DODGE Challenger, Charger: newer versions of 'American retro MuscleCar'

http://wardsauto.com/industry/dodge-resurrects-iconic-muscle-marques?page=2

The Ford Mustang has been launched here in India, and is seeing good demand. Hence, i am posting this, since Dodge is THE specialist muscle-car a la Americana brand, now, under FCA. FCA is pretty much (for now) giving up on compact and even midsize mainstream sedans in the usa market. And is positioning DODGE instead as an out-and-out American MuscleCar/Performance brand, with distinctive american big v6 and v8 engines including the crazy Hellcat 707hp one.

Dodge is being twinned to Alfa Romeo, platform-wise, only of course much more American 'macho' in style. An Alfa Romeo-based d-performance-suv will be made in Italy alongside the Alfa Romeo Stelvio d-sports-suv (Porsche Macan competitor) and exported to the usa as a Dodge, in 2018.

RetroModern works well in parts of the usa market, where brand and even sub-brand loyalties and identities, and sometimes even whole-subcultures can be very strong (unlike India.) The current Dodge Charger and Challenger are by far the best sellers in their respective segments, and are due to get their replacements only in 2020-2021 (either Alfa- or Maserati-based), thereby ensuring economies of scale for all the brands and models across these quintessential American and European/Italian brands.

Meanwhile FCA is pouring a lot of ad and marketing dollars into developing the Dodge 'american muscle' heritage and focus, such as the 'experiential marketing' events listed at Detroit in the link above.

Who knows? There will maybe develop a (tiny but lucrative) market for American Muscle cars in India too, just as there hopefully is for American suv-s aka JEEP? After all the Mustang's seen great uptake here already? After all, too, the famous SRT Jeep Grand Cherokee v8 monster suv is being launched right now? The funny thing being that in late colonial times and in the immediate post-independence years cars in India were usually big, brawny, ornate-chrome etc American ones, mostly. China in that sense is very different to the Indian market/public: there American brands and sub-brands have tremendous special-cachet, especially BUICK (rebadged Opels), Ford and JEEP. But now also Cadillac.

On a different note it's unfortunate why Volvo can't do better here. There are these brands that deserve better. Can't help think of such deserving cars esp. when one pays for technology, rather than downright raw power wasted by big bored engines to be run on bad roads and pot holes and traffics. Unfortunately the Chinese have taken over this brand. Same could be said for Saabs as well. Just today read a thread here about robust engineering where Fabias and some old school Volvo clocked millions of miles. Talking about engineering and quality.

Volve's actually growing in India, slowly but steadily. The cars are superbly built, and the new xc90, which i had the pleasure of sampling (inetriors and design only) is simply one of the most harmonic and taut and coherent automotive designs imaginable. And the upcoming all-new xc40 is imo even better (younger). The new Chinese owner is emulating Tata Sons vis-a-vis J and especially LR in their shepharding of the Volvo brand, rather successfully so far, indeed even in india. Volvo-s are increasingly popular in Dilli-Gurgaon, as an admittedly tiny example.

IMO fca too is a similar firm (albeit vastly bigger), one that is increasingly taking advantage of the near-saturation, commoditization of luxury (oxymoronic though that sounds) that is represented by the German trio.

The fact that so many of the luxury pickup sales (Ram) in the USA are at German-luxe car prices. The fact that Dodge muscle car high-powered models are also in such price ranges. The fact that Maserati has aced the engineering and design on its first sports-suv, the Levante, to apparently great sales success, and now of ourse the new Alfa Romeo-s, which too have aced, and are segment leading on these fronts. All underpinned by a big- and large-enough dealer-distribution network (in Europe, the usa, China and soon india too) based usually on the JEEP brand's scorching growth and spread over the past 3-4 years. And JEEP is only just starting out in China, LatAm and India (locally built and/or assembled), and is still to launch the all-new grand Cherokee and the all-new Wrangler plus the all-new range topping 7-seat luxed Grand Wagoneer (all 3 by 2018-19).

Indeed FCA is attempting, so far with reasonable success but with many miles to go, what Tata have achieved with JLR and what Geely is achieving with Volvo: taking advantage of the Germans' ubiquity and banalization by offering distinctive fare under distinctive, historic, hoary brands (unlike the near-commoditized German ones.) i.e., the pentup growth in these brands, all conquest sales taken from the Germans pretty much, is huge. Of course the Germans have sheer scale economies, including of cut-price consumer-financing and leasing companies, assembly plants behind tariff walls in China and in india, etc.

