Nice piece Jon. Daimler Chrysler now have a 6.4 Hemi 500+ HP which will be
showing up in some vehicles.
Challengers are now being worked on at the Brampton Assembly Plant. June 11
is Spring Fling 2006 being held at the Daimler Chrysler Brampton Assembly
Plant. I'll be working that show with the Mopar Perfarmance Group. All the
Mopar Family is welcome!
Jim, 91 Dak
----- Original Message -----
From: <jon@dakota-truck.net>
To: <dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: DML: Challenger WILL be built
>
> Terrible Tom <SilverEightynine@aol.com> wrote:
> : According to several sources, Chrysler is trying to decide on which
> : strategy to follow: a high-price, low-volume run, or a high-volume,
> : lower-price run. Also in flux is the question of engines - restricting
> : to just the Hemi, or allowing both the Hemi and at least one V6. Then
> : there is the question of whether a manual transmission will be used and,
> : if so, whether an automatic will also be available. "
>
>
> That's certainly not a promising sign. :-( All this time and
> they *still* haven't figured this stuff out?
>
>
> : -----
>
> : Ohhh I SOOOO hope that they don't do a low volume high price car. Thats
> : what they have the damned Viper for. If they are going to do this right
> : they need to compete with Mustang, which is still affordable.
>
>
> Agreed. Daimler could learn a *lot* fron the Mustang, and if
> they haven't by now, its a shame. The Mustang has a performance
> image, however the vast majority of the cars are V6 grocery getters.
> Heck, the Mustang basically started out as a seceratary's car with
> no real thought given to performance until a bit later into
> production. The formula is pretty simple, really. In the same
> car line, you can have the muscle car, and even some completely
> off the chart supercars, but the bread and butter is the lowly
> V6. THAT steady stream of income resulting from ordinary people
> buying ordinary cars is what allows you to build the more limited
> appeal musclecars. However, its a symbiotic relationship... You
> can't just stick with the plain jane cars alone, or I think it is
> likely the ordinary models would lose a lot of their appeal; people
> buy them partially to live vicariously through the more rowdy
> siblings of the line - its kinda like accountants and MBAs dressing
> up in leather and taking their Harleys out for the weekend. The high
> end musclecars supply credibility to the entire model line while the
> low end grocery getters supply capital. You need that high end
> image to sell the model, but if you focus only on those models,
> their relatively limited demand will quickly result in a loss and
> the scrapping of that model. History is rife with examples of a
> company building a high end vehicle at a loss in order to capitalize
> on the image and sell lesser models. Ford seems to be one of the
> only companies to figure out that this works even better when you
> apply this technique within a single model line. The Mustang is
> proof that you can have it both ways - exclusivity and high volume.
> When most people think of Mustang, it conjures images of speed
> and muscle, but the reality behind the scenes is one of literally
> millions of plain, ordinary Mustangs with nothing special about them,
> quietly providing the cash to allow the entire line to continue and
> remain profitable.
>
> Basically, Dodge needs to offer the Challenger with the 3.7 V6,
> in addition to possibly the 4.7; definitely the 5.7, and a honkin'
> supercharged version of the 6.1 for the SRT version. If you lock
> the high end version into a stick I guess that wouldn't be the
> end of the world (although chances are they would instead lock it
> into an automatic...), but in general, the cars all need to be
> offered with a choice of manual or auto, and they should also be
> available in really inexpensive, stripped down versions too. (And
> don't try pulling any crap like "you can't get the good engine
> unless you load the vehicle up with all these other options". I
> don't actually anticipate that this will happen and usher back in the
> good old days, but its fun to think about. :-) Its sort've funny
> in a way... Back in the 60s and 70s, almost anything went as
> far as ordering a car goes. You could get any strange option mix
> you wanted. Heck, Chrysler would even paint your car with a
> competitor's color! That was back in the days of a pen and paper
> and the slide rule. Now, we've got computerized factories, JIT
> inventory, and more capability than ever before, yet the options are
> more limited than ever. Seems to me like somewhere, we headed in the
> wrong direction, and we should be using our newfound capabilities to
> once again create truly personalized vehicles, rather than vapid
> cookie cutters.
>
> --
> -Jon-
>
> .- Jon Steiger --- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
> | 67 Dodge Coronet, 70 Plymouth Barracuda, 76 Peugeot TSA |
> | 78 Dodge B100, 90 Dodge Dakota Convertible, 92 Dodge Ram 4x4 |
> | 96 Dodge Dakota, 96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, 96 Kolb FireFly |
> | 99 Jeep Cherokee 4x4, 01 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD |
> `--------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
> .
> .
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.
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