Yesterday's clip was all about some blazing hot custom made Ford Mustangs making their presence felt at the 2009 SEMA Show last week in Las Vegas. Chevrolet reportedly also got in on the act with pimpin' out Camaros a plenty for SEMA insiders and car enthusiasts alike. Well, if you're thinking Dodge didn't have something similar up their sleeves, then like Judas Priest says "you've got another thing coming."
Today's Web video features Edward Loh from Motortrend.com gushing over some flashy custom 2009 Dodge Challengers, and with damn good reason. These Challengers are spectacular to look at, and a hot green convertible in particular is given a lot of camera time for its blingtastic wheels and 560HP V-8 engine. Roughly half way through the video, we get to scope a red Challenger that's been infused with a Viper V-10 engine and all sorts of custom options built in. Anyone who thinks that modern American muscle cars aren't something to get excited about should probably think again.
DETROIT -- Chrysler brand CEO Olivier Francois startled an audience of more than 400 journalists and analysts last week by showing video footage of a couple passionately making out in the back seat of a Chrysler 300.
A voice says: "Let's design cars people want to make out in again, cars people want their pictures taken in." The clip shows such fashion icons as Coco Chanel and Giorgio Armani and lays out a bold new vision for the Chrysler brand.
The voice says: "What ever happened to style? It wasn't too long ago America had it. At Chrysler, we believe it's time to get it back, to regain the style."
Last week Francois was one in a parade of Chrysler Group brand bosses seeking to reclaim lost glory with daring plans. Group CEO Sergio Marchionne is betting Francois and his peers at Dodge, Jeep and Ram truck will redefine their brands for new customers with the help of fuel-efficient, Fiat-based vehicles.
The challenge is daunting. In recent years, General Motors gave Saturn highly regarded vehicles based on European Opels. The brand failed anyway.
On the other hand, the Mercedes-influenced Chrysler 300 was the biggest hit of the decade-long DaimlerChrysler alliance.
Observers were impressed by the plan unveiled by Marchionne and his team to reinvent its old brands for a new generation of customers.
Chrysler will spend up to $23 billion on new products, manufacturing and brand building over five years, hoping to push market share from its current 9 percent to more than 13 percent. Planned are about a dozen new vehicles underpinned by Fiat platforms and technology.
... Read more
The Nissan GT-R proves that the coupe is the best body style in the world.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)
I love coupes. I would go so far as to say that the coupe is the best style of car in the world. Limiting a full-size car to two doors may fly in the face of practicality, but it allows for much more body style than a sedan. Automotive designers get to play with the roofline and equip a coupe with real fenders, making for a sporty-looking package. The best a sedan can do is look stately.
Roadsters are loads of fun, but a soft top just says you're not taking driving that seriously. A coupe means business, ready to take on all sorts of weather, with a hard top that can be shaped for aerodynamics.
The only negative aspect of a coupe is the rear seat. Most coupe rear seats are a joke, cramped little spaces that serve as much purpose as your appendix, or a vestigial tail.
In honor of the coupe, I've collected our last 10 coupe reviews and added a little commentary about those rear seats. Enjoy! I certainly did while driving these cars.
The new digital owners guide pictured with the old paper manuals
(Credit: Chrysler Group LLC)As cars become more complex, the accompanying user manuals have become proportionally thicker. These days, your average luxury sedan or SUV will often come with a vehicle manual, a navigation manual, separate safety systems manuals and pamphlets, and--in the case of hybrids--a final manual to explain how the powertrain works. That's a good deal of paper that will most likely only be referenced once or twice (if at all).
For its 2010 model Chrysler, Jeep, and, Dodge vehicles, Chrysler Group LLC will be ditching the bulk of its paper manuals and replacing them with digital DVD manuals. The automaker will be the first to do so. According to Chryler's press release:
"The DVD includes the owners' manual, vehicle and tire warranty information, navigation and entertainment system guides, as well as information on 24-hour towing assistance. Video tutorials also are available for commonly used features, such as folding down a Jeep Wrangler soft-top, operating the video entertainment system and setting electronic speed control. In addition, owners may search by topic rather than sifting through a 500-page book."
