Cerebrus Strangles 2008 Challenger

[jamie1974]

 

   September 1st, 2007:

  To make matters worse, the "new" Chrysler plans to make the car limited-production. Unlike the Ford Mustang, the Challenger is likely to bear a premium price tag and limited availability. The new owners of Chrysler, Cerberus Capital Management, made the heart-wrenching move.

  From: http://thecarblogger.blogspot.com/


   You've GOT to be kidding......Who are these pencil dicks at Cerberus? 

[69bronzeT5]

 

[Brock Samson]

much more info here on allpar's 130 page sumpthin chally thread...

you were following this?  right?. 

here's the penultimate page... (second to last     )


  http://www.allpar.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=68716&st=2400

[Ghoste]

I always have thought it would see limited production and premium price. 

[Lowprofile]

Anybody else here talk of this............I would love to see the 'cuda make a comeback too!


    http://www.motorauthority.com/news/coupes/chrysler-considers-reviving-the-barracuda/

[bull]

Chrysler 'Cuda? That don't sound right.

Anyway, I also heard that the Challenger would be a limited production/high-priced rich-boy toy. I don't think that's a good way to bring back the car, since the classic Challengers were fairly affordable compared to the rest of the Dodge line, but at least the yuppies, dinks and gray-haired retirees will be happy. I'm not going to sell my house to buy one if that's what they're thinking.

[70charger_boy]

Who cares if it's going to come out in limited production numbers.  The main thing is that it's coming out!!!!  That makes me happy.  If your pissed because it will be out of your price range work your ass off and save for it.  You have 2 years.

Besides, nothing is set in stone........so just wait for it to come out.  I'm too busy working on my own P.O.S. to care about the chally

[pettyfan43]

And if they do, the people who would REALLY have made a difference in buying the car, will just keep buying MUSTANGS!

Way to go new owners, cut your own throat and then go around shaking your heads as to why nobody will give 20 k above sticker!

You sell a handful to egotistical idiots who will NEVER use the car and you don't get much out of it. You sell 150 thousand and put them ON THE STREET where normal people can SEE IT and you build a reputation!


But what do I know! I'm just a Mopar nut and Car enthusiast who WOULD have possibly bought one! That is JUST what They need YET another rich boy toy.

So much for hoping the new owners didn't have their heads jammed up their @$$#$!

[hotrod98]

I saw the concept cars at SEMA last year. Wasn't terribly impressed and they've taken way too long on that project. As far as I'm concerned that car is so last year.
If you'll excuse me, I'm going back out to the shop to work on one of my real cars.

[Ghoste]

Honestly, when it comes down to it, the new owners are not any more concerned with the Challenger than the old owners who were no more concerned than the first Dodge owners who brought out the Challenger in 1970.  It's a halo car or at best a niche car.  The bread and butter is four door sedans and minivans.  Right now, every automaker in the world excpet one is trying to come up with a new way to invent the Camry.

[GeneralLeeTESH]

Boy-if they're gonna A$$ Rape us on the Chally; then, we all might as well go buy a TURN-KEY Shelby  GT500 or soon-the SHELBYGT500KR !!!

[BigBlackDodge]

Expensive and rare.................isn't that the Vipers job in the Dodge line?


Way to stick it to the little guy Chrysler...once again...


BBD

[TeeWJay426]

Sad to say it, but I'm not surprised.... and after driving an '07 Shelby GT recently, that is looking like a more appealing alternative by the minute...

[TruckDriver]

Sad to say it, but I'm not surprised

[Silver R/T]

well that sucks, I guess I'll have more fun with a Cobra in a meanwhile

[Old Moparz]

This sounds so typical.   

I remember reading, before it was built, that the Viper was going to be targeting the Corvette & priced competitively in the $30K range. I was excited that Mopar was going to get back into a rear drive passenger car that would kick some ass. It was double that price when it came out, & the greedy dealers tacked on their famous "market value surcharge" pushing the car's price beyond reach to the average person. Too bad there's a bunch of yo-yo's that will pay any price to be the first on their block to have one.

I know the same surcharge will be on the Challenger when it's out, but to now have it as a limited production vehicle really sucks. I felt that way about the Prowler too. It would have been nice to be able to consider buying one in a few years, but if it becomes a $50K+ type of car, forget it. Even a used one will be too much money. I really liked the new Mustang when they did the retro version, & now that looks even "more better" to me than the "Retro-Challenger-Built-On-A-Magnum-Chassis-With-A-Viper-Price" POS.

