Dodge News

After failing to bring the two previous models of the Dodge Ram here despite strong interest, it seems Chrysler isn't ruling out that theone unveiled this week could be released with right-hand drive. “Everything's under consideration,” Chrysler president Jim Press says. But he won't comment on which of the Ram's powertrains may be considered suitable for Australia. The Ram will launch in the US withthree engines: a 283kW/548Nm, 5.7-litre Hemi V8, a 231kW/447Nm, 4.7-litre V8 and a 160kW/319Nm, 3.7-litre V6. Transmission choices are a six-speed manual and four- and five-speed automatics, with part-time and on-demand four-wheel-drive transfer cases in regular, crew and quad-cab bodies with three tray lengths. The Ram's chances of finally gaining an Australian visa may be improved by the new Cerberus management team's focus on export markets. “Global growth is an imperative for the new Chrysler,” chairman Bob Nardelli says. Pointing out that the company sold almost 2.7 million cars last year, with sales outside the US up 15 per cent, Nardelli is confident the car-maker is on the right path. “You do the maths: if you can grow 15 per cent a year, you can double the business every five years,” he says. Nardelli says a lot of changes have been made on Cerberus's watch. Decision-making is a lot swifter since the divorce from Daimler because the process doesn't have to detour through Germany, he says. “We've demonstrated our ability with speed and decisiveness. “We've already approved 200 changes to our existing portfolio, and those changes will move to product that's on the drawing board. “We've made some tough decisions. We don't have a lot of fat; we've got muscle now. There's a strong heartbeat in Chrysler.” Part of what has kept that organ beating over the past few years has been Chrysler's adventurous approach to vehicle design -and that's something the new management is intent on continuing. Asked whether the company can afford to keep producing risk-taking styling, Jim Press replies that it will have to, in order to survive. “I don't see it as risk-taking design so much as great design,” Press says. “We need to continue to have an understanding of what customers want. “And that's not an appliance — it's a visceral experience, a passionate one.”

Well, these two celebrity cars and many more will be auctioned at the renowned Barrett-Jackson classic car auction in the US.If the budget can stretch, each car is expected to fetch more than $500,000.The weird and wonderful Monkee-mobile was made famous in the hit 1960s television series The Monkees.The restored car is based on a 1966 Pontiac GTO and was modified into a convertible by US hotrod legend George Barris.If the Monkee-mobile does not appeal, Cooper, a noted car collector, is parting with his 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing customrecreation and there's also the original truck used in the Beverly Hillbillies TV series.Apart from the Monkee-mobile and Cooper's Mercedes, fans of the 1991 Oscar-winning film Thelma and Louise can bid for the original 1966 Ford Thunderbird used in the film.There's also a Hummer and trailer used on the 2006 movie Miami Vice and actor William Shatner's custom-painted 1995 Harley Davidson.Also up for grabs is the 1969 V8 Dodge Charger coupe, more commonly known as the General Lee car, from the television series Dukes of Hazzard.The Barrett-Jackson sale is billed as the world's greatest car-collector event.The televised six-day event starts 12, January 2008 and officials expect to sell more than 1000 cars.It comes only months after Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone auctioned his car collection.Once of Ecclestone's cars, a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K special roadster sold for almost $10 million.Apart from the celebrity cars, a host of muscle cars and classics, including Ford Mustangs and mint-condition Chevrolet Corvettes from 1954 to 2007, will go under the hammer.Barrett-Jackson will auction a vintage Shelby Mustang from each year performance legend Carroll Shelby produced his street-ripping 1960s classics.The highlight of the collection will be Shelby's personal 1969 GT500 convertible, followed by a pristine 1967 GT500 originally given by Shelby to his son Mike. 

The Dodge Challenger SRT8 will be unveiled as a production car at the Chicago motor show in February, with a full arsenal of Camaro-busting weapons. It will be in US showrooms by June, giving it a 12-month advantage over the Camaro, which is into final prototype testing by GM Holden engineers in Melbourne.“We are a year ahead,” Chrysler chief designer Trevor Creed says. The British-born stylist has led the design-driven success of a range of Chrysler cars and he has high hopes for the Challenger. It was first shown nearly two years ago as a concept car at the Detroit motor show and will be production-ready on February 6. Challenger order books opened on December 3 and 4300 cars were sold that day.Chrysler plans to sell 120,000 cars over the life of the Challenger program, starting with the hot-rod SRT8 automatic. “It's 120,000 over the lifespan of four years,” Creed says.“The first 4000 or so are the SRT8s, and we are building a batch of SRT8s that will have a 6.1-litre V8. And then our next batch is regular Challenger and Challenger RT, which is 3.5-litre V6 and 5.7-litre Hemi. The next year is a regular build of those again, plus SRT8 with a six-speed manual transmission.”Creed says the Challenger has been built from the same mechanical package as the top-selling 300C sedan, but there are no plans for a right-hand-drive model for Australia.“Challenger is a short-wheelbase version of the 300C. It's the same front, the same rear, shorter in the middle by four inches with a new body style on,” he says.The Challenger is coming as US baby boomers snap up retro-style muscle cars, led by the Ford Mustang.