"The printed user guide includes photos and diagrams allowing customers to quickly find assistance for emergency situations, such as changing tires, jump-starting a battery or assessing warning lights. The printed guide also covers basic operating procedures for temperature control, windshield wipers, seat adjustment and navigation systems."
Luddites and your grandparents can request a traditional printed manual by contacting their dealer or calling customer service. The switch will save 930 tons of paper, the equivalent of 20,000 trees, on an annual basis and save about 4 pounds of paper per vehicle.
So, loyal readers, what do you think about the jump to digital manuals? Is this something you'd like to see more automakers emulate?
The Caliber SRT4: Dodge's fastest small car is dead.
(Credit: Automotive News)DETROIT -- Dodge is dropping its fastest, most powerful small car for the 2010 model year. The Dodge Caliber SRT4 -- a turbocharged, muscle-bound version of the Caliber -- is being discontinued.
"The Dodge Caliber SRT4 was planned for a limited production run in the highly competitive sport compact market segment," Dodge said in a statement.
Dodge did not provide information on the number of Caliber SRT4s sold since the vehicle was introduced in late 2007.
The Caliber SRT4 was Dodge's attempt to add a little muscle-car panache to its smallest car. It was powered by a 285-hp turbocharged version of the inline four-cylinder engine built at the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance factory in Dundee, Mich., operated jointly with Hyundai and Mitsubishi. The six-speed manual transmission was supplied by Getrag, of Germany.
Chrysler's SRT (Street and Racing Technology) group now has five vehicles for 2010: the Chrysler 300C SRT8; the Dodge Charger SRT8, Challenger SRT8 and Viper SRT10; and the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8.
(Source: Automotive News)
In the world of web video, sources are often secretive and credibility could be dubious. According to YouTube, this web video comes courtesy of Team Santiago Cars, which I gather is a car customization company based out of Chile, though it was hard to confirm much of anything on Team Santiago as there's scant information about them online and the fact that I can't read Spanish doesn't help in this department either.
Despite their relative anonymity, Team Santiago does have a profile on YouTube and a series of car-related video online, including today's clip that featuring a 810 hp Dodge Charger that resembles the NASCAR "Car of Today" model skidding, doing donuts, and smokin' up the asphalt at an undisclosed location. The part I find really dubious about this video is the title tag put on the video: Dodge Charger Nascar Juan Pablo Montoya. When I first clicked opened the clip and saw what looked to be a legit NASCAR vehicle doing tricks for the fans, I thought it was nice seeing an auto racing star like Juan Pablo Montoya performing for a relatively small audience seemingly in the middle of nowhere. But then something caught my eye - the car in the video features the number 41 on its doors. I looked it up, and JPM's car number is 42, not 41. I'm not saying just because the car numbers are different that JPM wasn't the one behind the wheel as it could very well be him. But factoring in the secrecy and lack of information on Team Santiago Cars Producciones or Montoya's affiliation with the company in any way, I speculate that there's an impostor at the wheel or that Team Santiago put his name on the title just to get hits on their page. Regardless, I love watching car tricks under a setting sun, and I thought this was a fun and easy way to end the work week.
Sure, we've all probably heard loud racing engines from the stands and sidelines in the open air. But have you ever heard an 800 horsepower engine within four walls, up close at speeds up to 9000 RPM? If you haven't, then this video should serve as a decent substitute as we fire up a Lucas Oil's R5/P7 Dodge Sprint Cup race engine and let that baby scream!
This video, produced by the fine folks at BangShift.com, hook up the R5/P7 engine to the dyno and rev that hunk of steel at speeds that eventually cross the 9000 RPM mark and pushing the engine's 800 HP capacity to its limits. Throughout the video you'll get glimpses at the engine's stats, noting oil usage, fuel efficiency, and more. But to me, this video is all about listening to this powerful race engine roar (for maximum effect, hook your computer up to your home stereo and blast it top volume for a fun way to scare your neighbors). Yeah, this video isn't all that exciting to watch, but that's not the point; to quote Public Enemy, it's time to turn it up and bring the noise!
