Yesterday's marathon Chrysler-Fiat press conference/coming-out party wasn't entirely about EBITA and acknowledging the shortcomings of the Sebring.
Ralph Gilles, the Dodge brand's new boss, laid an Easter egg hunt on the assembled dealers, bankers and journalists. What you see above is a shot of the 2012 Dodge Charger that appeared briefly on the screen during Gilles' talk.
Gilles provided no details on the upcoming full-size rear-drive sedan, but it's obvious from the photo above that the next Charger will be a more expressive, sculpted design that draws inspiration from its historic namesake. Of course, the Charger will still be a four-door, but the sharp-edged line, rising from the front door to the tip of he rear is, well, Charger-esque. It looks a little like the four-door Charger concept vehicle of several years ago--at least from this angle.
What do we know about the platform? Only that it's an update of the existing LX platform that, if we remember correctly, Sergio Marchionne said cost so much to create that it would "shock your pants off." So there's that.
The new Pentastar 3.6-liter engine, which debuts in the new Jeep Grand Cherokee in the middle of next year, will be the volume engine, with a Hemi V8 as the upgrade. Something tells us it won't be offered with the Fiat 500's 1.4 Multiair mill.
Reporting by Dan Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit
1487 says:
12:16 PM, 11/ 5/09
Dont like that pic, but I look forward to seeing what the car looks like. Hopefully it will be at Detroit show.
1487 says:
12:17 PM, 11/ 5/09
Dont like that pic, but I look forward to seeing what the car looks like. Hopefully it will be at Detroit show.
1487 says:
12:19 PM, 11/ 5/09
Dont like that pic, but I look forward to seeing what the car looks like. Hopefully it will be at Detroit show.
altimadude00 says:
01:12 PM, 11/ 5/09
I think Fiat is going to start castrating Dodge's designs. FTL :(
xprojected says:
01:25 PM, 11/ 5/09
Can't blame Fiat for the Charger concept, it was ugly to begin with. Looks a little like a Mitsu Galant from the picture above.
stephen987 says:
03:28 PM, 11/ 5/09
That's amazing. It looks almost as good as the Charger concept that they teased before they launched the current warthog-shaped model. Pics of that concept car (first shown in 1999) can be seen at http://www.allpar.com/cars/concepts/dodge/charger-1999.html.
stephen987 says:
03:30 PM, 11/ 5/09
D'oh--just reread the piece and noticed that you guys already knew that.
albook says:
03:33 PM, 11/ 5/09
Apparently it's supposed to look awesome. I'll have to see the whole thing, as the I'm not feeling that C pillar...especially compared to the current one.
cruiserhead1 says:
06:49 PM, 11/ 5/09
Oh boy, that Charger concept was Rodney King'd with the ugly stick.
Hope the production model did better with proportions and front end style.
Chrysler has so many brilliant concept sedans and coupes. Why did they pick THAT one to produce???
jederino says:
10:06 PM, 11/ 5/09
I saw that Charger concept in person at the LA Auto Show several years back, and I was very impressed. Mostly with the rear doors, giving it that 4-door coupe look before the Europeans brought it to market. Yes, the grill is pure trash 80's Camaro or Intrepid, but the car had a lot of low and mean presence. And, it was said to be hybrid powered by twin, small-displacement diesel engines feeding the batteries, achieving 90 mpg. I wonder if there was any Chrysler technology at that time to back up that plan?
zoomzoomn says:
06:43 AM, 11/ 6/09
Appears to be much more faithful to the original show car...which is a good thing! I always had felt that the original production car's styling was at least a bit hodge-podge in it's execution. It had very poor flow and only really looked good in dark colors with huge rims. That combined with Daimler's desire to re-enforce the German-ness of these cars, to me, was the final pitfall for the whole Daimler-Chrysler merger. Americans, it turns out, wanted these cars to be exciting and AMERICAN. I hope Fiat knows that going in, or they too will fail in this market.
kingkhalas says:
11:53 AM, 11/ 6/09
boring looking.
Not holding my breath on this one.
bimmerjay says:
12:49 PM, 11/ 7/09
That show car looks terrible. Why did they go with a late 80's Firebird/Camaro front clip? And from this angle the rear quarter looks like the Corvette's plastic tub.