Dodge gives thumbs up to hotrod

Mopar fans rejoice! The brand that put the Hemi engine on the map, Dodge, has officially given the Challenger muscle car the green light.

One of the stars of last January’s Detroit Motor Show, the Challenger recalls the brand’s iconic muscle cars of the early 1970s. The low, long-nosed two-door fought with Chevrolet’s Camaro concept for the headlines at Detroit and now looks likely to beat the GM product onto the road. And perhaps Down Under!

The green light was given by Chrysler Group President and CEO Tom LaSorda. LaSorda announced the car’s future as a production model shortly before the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday (July 1)

The car will go on sale in the USA in 2008.

"We haven’t seen this kind of spontaneous, passionate response to a car since we unveiled the Dodge Viper concept in 1989,” said LaSorda.  “But it’s easy to see what people like about the Dodge Challenger.  It’s bold, powerful and capable.  It’s a modern take on one of the most iconic muscle cars, and sets a new standard for pure ‘pony car’ performance.”

The concept car (for more details click here) was built on a modified Chrysler 300C platform. It’s not known at this stage whether the production Challenger will also draw on the same underpinnings.

Chrysler Group’s championing of Dodge as an international brand has seen statements to the effect that all Dodge products will be engineered for both left and right-hand drive markets. If that continues to be the case, we could see the Challenger heading up the ram’s horn brand Down Under.

Public Relations Manager, Chrysler Group Australia Simon Johnson told CarPoint; “It’s hard to say [whether Challenger will be built in right-hand-drive].

“Basically it comes down to dollars and cents. The right-hand drive markets have to get together and build a business case for the car. We’d be quite bullish with our [sales] targets for it but at this stage it’s still up in the air,” he said.

“The showcar brought the local enthusiasts out of the woodwork so we’re very excited about Challenger – it would be a great brand builder for the [Dodge] product locally,” Johnson stated.

Dodge’s first local release in more than 30 years, the new Caliber small/medium hatch, debuts Down Under in August (for CarPoint’s review click here).