Posted on Tuesday 22 April 2008
The Dodge Challenger in SRT8 trim has been a runaway success for Chrysler with most of the car’s first year production run already accounted for despite its relatively high $37,320 starting price. But it’s the bread and butter SE and R/T models that will ensure the overall success of the new product line, which means the pricing of the car has to be set just right in order to maximise sales and profits.
The Challenger’s closest rival, the Ford Mustang, starts as low as $19,650 in V6 trim. According to the Detroit Free Press, Dodge’s new muscle car will be priced slightly higher at $23,995 for the base V6 SE. Pricing for the V8 R/T, meanwhile, will likely fall somewhere between the base SE and range-topping SRT8.
The base SE model doesn’t get the iconic HEMI engine, but is instead powered by a 3.5L V6 with a standard four speed-auto and 250hp on tap. Last month Chrysler revealed that it expected half of Challenger sales to be the entry-level V6 model and with fuel prices continuing to head northwards there’s a high chance the statement will prove true.
250 is more than the mustang gets. but I suspect the base mustang is going to get the 3.5L or 3.7L V6 soon, instead of the ancient 4L… bring the HP from 210 to 270…. and better mileage… lower emissions… etc.
They are still putting four speed autos in? That’s ancient!
Let me get this straight, this thing wieghs over 800 POUNDS more than the Mustang, has a boring (I mean really, really, rental-car boring, especially compared to the Mustang, which has the same interior from the 60’s car) interior, and they want almost 20% more for the base car?
Once that novelty wears off…
oh I know, Gus, its really incredible isnt it? like I said, you can expect ford to kill the 4L V6 SOHC soon and put in that 3.5L cyclone thats good for 270, and a 6 speed auto, the way that ford’s going in the transmission department. you’d have to be nuts to get one of these things. looks like cerberus is really trying to hit the “get rich quick” scheme. I just hope for their sake, it goes right back into product development. fast.
Raptor; sounds insane doesnt it? a new car, with a 4 speed. ford isnt even looking at a new mustang platform for another 5 or so years and you can almost guarantee that they’ll retrofit the current one with a 6 speed. 6 speed autos in bigger cars like this are still kind of “upper class”… these cars are pretty heavy and you’re talking about a lot of torque. the transmissions have to be much stronger than your camry with the 6 speed.
what i want to see is more 6 speed manual transmissions. 5 speed manuals shouldnt even exist any more.
There’s a cool write up over on Top Gear’s site:
http://www.topgear.com/content/features/1.html
Richard Hammond desperately wants one, at least he’s light…
I don’t know about those transmissions… I drove Volvo S80 T6 with four speed auto recently and I was disappointed. It just doesn’t fell right.
I know automatic transmissions are large. Today I’ve seen 5-speed from Audi (A8 I belive) and its huge.
If you ask me, I would take it with 6 speed manual.
@Raptor
The S80 has a five speed auto and the A8 has a five speed auto in the first models and later 6 speed only or the gearless multitronic. The concept of the Challenger is soooo american. The car could have been so good and what did Chrysler?
“priced slightly higher at 23,995 for the base V6 SE”. Who wrote that? $4345 is slightly.
Cerberus must still like the concept of rebates.
CK
It was 2000 or 2001 S80. It was 4 speed and it was slow.
We have 5 speed audi transmission in our college (mechanical engineering) and in few days I am taking it apart to see why the hell it’s so large
paul; it is a known fact that if you mark up something by 40% and then put a 40% off sticker on it, more people will buy it.
CK; I think you may have got the right idea with this. this car would have originally had a 3 speed auto back in the day, and a 3.5L v6 is 213 cubic inches, which is actually bigger than the base engine that was available in the Challenger ANYWAYS… not to mention much more powerful. it sounds funny but at least this car has more displacement, better economy, more power, and more gears, in its base form, than the original did way back 40 years ago now.
ahhhhhhhhhhh progresss….
Don’t forget your target. The people buying this heavy musclecar aren’t the same people looking at high revving euro or Japanese sports cars with 8 gears and 10,000 revs…
The Challenger’s closest rival, the Ford Mustang, starts as low as $19,650 in V6 trim. According to the Detroit Free Press, Dodge’s new muscle car will be priced slightly higher at $23,995 for the base V6 SE
This makes me sick, if and i mean a big IF we get these cars in Australia they will be valued at over $100,000….its a joke. Especially considering some of the cars we can get for that price.
cont’d - are much much much better !
Looking great. Can’t wait to see one of these on the streets!