In the first three days of orders this week, more than 6000 Americans left deposits for the all-new 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8, before even setting eyes on the production car.The first day alone attracted more than 4300 people placing their order for the coupe.And while the heritage of the model, or the 6.1-litre HEMI V8 may have won them over, owners will have to wait until February to see what their new car will look like, when the limited edition production SRT8 is unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show.The concept of the reinvented Challenger was revealed at last year's North American International Motor Show.Dodge Challenger brand manager Mark Mallie says they began to take orders early due to customer demand.“Its been almost 35 years since the last Challenger, and there's a lot of interest,” he says. “There are a lot of people anxious for it. It's certainly an iconic muscle car.”But Australian Challenger fans shouldn't get too excited. Chrysler group spokesman Jerry Stamoulis says it won't be making its way Down Under any time soon.“There are no plans for a right-hand-drive market or for sales outside of the US at all at this stage,” he says.The modern interpretation of the muscle coupe carries a $US37,995 ($43,549) price tag in the US and will feature dual carbon-fibre hood stripes, pointing to the original Challenger.It will also have a numbered dash plaque. And there will be a choice of three colours for the SRT8; black, silver or HEMI orange. More more than half the orders so far have opted for the orange.Since announcing the pricing last week, website hits have also gone up 23 per cent.Dodge will follow the SRT8 with a complete line-up of Challenger models. 

