Chrysler unleashes Dodge Challenger

[Dr.Phool]

Source: msnbc.com

Chrysler unleashes Dodge Challenger
But will consumers embrace the gas-guzzling, nostalgic muscle car?



updated 12:46 p.m. ET, Sun., May. 11, 2008

BRAMPTON, Ontario - The 2008 Dodge Challenger began rolling off the assembly line Thursday into an uncertain market that could embrace the nostalgic muscle car or reject it for its gas-guzzling excess.

"From my perspective, it's the ultimate halo vehicle," said Reid Bigland, president and chief executive of Chrysler's Canadian operations. "The attention this product gets is like nothing I've ever seen."

But even Bigland says it's hard to predict how long that demand will last. It's a difficult time to be launching a $40,000 car with the fuel economy of a large sport utility vehicle. U.S. auto sales were down 8 percent in the first four months of the year as the weak U.S. economy took a toll on consumer confidence.

At the same time, gas prices reached a record high of $3.62 per gallon recently and could climb to a national average of $4 per gallon in the coming weeks. The 2008 Challenger gets 13 miles per gallon in the city and 18 on the highway, the same as Chrysler's largest SUV, the Dodge Durango.

(more)

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24530290/

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How fucking clueless can U.S. Automakers be? 13 mpg? $4.00 per gallon?

I bought my wife a new Prius for Valentines Day. I'm 56 years old, and it's the first foreign car I've ever bought, except for a 5 year old VW bug I bought back in 1973.

I had to travel from The Clearwater FL area on Wed. up to Myrtle Beach SC to be with my father while he had a heart catherization. I gassed up in Tarpon Springs FL, and didn't stop until I got off I-95 in Florence SC. 500 miles. I filled up again and squeezed 10.5 gallons into the tank. It only holds 11.9 gallons. The onboard fuel computer said that I averaged 47.5 mpg for the trip. And it gets better mileage than that in the city.

Buy an American car? I'd love to. But, not if I have to keep feeding Exxon-Mobil to do it.

And I still have beer money left.