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Dodge to Revive Challenger Nameplate with Muscle Coupe Concept Car

Mustang Watch Out, the HEMI Challenger is Back!

DaimlerChryslers large rear wheel drive LX cars have been smash hits for the brand. These muscle-savvy machines have been on sale for a little over a year now, yet are still amongst the hottest, attention grabbing vehicles on the streets today. The lineup, which started with the Chrysler 300 and soon after the Dodge Magnum sports wagon, extended in 2006 to include the four-door Charger sedan and high-performance SRT-8 variants of all three, but soon the LX lineup will receive a fourth addition - at least in concept form.

DaimlerChrysler announced Monday that it will debut
DaimlerChrysler released an artists rendering of a new two-door muscle car concept, which will show up at Detroit in January bearing the Challenger name. (Artists Rendering: DaimlerChrysler)
a two-door muscle coupe concept - one of ten concepts for 2006 - at the upcoming North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Appropriately, fitting in with the automakers popular muscle-car scene, the car will bear another famous name from the 70s era: Challenger. VP of Advance Product of Design, Tom Tremont, said, "With Charger we have a muscle sedan, with Challenger, a
The Challenger concept will ride on a shortened version of DaimlerChryslers LX platform, which also underpins the new Charger sedan. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)
muscle coupe."

As far as the concept goes, it rides on a shortened version of Chryslers LX platform, its wheelbase chopped from 120 inches to 116 inches to improve cornering, agility and body rigidity. As with all other LX cars, the Challenger will ride on a tuned version of the double-wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension, providing good stability and cornering prowess. Production versions will most likely be V8-only, although some inside the company will no doubt be pushing for a V6 to go head to head with the less expensive and therefore popular Mustang V6.
While
The concepts muscle component is fulfilled via the brands Blueprinted 425-horsepower 6.1-liter HEMI V8. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)
purists werent overly pleased by the use of the Charger nameplate on a four-door sedan, the Challenger name should go over quite well. Chryslers Pacific design studios have created a vehicle that actually looks like a modernized Challenger, complete with long overhangs and kicked up fenders. The car is even accurate in the details, which include single-bar tail lamps, functional hood scoops and rectangular exhaust tips.

The concepts muscle component is fulfilled via the brands Blueprinted 425-horsepower 6.1-liter HEMI V8, also featured in the Chrysler 300C SRT8, Dodge Charger SRT8, Dodge Magnum SRT8 and Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, and mated to a true 6-speed manual gearbox topped by a pistol-grip shifter.

But when it comes to market, DCX might
Will DCXs new Challenger spur on Chevy to build a renewed Camaro? (Artists Rendering)
up the ante in SRT8 form by dropping in its latest HEMI creation, a 510+hp 6.4-liter (392 cu-in) HEMI V8 which was recently displayed at the SEMA motor show in a 1970 Challenger R/T Convertible, no less. These two combinations show that DCX is in tune with North American car enthusiasts, and as usual will most likely commit the Challenger concept, 6.4-liter HEMI upgrade or not, to production.

And speaking of production, its speculated that DaimlerChrysler will take a different approach to the Challenger than it has with the Magnum or Charger. While it would be built alongside other LX cars in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Dodges aim with the Challenger is to create a specialty product. When the car hits production sometime in 2007, expected yearly production would be between 5,000 and 10,000 units commanding a higher premium. If this is indeed true, there would be no need for a V6 variant; the Challenger would be all HEMI V8 through and through.
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