looking for smaller, more gas friendly cars.
The Challenger which was first shown last week during the Chicago Auto Show is a rear-wheel-drive automobile that will compete against Ford Motor Co.'s Mustang and General Motors Corp.'s next Chevrolet Camaro, both scheduled for 2009, for buyers.
Reintroducing the Challenger is a huge risk for the third-largest U.S. automaker. After angering some muscle car fans with a four door remake of the Charger in 2005, Chrysler is banking on the Challenger to draw customers paying $3 a gallon for gas.
"I've always loved that car, so as soon as they said they were coming out with it, I said I am going to buy one," said Jon Wessel, a 52-year-old Springfield, Missouri, resident. "I'm not going to miss that era again."
Chrysler will begin selling a small number of 2008 model with a 425-horsepower 6.1-liter, 8-cylinder Hemi engine in April.
Chrysler dealers already have orders for 9,000 of the new Challengers, but just 6,400 will be built, said Chrysler spokeswoman Kathy Graham.
"There's definitely a market for this -- I'd say, an over-subscribed market," chief executive officer Robert Nardelli said when asked why the company is bringing out a gas guzzling car at a time of skyrocketing fuel prices.
Chrysler will come out with a smaller, more fuel efficient version of the new car later this year as a 2009 model. Chrysler wouldn't say what size engines will be offered, but the Camaro and Mustang competitors both offer smaller V6 engines.
Tom Libby, of J.D. Power & Associates in Troy, Michigan, said cars such as the Challenger may struggle to find sales after an initially successful launch.
"While there is a market, the market is limited in size," Libby said.
The company wanted to keep the design of the made over Challenger as close to the beloved muscle car as possible after the company was raked over the coals by Charger fans over the four-door remake, Trevor Creed, Chrysler's design chief said.
"Fresh from our experiences of the Charger, where we had in the mind of all the Charger fans done something dreadful, we said we don't want to go in and do something called a Challenger that didn't look like a Challenger," Creed said in an interview.
In spite of the complaints, the Charger was the second most-popular car in 2007 's line up with 119,289 cars being moved through dealerships.
The Challenger will use the same frame as the Charger. The care will built at Chrysler's Brampton assembly plant in Canada's Ontario province.
Chrysler is rushing the Challenger into production to compete with the expected new Ford Mustang redesign. "Chrysler knows they are going to have their vehicle out before GM and like any good competitor they will do the best to take advantage of that," said Michael Robinet, an analyst at CSM.