Karl on Cars

The 2008 Dodge Challenger stands poised to upstage the Chicago Auto Show this week, and as an avowed Mopar freak I should be fully enthralled by this car's return. Yup, I should be.

But I'm not. While I see the Challenger's return as an excellent opprotunity to cash in on Chrysler's muscle car heritage (and I love the production grille, fuel-filler door and other styling cues) I also see some major problems with the car's launch plan. As I stated last week in my Dodge Charger R/T post, the LX chassis is pretty hefty for a "sporty coupe" -- even one with a muscle car heritage. But there are additional issues that have me concerned, most of them centered around first impressions this car will make on potential buyers.

For starters, what's with the "limited edition" production for 2008? Actually we all know what's with it -- Dodge couldn't get the Challenger into full production mode for the 2008 model year, but they had originally told people it would arrive in 2008 and they still want to beat the Camaro to market. Answer? A stroke of marketing department genius (and if you don't think so, just ask the marketing department guys who came up with it)  -- "The limited edition 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT-8!"

Okay, so Chrysler found a way to turn lemons into lemonade. I can't fault them for that, but I fear the initial run of Dodge Challengers may leave an unintended and lasting first impression on the general buying public. I saw this before with the 2005 Ford GT. That car was supposed to sell for around $160,000, but the greedy dealers where asking between $220,000 and $300,000 for the first year after it came to market. Believe it or not, even exotic car buyers have a gouge limit, and many potential Ford GT customers walked away from the car as soon as they were quoted a quarter-million-dollar price by their local Ford store.

Eventually (as with all "hot" cars) the Ford GT's price came down. In fact, it came down so much that plenty of dealers originally trying to get $250,000 were calling back every name on their waiting list a year later trying to get that $160,000 MSRP -- and not having much luck. I think many of those potential customers never re-considered the car after hearing that $250,000 price quote, even when prices dropped. First impressions can be mighty powerful.

Now for the Challenger. The initial run will be around 6,000 according to reports, and they will all be SRT-8 versions starting at about $40,000 (before dealer gouging). Also, only three colors will be available -- black, silver and orange. Two of those choices aren't really even colors as far as I'm concerned (black isn't a color, and silver is too common to contemplate).

That leaves orange. This is the official "launch color" for the Challenger (that's the color the automaker uses for all the PR photos and the one it really pushes in the advertising -- the CTS' color was that dark red hue, the Solstice was silver, etc.). I've seen a few "right to buy" auctions on ebay for 2008 Dodge Challengers from dealers looking to start the gouging process as soon as possible. Guess what color every one of those has been? Yup, orange.

So you've got a limited production car that will start at $40,000-plus, most of them will be orange, and all of them will have 13/18 mpg ratings just as summer gas prices threaten to hit $4 a gallon. People assuming the Challenger will be a stylish and relatively economical alternative to a $25,000 Mustang GT (that car's EPA ratings are 15/23) are going to be in for a shock when they start the shopping process. Obviously the car's performance should be stellar with that 425 horsepower V8, but performance as a sales incentive ain't what it used to be...

Will this launch procedure keep buyers away, even when the drivetrain and color options open up and the price drops? Perhaps not. Obviously the die-hard Challenger fans won't balk at the price, limited color choices or low fuel mileage. But how many of those guys are out there? When the sub-$30,000 R/T versions finally hit next year will people still be waiting around to buy one?

Maybe...but three years later I continue to get people saying, "Hey, nice Ford GT. Weren't those things like $250,000? I liked 'em but that price seemed too high."

Once again, first impressions can be mighty powerful.

Dodge's response might be, "We've never seen the Challenger as a high-volume vehicle." In that case, don't change a thing.