At the end of this last weekend's activity in and around the Carfax 250 in Michigan, Dodge president and CEO Mike Accavitti officially declared that the car manufacturer was dedicated to contributing vehicle and automotive technology to NASCAR. Although economic crises and bankruptcy have made it ideal for Dodge to scale back their resources and direct contributions to the sport, Dodge maintains that they will continue to represent within the arguably biggest auto racing league in the world.
Currently, Dodge backs two multicar teams in NASCAR - Penske Championship Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports. Three stars who are and/or have been affiliated with those teams - namely Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte - were selected to drive and critique a newly revamped (as of 2007) Dodge Challenger back in 2007. The drivers and video viewers get a good look at the body and exterior of this refined automobile (which certainly resembles the Dodge Charger, as one driver acknowledges), and finally the boys get behind the wheel to take the new Challenger out for a NASCAR-styled test drive. These race car drivers appear to be having a good time pushing the Challenger and testing its abilities for high speeds, turns and braking, and it appears that they like what they're seeing and feeling within this car. If Dodge can continue to crank out vehicles that resemble and handle like muscle cars, then I see no reason why Dodge won't have a place in modern auto racing.
iSuppli correlates tech availabality with the top 10 Cash for Clunkers cars.
(Credit: iSuppli Corporation)A study by iSuppli Corporation shows that the top 10 cars being bought with Cash for Clunkers vouchers offer tech features such as GPS navigation, Bluetooth phone systems, satellite radio, and iPod integration. However, in iSuppli's automotive tech rating system, the average score for these 10 cars, 14.6, falls below the tech average for all cars available, 17.8 according to iSuppli. The Ford Focus tops the list, and sets the tone for the rest, which are all relatively inexpensive and economical vehicles.
The Ford Focus is the best-selling car under Cash for Clunkers.
(Credit: CNET)The iSuppli report notes that none of these cars offer driver assistance technologies, such as adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, and lane departure warning. Automakers are still reserving those options for higher-end cars. The report also notes that three of the cars in the top 10 offer Bluetooth audio streaming, while only two offer a telematics service.
There seem to be a few discrepancies with iSuppli's numbers, such as the Ford Focus only scoring a 10 for its infotainment rating, while the Chevy Cobalt scores a 14. Neither car offers a navigation option, and the Focus includes a USB interface, lacking in the Cobalt. However, the Cobalt's OnStar system gives it a significant edge in the iSuppli rating.
On a positive note for the environmental impact of Cash for Clunkers, iSuppli quotes U.S. Department of Transportation statistics that show cars bought under the program have an average fuel efficiency of 25.3 mpg, while the clunkers traded in had an average of 15.8 mpg. That's a 60 percent improvement in fuel economy, and probably much more, considering that these older cars probably no longer get their EPA mileage.
The Chrysler Group today announced new incentives, "Double CA$H for Your Old Car," that can save consumers up to $9,000 toward the purchase of a new Chrysler, Jeep, or Dodge vehicle.
Beginning July 23, 2009, Chrysler Group LLC will offer up to $4,500 Consumer Cash or 0 percent financing for 72 months through GMAC Financial Services on most 2009 model vehicles. These incentives are valid through August 31.
The U.S. Government's Car Allowance Rebate Systems (CARS) program, more commonly known as "cash for clunkers," also starts July 23, 2009. The CARS program offers a government credit of either $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in an inefficient vehicle that is not more than 25 years old for the purchase of a new vehicle. The amount of the credit is determined based on the fuel-economy improvement between the turn-in vehicle and the new vehicle purchased.
And a Missouri dealership is offering a free AK-47 with purchase of a new car. Here's a Fox Business News report on why the dealer is making such an offer:
