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Old 05-03-2006, 05:23 PM   #1
nthfinity
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Default Chrysler News: Fiat keeping Viper Brand alive!

while this is entirely possible... orders are already being taken for the Mustang; and will be delivered in the coming months. the real question:

will the aftermarket be as strong for the new "hemi"? not much is written about it in these pages... still, i love the cars style, and design.

Mopar faithful are speculating that Chrysler’s speed freaks are working on an SRT version of the upcoming Challenger. Since an official green light has not been given for the Challenger Concept that debuted earlier this year at the Detroit auto show, this may be a case of fans attempting to will their dream into reality, but a 510-hp, 6.4L Hemi V8 does sound better than sheep jumping a fence.

Word is that Chrysler’s SRT division was going to debut a Challenger SRT-8 at the New York Auto Show, an event that did not come to pass. SEMA is being pegged as the next most likely debut venue.

With the announcement by Ford that the Mustang Shelby GT500 will produce an SAE-certified 500 horsepower, many readers have questioned how both Dodge and Chevy will respond when their pony cars debut. Will the Challenger SRT-8 materialize as an answer, and will Chevy step up with a 500-hp Camaro SS? And how would that affect the Viper and Vette?

Though the Mustang Shelby GT500’s thunder was stolen by Dodge and Chevy at the Detroit show, it’s apparent the super Stang is raising some eyebrows around the industry.

[Source: SRTMopar]
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Old 05-03-2006, 08:29 PM   #2
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Build it, Build it, Build it!!!!!!

With the impact the concept has had, I'm sure the aftermarket would be more than willing to do what they can. If the Challenger does go into production, they'll sell them faster than they can build them.
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Old 05-03-2006, 09:12 PM   #3
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they have to do something because with the new GT500 Chevy and Dodge (talking old school here none of that DXC crap) have to step it up a notch and I am guessing that is a reason that this "Blue Devil" is around aswell.
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Old 05-03-2006, 09:13 PM   #4
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^^^
i have word on high that future models in the DXC lineup are bleak i hope they pull the challenger off
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Old 08-01-2006, 08:45 AM   #5
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I think the Challenger will be debued at ~500 hp (It is said DCX is working on a 6.6L Hemi), and I am trying to be optomistic that it will be lighter than the GT500.

Personally I would like the challenger to have 500hp and rev to about 7000 rpm. That would be incredible. A messaged Hemi engine sounds glorious. If not, then my pick may be that Camaro with the LS7 (7100 rpm). I just think its something magical about V8's that rev.
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Old 08-01-2006, 10:26 AM   #6
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i am told that the 425 hp 6.2 liter is going in, but nobody knew of anything with 500 hp going in the challenger.
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Old 08-01-2006, 11:20 AM   #7
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The 425hp engine is a 6.1L. The 6.6L is a rumor, but I will try to find the page. I would say it is more likley that a 6.4 or 6.6L engine is placed in it, because 425 hp for 40K+ is not going to do the job verses the the near price, 500hp camaro and GT500. The camaro is a rumor also, but i'm sure GM wont let the GT500 steal the light.

Edit

Here is the link

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/07/...008-challenger
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Old 10-09-2006, 11:01 PM   #8
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amid poor sales this quarter (supposedly more?) the new Dodge Charger is going to be undergoing some MASSIVE changes to meet demand, and go away from the Euro sporty sedan concept.

Zee Germans have realized their folly finally, and will be chopping off 2 doors, and elongating the hood of the dodge charger.... hard to say what to expect on the overall shape of the grill.... but anything is bound to be better then the 300 C clone we have right now.

the big question... will Charger be officially competing vs. the Challenger? I'm curious as to the markets.... i think the Charger will be marketed as more the easy-going, and more luxurious (can i even say that with such a car lol) while the Challenger will be geared towared the enthusiast.

You heard it here first!
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Old 10-29-2006, 02:44 AM   #10
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@ number77: This is off-topic, but from a fellow Radiohead fan, I give you thumbs up for putting the "Minotaur" in your avatar
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Old 11-03-2006, 11:33 PM   #11
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Yea Radiohead is great!

This is a video of the superstock challenger car. I hope it hasn't been posted already.
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...t=CIMG1069.flv
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Old 12-22-2006, 02:51 PM   #12
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Magnum
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Old 12-24-2006, 10:47 AM   #13
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I'm trying to se whats different, or special to the one's already out there for current year... not much really...

BTW, then can go 170ish
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Old 08-13-2007, 08:39 PM   #14
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We in Detroit are worried about the new CEO's who aren't car guys coming into our domain.... Thankfully GM still has one at the Helm... and of the three, they are doing the best.
I think Ford will eventually dump, or ask Mullallay to resign... (former Boeing fame)... I think Cerberus is pushing for a greener chrysler... and proof of this is by putting this new former CEO of General Electric... Times are looking bleak here in Detroit, and for all performance car lovers

Chrysler's New 'Tough-as-Nails' CEO
By installing the controversial Bob Nardelli, Cerberus will shake up Chrysler—but that is just what the carmaker needs

by David Kiley


If Cerberus Capital Management, the new majority owner of Chrysler, wanted to make a bold statement Monday on its first day of running the automaker, the private equity firm succeeded when it named the well-known and controversial Robert Nardelli as its new chief executive.

Nardelli, a former top General Electric (GE) manager who lost out to Jeffrey Immelt in the contest to succeed the legendary Jack Welch back in 2000, tends to elicit strong opinions and reactions wherever he goes. At Home Depot (HD), where Nardelli went after GE, he alienated the retailer's founders, Wall Street, shareholders, and virtually all of the management he inherited. He would go on to become a symbol of excessive CEO pay—as well as CEO arrogance because he wanted nothing to do with shareholder meetings.

