Interesting Perspective on Muscle Cars

[Cuda340]

The May 18, 2007 Chicago Tribune had this interesting article about the current production of muscle cars. Note the comments about the Challenger and its expected production number of 50,000 cars per year.

Flexed muscles have car-buying public swooning again

05:37 PM PDT on Friday, May 18, 2007

By JIM MATEJA
Chicago Tribune

"There was a time when $2 worth of gas lasted a week, not a block.
Gangs wore Chevy, Ford or Dodge T-shirts, not tattoos. And long black strips of tire residue, not construction barricades, filled the roads.

Chevrolet expects to sell 100,000 Camaros, its entry into the new-look muscle car market. "American Idol?" Sure. Elvis and the Beatles.

It was the muscle car era, a time in the '60s and '70s when Chevy, Ford and Dodge said it all -- and import referred to the Volkswagen Beetle.

It was a time when "mine is faster (not more fuel thrifty) than yours" was in vogue. Oh, the heady days before fuel economy and safety.

But, wait. What's that in the rearview mirror? Mustang and Charger? Soon to be joined by Camaro and Challenger?

Chevy, Ford and Dodge.

"I'm not sure it's a return of muscle cars or a return of a sports-car niche," said John Fitzpatrick, marketing manager for Camaro and Impala at Chevrolet.

And one aimed at a range of buyers.

"Let's see, they'll be young and old, men and women, left- and right-handers, tall and short, fat and thin," says Jim Hossack, vice president of AutoPacific, a West Coast marketing and consulting firm. "By offering V-6 or V-8 engines and manual or automatic transmissions, there will be different power and different price choices to appeal to a broad spread of people -- everybody."

Decades have passed since the original muscle-car movement, kicked off in 1964 when John DeLorean, then of General Motors, and some colleagues surreptitiously stuffed a beefy V-8 engine into a modest Pontiac LeMans, creating the GTO.

It ended with the oil embargo in the 1970s.

The lag will benefit the returning machines, says Greg Grams, owner of the Volo Auto Museum in Chicago."

"Guys in their 50s and 60s will buy the new ones, people who remember the old ones but want to drive the new one with air conditioning and a Bose sound system," he said.

Don't count out the "youngsters," adds Art Spinella, general manager of CNW Marketing Research, the Bandon, Ore., company that studies why people buy the cars they do.

"You're going to have the young under 35 years of age and the young-of-heart over 55. For both it will be a fashion statement, a car that generates image and cachet for the buyers and generates profits for the manufacturers."

Hear, hear, says John Sloan, director of rear-wheel-drive marketing for Chrysler Group, in referring to what he calls "amusement rides."

"These are refined nostalgia pieces that open a portal to the past for people to relive a wonderful time in their lives. When we did a market analysis for Challenger, we saw a market for muscle cars as rewards for boomers, people with tremendous disposable income and a passion for cars, who couldn't afford one when younger."

However, there remain those who focus on mileage rather than muscle and are suspect of any car that zooms to 60 mph rather than racking up 60 mpg.

"We're keenly aware of gas prices," Chevy's Fitzpatrick said, the reason for the V-6 in the base Camaro, same as in Mustang.

Even Challenger and its Hemi V-8 will shut off 4 cylinders when not needed to conserve the petrol.

"People remember the old muscle cars as better than they were," Sloan said. "They got 8 mpg and our Hemi V-8 gets 20 to 25 mpg today with multiple displacement so you can have top performance when you take off or top mileage when you cruise."

Hossack sees another force at work. "These cars are making a comeback because Ford restyled the Mustang in 2004 and people liked it, bought it, and Ford made lots of money. In this industry, when it comes to making money, monkey see, monkey do."

Ford is expected to sell at least 170,000 Mustangs annually, Chevy 100,000 Camaros and Dodge 50,000 Challengers. Hossack said: "Not huge numbers, but profitable numbers while at the same time providing consumers with something not all cars do, a grin and fun for the dollar."

How much fun? If that trio reaches the 320,000 annual sales mark, it would top by 70,000 the number of hybrids sold in the U.S. last year."


_____________________________

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

[XJameson]

Originally Posted by Cuda340

Even Challenger and its Hemi V-8 will shut off 4 cylinders when not needed to conserve the petrol.

"People remember the old muscle cars as better than they were," Sloan said. "They got 8 mpg and our Hemi V-8 gets 20 to 25 mpg today with multiple displacement so you can have top performance when you take off or top mileage when you cruise."

Great find Cuda340...

Is the above quote just the article's author taking some liberties and making assumptions, or is this an elsewhere-confirmed fact?

[Cuda340]

Originally Posted by XJameson

Great find Cuda340...

Is the above quote just the article's author taking some liberties and making assumptions, or is this an elsewhere-confirmed fact?

I found the following quote on allpar.com about the availability of the MDS system in the Challenger:

"An initial production run of a few thousand Challenger R/T models has reportedly already been pre-sold to dealers and, by dealers, to customers, with pricing of over $50,000 per vehicle; but Chrysler is considering using the MDS HEMI, a 3.5- or 4.0-liter V-6, and all-wheel drive as well. Those high-priced Challengers may well be equipped with a package similar to the SRT models - or better than the SRT - or they may be the result of high dealer marketup - or it may be that the rumor is simply wrong."

http://www.allpar.com/cars/dodge/challenger.html

[Handmouth]

Good info. 50 thousand for a challenger? I hope not. If so I will have to keep driving the srt-4.

[XJameson]

Originally Posted by Cuda340

I found the following quote on allpar.com about the availability of the MDS system in the Challenger:

"An initial production run of a few thousand Challenger R/T models has reportedly already been pre-sold to dealers and, by dealers, to customers, with pricing of over $50,000 per vehicle; but Chrysler is considering using the MDS HEMI, a 3.5- or 4.0-liter V-6, and all-wheel drive as well. Those high-priced Challengers may well be equipped with a package similar to the SRT models - or better than the SRT - or they may be the result of high dealer marketup - or it may be that the rumor is simply wrong."

http://www.allpar.com/cars/dodge/challenger.html

Thank you Cuda340 - yup, saw that too, however I immediately dismissed it when they mentioned all-wheel-drive. That's just too far out there for me to take seriously.

[Cuda340]

Originally Posted by XJameson

Thank you Cuda340 - yup, saw that too, however I immediately dismissed it when they mentioned all-wheel-drive. That's just too far out there for me to take seriously.

I would not want an AWD, but did you know it is an option with the Charger RTs It could happen.

[MentallyChallenged]

Thanks Cuda340.

Gangs used to wear shirts? That writer is a freakin genius!