Marchionne's clearly focussed on this premiumization, higher-margin strategy (given the historic brands he has), which we're even seeing with the simple, folksy FIAT brand (in Europe.) It remains to be seen whether India comes under this strategy, or whether, alongside it, there is another, final attempt made at a FIAT Brazil-style strategy (seeking to compete in the riskier, lower-margin 'mass market' as well)

An interview with Tim Kuniskis, ONE 'cool dude' of a senior management/executive. He is the head of Dodge, SRT, Chrysler as well as Fiat brands for the usa. And is in-charge of the radical focussing of the Dodge brand into an exclusively performance/musclecar brand, complete with large marketing spends, like this 'experential marketing' event, to prepare for the all-new, 'americana' Dodge muscle/pony cars coming in the 2018-2021 time period, following on from their all-new Alfa Romeo rwd, lightweighted modular and bleeding-edge 'platform' siblings. With different engines of course: big Pentastar v6's and v8's for Dodge in-the-main, and highly turbo-ed all-new 2 litre or so petrols and diesels for the Alfa-s with the Ferrari-derived 3litre twin-turbo 510hp for the QuadrifoglioVerde variants.

Dodge getting so focussed will mean that FCA gets the scale via platform and assembly/module 'commonization', the high-margins for Alfa Romeo as the latter goes up against the German trio who currently are ahead really only on the basis of their huge economies-of-scale, and not because of design, technology or engineering. And the Dodges will also sell at decent-margins, at prices that approach many German luxury-car models' in the usa: i.e., using American identity and loyalty in that car culture to bite off a large global chunk of the German-dominated high-price, high-margin sales.

As an entry level model it is rumoured that Dodge will get, instead of the Dart/Viaggio, a 2litre DI turbo Multiair (new Global medium Engine, to be shared across fca brands) engined restyled-variant of the Turkish- or possibly Mexico-made Fiat Tipo hatchback, possibly as a slightly jackedup sports-cuv.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 20, 2016, Original Post Date: Aug 20, 2016 ---

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu.../08/19/roadkill-nights-revs-pontiac/89005348/

http://www.allpar.com/news/2016/08/dodge-commandeered-woodward-32566

Check out the fca pr video embedded in the above webpage. What a very incredible event, a testament to a very American automotive sub-culture.

http://www.autonews.com/article/201...es-another-hot-rod-suv-with-dodge-durango-srt

A crazy muscle-car version of the Dodge Durango 7-seat suv (regared by a number of the best usa auto magazines as the best on the usa market): nearly 500bhp v8, with 8500lbs of towing capacity to boot.

The Durango SRT is twinned not just to the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT available in India but also to the upcoming Grand Cherokee Hellcat 'Trackhawk' with over 600bhp (it's said.)

FCA has successfully re-positioned Dodge (in future: to be the Americana-twin of the new Alfa Romeo-s) as THE 'American Muscle' brand. Including through lots of advertizing, and offline events. Dodge now enoys some of the highest 'buzz' ratings for any auto brand in the usa, esp among the young. Its usa-only scale-economies deficity is being addressed for the next-gen models via a platform- and modules-sharing with the new ALfa Romeo-s.

The first all-new Dodge model, though, since the Dart will be a twin of the Alfa Stelvio d-sports-cuv, BUT.....made in Italy at the cutting-edge-digital-automation new Cassino Alfa plant.

Dodge is also cooking up something way more crazier than the Challenger SRT Hellcat.. it's titled the 'Demon' (cue wet pants! ).
Rumor has it that it's got 750+ horsepower, massive 315-wide front tyres, only a single seat to save weight and that it even appeared briefly on the Fast 8 trailer.
Dodge teases us every week with a new video that reveals more about the monster. Check out the website with countdown clocks for videos and the launch:
http://www.dodge.com/en/ifyouknowyouknow/

http://blog.caranddriver.com/dodge-...er-of-power-with-the-flick-of-a-finger-video/

Has there ever been a more insanely 'authentic' to brand, to national-car-culture, to sheer innovative-engineering art-to-the-purest-point than this vehicle?! (other than several Italian marque models over the last many decades, not all ferrari, many from alfa, maserati and lancia too)

PS: Marchionne has thereby proven than he is an 'aristocratic' in temper automtoive boss, even as he is also utterly prudent and accountant-like as well. Just as an Italian 'rennaissance man', cerebral yet worldly AND creative, a bit crazy ceo-leader should be. i.e., UN-german, UN-japanese, UN-mere-american/wall-street-executive.

@revvingengines @asimpleson

Demon's out!
http://www.dodge.com/demon.html

840 hp/ 770 lb-ft/ 0-60 in 2.1 secs/ Quarter Mile in 9.65 secs.

it hits 30 mph in a second, while accelerating off the line!
and I thought the Hellcat was extreme!

more reading:
http://jalopnik.com/the-2018-dodge-challenger-srt-demon-is-officially-a-840-1794227910

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/dodg...dodge-challenger-srt-demon-first-look-review/

Dodge Challengers and Chargers . I still have automotive orgasms every time I think of the time I spent with these beauties

One reason I would ever want to go back to the US would be the cars one can drive.

I do not think I would have bought a Fiat without even looking at anything other than Ford if not for my previous experiences with cars in US.

Loved the Dodges and Fords. Got a chance to drive the Fiat 500 and I was sold.

I drove a Ford Taurus there which was my personal car and almost every weekend I would rent a new car and drive.