[keepat]

The one thing the so-called big three have that no other car company has is a Muscle Car Heritage. That is all Harley Davidson had and they rode there Heritage out of chapter 11 all the way to the top! Like it or not Ford hit a home run with the Mustang! And a grand-slam with the Shelby GT 500! If  Chrysler and GM don't follow Ford's lead Honda will soon be the number 2 car company in the world and the only way one of the old big three will ever get back to the top is when Toyota buy one or two of them! How about a Toyota Cuda? or Toyota Z/28. Don't laugh, DaimlerChrysler was just the 1st attempt!
Pat

[Supercharged Riot]

Dodge has been full of surprisingly dumb moves lately.  We all aready know that with the remake of the Charger.  The Chellenger is supposed to redeem that, but All I've seen from them within the last couple years is the damn concept car and a long ass wait for a production models to come out.

CHrysler must like showing off their concept.  My opinion is that if you have too long of a wait.  its usually not worth it.  I could be wrong.

[69bronzeT5]

Chrysler 'Cuda? That don't sound right.

Dodge 'Cuda...dosent sound right either

[Brock Samson]

""According to 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. Chrysler announced a manual transmission will be available along with an automatic, each having five speeds; an SRT-8 version will have the 6.1 Hemi while the stock Challenger will have the 5.7 Hemi (no, they will not have the new crate Hemi, nor did we expect them to). At this point we believe there will be a first-year run of about 50,000 Hemi equipped Challengers, possibly with automatics, followed by a smaller run of Hemi Challenger SRT-8 cars with manual transmissions. If the Challenger sells well, and production is flawless - or rapidly fixed - so that the Challenger, Charger, and 300C were all running nicely on the same assembly line (which is the current plan), then later years might see a V6 model - probably the 3.5 with the six-speed automatic to keep speeds up."


this again from allpar,..
 

[bull]

So 50,000 of them will have Hemis? That's 27k fewer than the entire '70 Challenger run which includes the six-bangers and 318 cars.

http://www.stockmopar.com/1970-dodge-challenger-production.html

[Magnumcharger]

If you can stomach a bit of reading, here's what you have to read:

http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2007/08/13/Stephen-Feinberg-Cerberus

And a few samples:
"In an industry of damaged companies, Chrysler is almost a total wreck: It has sunk to fourth place in North America, the market on which—unlike its competitors—it is almost entirely dependent. Nearly 75 percent of its business comes from sales of increasingly less popular light trucks."

"There's no economic justification for Chrysler Corp. to exist," says Gerald Meyers, the former C.E.O. of American Motors and a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. "Whatever they can do, someone else can do better."

"When Cerberus pulls the trigger on a new purchase, it executes a detailed 100-day plan. Cerberus reassesses all employees of the company it's buying and their compensation. Cerberus' transactions are rarely hostile; it tries to work with management. But once Cerberus is in, it doesn't hesitate to start slicing. Cerberus' guiding mission is to create returns that beat the market without incurring high risk for its investors. "Cerberus is a very pure place," a former employee says. "You are there to make money." Stripping is an integral part of the game, and Cerberus excels at it."

[Todd Wilson]

The first year is gonna be a limited production collector car and then after that theres gonna be all kinds of them built with different engine combo's at lower prices.



Todd

[pettybird]

"There's no economic justification for Chrysler Corp. to exist," says Gerald Meyers, the former C.E.O. of American Motors and a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. "Whatever they can do, someone else can do better."

...and since you don't build what I want, please sell the rights to the MOPAR/DC nameplate and bury yourselves.  i'm tired of their product lineup--the only thing they've gotten right to me is the new 300, and that'll never see a new revision thanks to benz jumping ship.  everything they sell is 'nice,' but something beter can be had at EVERY price point.  hell the viper runs as much as a stripper 911 nowadays, and a well built Cayman would be a tough thing to pass up.  put me in a new Z06 vette (the only thing I want from the general, too) and i'll pocket the 10 grand.  even THAT they got backwards--why did the roadster lead new production the second time around???  i no of no one who prefers it to the coupe.  it's just a matter of time before hyundai/kia rule the planet, anyway.  if you're going to buy a bland, run-of-the-mill crapbox you mights as well have the nicest warranty.  give 'em 5 more years to bury their old reputation and the world's going to have to pay attention in a BIG way--even toyota.


the challenger is meaningless to me.  i don't care if it's 12 grand and looks dead nuts like a '70.  chrysler abandoned us in 1974.  I'll keep my mustangs for daily cars.  ford stuck with the car, and listened to its customers. 


</elitist wing car person rant>

[pettybird]

The first year is gonna be a limited production collector car and then after that theres gonna be all kinds of them built with different engine combo's at lower prices.

ok so maybe i'm not totally done.  this is another example of mopar not giving a damn about us.  they also don't understand that it's the V6 cars that keep pony car sales floating.  the car will never be viable without the rental car fleet, and women.  it's what killed gm's F bodies.

(i'm not being sexist--historically over 50% of mustang sales are to women)


<resume end rant>