Here's a new story from the Buzz about the Charger: Here's the link:
http://www.car-truck.com/chryed/buzz/b050400.htm
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I've been harassing all my sources at DC trying
to shake out
some more information about the Dodge Charger
R/T. I've
got some good news and some bad news. First the
bad news,
I've received further confirmation that the
Charger body
style previewed on the R/T concept has been
canceled. The
buzz is that the decision was made at the recent
Management Board meeting.
The good news is that the Chrysler Group is
still planning to
produce a rear-wheel-drive, 5.7 liter Hemi
powered, full size
coupe/sedan for the Dodge brand. Which makes
sense since
the Charger shares a platform with the next
generation 300
(the 300N). In a nutshell, the Charger body is
gone, but the
platform is still alive.
So what are they going to build on it? Good
question, one
of my sources reports "that there are many
designs being
considered." They added that "the Charger R/T
body-style
may have been axed due to the fact that the
design has been
shown and exploited in the media. It's possible
that a "next
version" of the Charger body style is being
developed."
So we might end up getting a cool muscle car
from Dodge
after all? All I know for sure is that it won't
be a production
version of the Charger R/T. I have yet to figure
out why the
bean counters didn't think that this beautiful
car would be a
hit? My only explanation is that they just don't
understand
the appeal of muscle cars.
If the reaction from Buzz Watch readers is any
indication
(almost 500 messages in five days), the Charger
would have
been a huge hit. My only hope is that they'll
come up with
something even cooler. Dodge needs a reasonably
priced
"halo car" to help cement their affordable
performance
image and for use as their next Winston Cup race
car. The
Charger would have fulfilled both roles
perfectly. I'll keep
you posted as this story evolves.
If you haven't had a chance to send in your
opinions on the
Charger Click Here. I'll be forwarding all the
Charger letters
to DC. Several readers have written requesting
an eMail
address for DC, to the best of my knowledge they
don't
currently have an eMail address for consumer
comments.
Richard in San Antonio
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