http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi...5996090.column


(DaimlerChrysler) will unveil a concept coupe derivative of the Charger sedan at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

Like Charger, the concept may resurrect a name from the '60s and '70s muscle car era - the Dodge Challenger.

While Charger has four doors, insiders at Chrysler demanded Challenger have two in keeping with the body style favored in muscle-car days. Challenger was also offered briefly as a convertible.

Insiders insist the concept is meant strictly to test consumer reaction. A business case hasn't been developed, and it hasn't been given a production go-ahead. But if produced, Challenger would be the fourth vehicle sharing the RWD Chrysler 300 platform with the Dodge Magnum and Charger built in Brampton Ontario, on three shifts.

The plant can build more than 300,000 units, and a fourth model would bring it to capacity while spurring interest in the Chrysler lineup.

 

Sweet! The Challenger was one of my favorite musclecars. Personally I am somewhat torn about DCX making a new Challenger. On the one hand, if it looks cool, an SRT-8 6 spd Challenger would be a very sweet ride; on the other hand, as much as I called, signed online petitions and wrote e-mails to GM since the demise of the Camaro, if I then did not follow through and actually purchase one, it being equal to the Dodge, I would feel like I was renegging on my promise.

Of course, if it looks like a coupe version of the Charger, GM has nothing o worry about (for my money at least!).

 

Don't worry everyone, GM is not taking this lying down. To the contrary, GM is busily studying the option of doing extensive research on the possibilty of building a sporty coupe concept with retro cues for the 2010 Detroit Auto Show! In the mean time, the Monte Carlo and Cobalt SS are both muscle cars.

 

 

This had better not just be a two door Charger.

It needs to look a lot different(i.e. look better), and it needs to be shorter and lighter.

 

Man i spit water all over my desk...now i need to go get a paper towel

Word...if this is just another slightly modified LX car (read: 300 with new front clip...) then forget it. Hopefully this will be unique. And if it's supposed to be a pony car hopefully this thing will weight in closer to 3000 lbs than 4000 lbs.

 

If its like the other LX cars...its gunna look like a 2dr brick.
Gotta love that MB E series chassis....

 

maybe i should make that my new sig.

 

Yeah, we'll see. There's all this talk of a "SWB LX" platform on all the Mopar sites. Some of the claims are abit ridiculous, kind of what we were hearing about the "uber-flexible Zeta" on all the GM sites, before they ummm cancelled it.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think we're gonna get the two door Charger here.

 

Cool! Glad to hear that they aren't going to screw up(?) this nameplate too.

 

Would this be a Sebring replacement??? I just can't see them having 2 2door coupes on the lot at the same time. They could this way do a Challenger coupe & convertable and they could do a base entry V6 and Hemi as their options and keep the Sebring customers.

 

True enough. But I'm hoping against hope that it will be a more traditional pony car and not just a two door Charger. Dodge had their chance to make the Charger a two door from the get go. Making just a two door Charger and then just calling it a Challenger would be worthless and flat out stupid in my book.

Well...I was planning in 6-8 months to make a choice on what to do for a new car. I had started saving up to get a used 04 GTO. To tide me over until the Challenger came out. But if the Challenger looks to be an abortion I'll pick up a Mustang GT instead.

 

The '70-'74 challenger and cuda were some of the most modern looking of the pony cars of that era.I hope DCM can give it a slick body and not another box shape.If they do suceed,I also hope there's a hemi option that gives the 6 liter 420hp hemi.Keep it around 3500lbs and its gonna be a killer.And keep the SRT-8 tag off ,I prefer just Dodge Challenger Hemi.

Does anyone know if those hemi's have aluminum blocks???

 

First off, I got my first good long look at the new Charger yesterday. I LIKE it - certainly nobody will confuse it with anything else on the road (*coughGTOcough*). Ya, I'd prefer 2 doors too, but I still think it is a sharp, aggressively-styled car. Kudos to DCX (and shame on Va Beach Dodge for marking them up).

That said, the Challenger sounds REALLY interesting. If they can keep the weight down....well, it could be a real ringer, IMHO.

 

Don't hold me to it but I THINK they are iron blocks.

Yep...iron block aluminum heads.
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/new-mopar-hemi.html

But just curious. Why should they keep the SRT tag off of it? A 6.1 Challenger probably would be the second fastest SRT they make behind the SRT-10 Viper. I mean the 5.7 Challenger could be the "Hemi" Challenger since both cars would have "Hemis".