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2006 Chrysler 300C SRT8 Preview

Get in Line!

If you read my columns on a regular basis, you know Im a fan of Chryslers new 300C. Of course, Im hardly alone. The only problem dealers are having with this car is getting enough examples to sell to an insatiable public. Interest in the top-tier 300 has been much greater than initially expected, overwhelming Chryslers supply, with close to fifty percent of all sold being HEMI V8-powered 300C versions.

What to do? Chrysler has added another shift to the Brampton, Ontario plant to up production for starters, which should ease the bottleneck over the next few months. But news about its upcoming 300C SRT8 variant wont help matters at all. Now even more new car buyers will want one, with the trickle down effect of the new sport-oriented model affecting the sales of all 300s.

Of course, this is exactly

Barely keeping up with the overwhelming success of the 300C, Chrysler has announced the upcoming 300C SRT8. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler)

the type of problem Chrysler, or any other automaker wants. The 300 has done precisely what was needed. Its an aspirational car that is priced so well it doesnt require deep profit-eroding discounts or zero percent financing to push out the showroom door. Quite the opposite is occurring among its domestic rivals, mind you, with Pontiacs Grand Prix and new Northstar V8-powered Bonneville comparatively stagnant, other than rental car and corporate fleets. Only time will tell if Fords all-new Five Hundred sedan and Mercury

The 300 is exactly what Chrysler needed, a popular car that doesnt require profit-eroding discounts or zero percent financing to move off the showroom floor. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler)

Montego clone will wager much of a contest, but the odds are in Chryslers favor, especially considering the 300 is just one of many LX cars, the second to show up being Dodges new Magnum sport wagon and the next to be the Dodge Charger sedan.

I actually expected to see the new Charger before an SRT8 version of the 300, but now that the hypo-Chryco has debuted at Pebble Beach, how can I complain? The normally aspirated 6.1-liter HEMI V8 in the 300C SRT8 adds an additional 85 horsepower over and above

The normally aspirated 6.1-liter HEMI V8 in the 300C SRT8 produces 425-hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler)

the already quick 340 horsepower 5.7-liter HEMI, a 25 percent increase at 425 horsepower. Torque is up too, from 390 lb-ft to 420.

"With a nearly 50 percent take rate, the HEMI is a critical ingredient to the success of the Chrysler 300," stated Dan Knott, Director - Street and Racing Technology (SRT). "With the new 2005 Chrysler 300C SRT8, we are now adding even more horsepower to the HEMI and even more performance to the Chrysler 300C.

By the way, in case you were wondering, at 69.8 horsepower-per-liter the 6.1-liter HEMI delivers the highest specific-output of any engine ever sold by Chrysler

At 69.8 horsepower-per-liter the 6.1-liter HEMI delivers the highest specific-output of any engine ever sold by Chrysler Group. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler)

Group, even more than the 1966 "Street HEMI," according to Chrysler.

And just what will 425 horsepower do to the cars zero to 60 mph sprint? Itll knock about a second off of its time, from just over 6 seconds to the low 5-second range with the quarter mile achieved in the "high 13-second range," according to preliminary performance targets set by Chrysler.

But hold on. In my initial road test of the 300C I mentioned how it felt much faster to 60 than the 6-plus second rating Chrysler gave it, and commented that I thought the brand was being extremely conservative. Is this conservatism being repeated for the 300C SRT8? Yes it very

When production versions hit the test track, expect the SRT8 to break into the high 4-second range in sprints from 0 to 60 mph. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler)

well could be. Chrysler actually comes clean about real performance figures for the regular 300C in the SRT8 press release, stating the following: "Note that these (SRT8 0 to 60 specs) are extremely conservative, considering that the 340-hp 300C delivered 0-60 in 5.3 - 5.5 seconds." Expect the SRT8 version to break into the high 4-second range when production examples surface.

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