At the now privately held Chrysler, Nardelli's brand of management science and military leadership style may be just what Chrysler, long criticized for an undisciplined operating culture, needs to return to a profitable track. On the other hand, his lack of experience in the car business and his manage-through-fear track record could become so disruptive to Chrysler that Cerberus could end up getting its investment in the automaker back by selling off the Jeep brand instead of managing the whole company back to profitability.
"Not a Car Guy"

One of Nardelli's former colleagues says he is a fan of the new Chrysler CEO despite not recommending him for the CEO spot at General Electric. "Bob will tackle this with a vengeance," says GE former Chairman and CEO Jack Welch in an exclusive interview with BusinessWeek. "He will work seven days a week. He will have people on his team who are that committed." (To read more of Welch's comments about his former protégé, see BusinessWeek.com, 8/6/07, "Jack Welch: 'Cerberus Hit a Home Run'").

A longtime Chrysler watcher, professor Gerald Meyers of the University of Michigan, has a different take on Nardelli's chances for success in the auto industry. "Cerberus has the right idea, but the wrong guy," says Meyers. The onetime chairman of American Motors, Meyers says that Nardelli is "not a car guy…he could take 18 months to get his wheels out of the sand in terms of learning what he needs to know…and Chrysler doesn't have a lot of time."

Meyers predicts that one of the aspects of the car business Nardelli will find most frustrating is that, unlike Home Depot store managers, dealers do not work for Chrysler. "They can be an ornery bunch, especially when things aren't going well, and the state laws are written to protect them against the car companies trying to bully them," says Meyers.
Union Negotiations

The new CEO is also walking into Chrysler just as it is negotiating new contracts with the United Auto Workers and the Canadian Auto Workers. These talks for new contracts are said by analysts to be critical to the future of Chrysler, Ford Motor (F), and General Motors (GM). CAW President Buzz Hargrove told Reuters (RTRSY) Monday that he was "surprised and concerned" by Cerberus' decision to hire Nardelli. "We don't know the guy."

Just last week, Cerberus Chairman John Snow, the former Treasury Secretary under President George W. Bush, said there would be no management shakeup coming at Chrysler, although with outgoing CEO Thomas LaSorda being demoted to president and vice-chairman, that is clearly not the case.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger did not offer comment. Nardelli said Monday that he spoke with Gettelfinger, and that the union chief did query him about his "executive pay" at Home Depot. He told the new CEO: "I don't care about washing machines and snow blowers. I care about cars."
Strong Support

Cerberus founder Stephen Feinberg has not granted an interview but an executive who has spoken with Feinberg says the financier "worships" General Electric's management, and has been an admirer of Nardelli's. Feinberg, says the executive, believes that Nardelli's true "genius" will come out when he can manage out of the glare of "quarterly earnings reports, shareholder meetings, and daily share prices." The same executive says he expects that Nardelli and Feinberg will recruit more former GE executives "who think like they do" to Chrysler.

Another Nardelli fan is Kenneth Langone, the man who brought him in to head Home Depot in 2000. Langone also has taken a lot of heat for his support of Nardelli. "If right now I was a Chrysler investor, I'd be very happy," Langone said at the Academy of Management's annual conference in Philadelphia, where he took part in a panel discussion about private equity.

Langone credited Nardelli with bailing Home Depot out of its failed South American excursion, stabilizing the business, and raising profits, even if the stock price was lackluster. "He's probably the best operating executive I've ever known," Langone said. Nardelli's work ethic, detail-oriented philosophy, and his knack for deciphering costs and benefits are traits that will serve him well at the struggling automaker, Langone continued.

"If anyone can save Chysler, Nardelli can," Langone said.
"Not a Time to Play Nice"

So now Nardelli replaces the panoramic view of downtown Atlanta at his Home Depot office with one of the suburban strip malls of Detroit's northern suburbs. But the wounds inflicted in his battles with shareholders and employees at the home-improvement retailer still haven't healed for some. For the last year, as Nardelli's fate remained a mystery, there was much speculation around the Peach State about what his next job would be.

The news that he would run privately held Chrysler for a hedge fund such as Cerberus came as little surprise to some of his sharpest critics. "His only future was with the asset boys, the private equity firms," says A. Leigh Baier, an Atlanta attorney and Home Depot shareholder who challenged Nardelli's allegedly poor treatment of employees during his tenure. "I don't think any public company would have touched him. I'm glad there are no shareholders who are going to get hurt if these guys are wrong."

Nardelli has been the poster boy in the ongoing debate over whether CEOs are paid too much. Nardelli ran Home Depot for almost six years until he parted ways with the retailer's board last January. In addition to being one of the best-paid CEOs at the same time the company's share price was stagnating, Nardelli received $210 million as he was headed out the door. At Cerberus and Chrysler, Nardelli's compensation agreement is being kept confidential and out of the headlines.

But if Chrysler can turn itself around then Nardelli will have earned his payday, whatever it might be. And auto insiders such as Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation (AN), Chrysler's biggest dealer network, says he could be the right choice. "Chrysler has to reinvent the way it has been doing business for the last 100 years, from a push-production model to one that is a consumer-pull business," says Jackson. "And you are going to need a tough-as-nails executive who will move quickly and decisively, and Nardelli is that kind of guy," says Jackson. "This is not a time to play nice."

Kiley is a senior correspondent in BusinessWeek's Detroit bureau.
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Old 08-13-2007, 08:42 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by brembo
I love to hear how the americans are in absoulute worship of an high reving V8 as its not have been around for ages....
WTF are you talking about? Small block 302's from the 60's were turning 8000 revs on the street... not to mention the Cobra Jet 428's, the Hemi 426's making use of well over 70000 revs, and ZL1 spinning similar numbers above 7000 as well.
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