In the city of Wuhu, China, on the Yangtze River, more than 25,000 blue-uniformed workers are busy churning out cars for Chery Automobile. As they motor through double shifts using the latest imported technology, they're also helping to change the dynamics of the global car industry.Barely a decade after it was founded, state-owned Chery has emerged as China's largest independent vehicle maker; and one that is determined to compete against the world's automobile giants.“In the beginning, no one had confidence in us,” says Yin Tongyao, Chery's chairman and general manager, in a rare interview. Now, he says, “we are looking globally for markets.”The tale of Chery's improbable rise is in large part the story of China's ballooning domestic car market, which has roughly doubled in size since 2004. Its products; mostly inexpensive cars and SUVs, which are also gaining a following in developing countries hungry for low-cost vehicles.But rapid growth is already taking its toll, as executives strain to manage the company's expansion amid a shortage of experienced workers. “We are still fighting for our survival,” says Mr Yin. “We didn't get to learn from the books. We have to learn everything by doing it.”In July, the company signed a landmark deal with Chrysler to sell a series of small cars made by Chery under the American car maker's Dodge brand.The pact marks the first time that one of Detroit's Big Three has outsourced the production of entire vehicles to a Chinese company. The deal also sends a warning to high-cost workers in the US and Europe that even more of their jobs could be at risk.Chery's arrangement with Chrysler follows years of breakneck expansion. Sales of Chery cars have increased more than tenfold since 2001. This year, Chery expects to sell more than 400,000 compacts, sedans and sport utility vehicles. By 2010, the company says, it will be turning out a million vehicles annually, for markets both at home and abroad.Holding the reins of this galloping enterprise are Mr Yin and a handful of other men who've been with the company since it started as the brainchild of local Communist Party officials in the poor eastern province of Anhui.The corporate culture they spawned is an odd hybrid of communist state enterprise and entrepreneurial start-up. Party propaganda posters hang on factory walls. “Know plain living and hard struggle,” one poster exhorts workers, “do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.” In another part of the plant, bulletin boards display quality-survey data from JD Power & Associates comparing Chery's cars with those of its rivals.Inside the gates of Chery's sprawling production complex, where few foreign reporters have been allowed before, assembly lines run 16 hours a day. Much of the equipment is state-of-the-art, imported from Europe.Chery this year expects to export more than 110,000 cars, up from 50,000 in 2006, mainly to emerging markets such as Russia, the Middle East and Latin America, where its low prices are helping to win it business. The company is building a car-shipping port on the Yangtze near its plant to send vehicles to China's coast and overseas.Still, Chery remains far smaller than the world's big car makers. Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota and Honda, which have each outsold Chery in the China market so far this year. World-wide, GM and Toyota both sell nearly 9 million vehicles a year.At Chery's research and development centre, engineers say they are now developing 40 to 50 new car models, at least 10 of which could be ready for production as soon as next year.Chery says it expects to benefit from Chrysler's technical expertise and established sales and service networks. Even though their cars will be sold under the Dodge brand, they expect consumers will know they are made in China by Chery.“People look down on our products. There are many doubts about our safety and quality,” says Mr Yin. Selling under the Dodge name initially will boost buyers' confidence, he says. “If we work together with Chrysler, we can go global faster.”Chery has combined low wages with massive capital investment and other government-backed support. This recipe is powering the latest phase of China's industrial revolution, helping firms in industries from cars to consumer electronics become significant global players.Junior engineers at Chery earn $US6000 ($6850) a year, and many sleep in bunk beds four to a room in company dormitories. Some don't have driver's licences and, like most Chinese people, didn't grow up riding around in a family car. Few workers can afford to buy cars they make.Assembly-line workers earn an average of slightly more than $US1 an hour — far less than their counterparts in Europe or North America but, in Anhui, a sought-after wage.Chery can “offer low-cost platforms with speed,” says Tom LaSorda, president and vice-chairman of Chrysler, which has said it will eliminate 25,000 jobs in North America. Visiting Chery's plants in 2006, he says, he found that “everything was very familiar,” with production processes and equipment very similar to those in top Western factories.Chery started building its first factories in March 1997. It hired a Taiwanese company to help it design its first model, a sedan known as the Fengyun, or Wind Cloud, which was cobbled together mostly using parts from components makers that supplied the China operations of VW and GM. The first cars rolled off the line in December 1999.But Chery wasn't allowed to sell them, since it didn't have a government licence to be in the car business. The red tape was eventually untangled when Chery briefly became part of the much larger Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, a large state-owned company with partnerships with GM and Volkswagen. The Fengyun hit the market in 2001 and 28,000 were sold.Chery also began work on a four-door hatchback mini-car, which would lead to accusations that the young company was knocking off the designs of its competitors. The car, which went on sale in 2003 and is known as the QQ, is similar to a GM model known as the Chevrolet Spark.GM sued Chery in a Chinese court in 2004, alleging that the company had illegally copied its design for the Spark. The companies settled the lawsuit in 2005 without disclosing the terms of their agreement.Amid the controversy over the QQ, a fundamental shift was happening. In 2003, executives and government planners decided that Chery should go beyond recycling outdated technologies for the local market. They envisaged the company as an international player.Encouraged by sales in Chery's first two years and by signs that China's car market was revving up, the company and its state owners decided to embark on a massive new investment program. Chery also stepped up its efforts to recruit Chinese nationals working for car companies abroad, as well as to bring foreign expertise to Wuhu.“There's no way you can move slowly and catch up,” says Xu Min, a former Chery engineer who is now dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Institute of Automotive Engineering. “It took the Japanese two or three decades. We didn't have that kind of time.”The central goal to acquire and develop technology that would belong to Chery and help it compete even in the US and Europe, with their daunting regulatory hurdles and high customer expectations.In 2003, Chery recruited Mr Xu, the engineer who is now an academic. Mr Xu, who was at the time a specialist in combustion and fuel injection at Delphi Corp in the US, says he got the hard sell from executives seeking to bring him back to Anhui, where he was born.Mr Xu says a lot of his friends questioned his decision to leave a secure job in Detroit for a post at a then unknown Chinese company. But he says he felt he was hitting a wall in the US.“In Detroit, you could spend years on something and never see it commercialised,” he says. “The pace was so slow.”Chery, on the other hand, wanted Mr Xu to oversee a project that would develop three new families of engines within just a few years.The engines are now good enough that Italian car maker Fiat plans to use them in some of its cars as well, buying them directly from Chery.Earlier this year, Chrysler executives visiting Chery could see the rapid progress that occurred over 18 months.“I would say the 'aha' moment for us would be when we subsequently visited Chery (in June),” says Richard Chow-wah, a Chrysler senior vice-president.He adds that the “ability to make decisions quickly without a lot of bureaucracy was what was most impressive.”What are some of the rumours you have heard about Chinese cars? 

But one Detroit plant is producing hand-built performance vehicles.The Conner Avenue Assembly Plant will hand-build the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 and new 8.4-litre SRT V10 engine using 26 work stations on a 214m assembly line.Chrysler Australia says the Viper is only available in left-hand drive and will not be coming here.Each vehicle will be hand assembled by 48 workers, remaining stationary for up to 49 minutes per work area while the workers make adjustments.The process is normally performed only on race cars and eliminates traditional repair stations as the workers verify all work on all parts.An alignment machine sets caster and camber at normal ride height and at the upward and downward travel of suspension; while most factories set caster and camber in the normal ride-height position only.The V10 engine is built next to the vehicle on a 24-station circular line by nine workers; who assemble and certify each engine before it is installed in the chassis.Each Dodge Viper is tested in place on the assembly line using special rollers.At this stage, the vehicle is a rolling chassis without its body panels.During this roll test, it is driven through all six speeds of the transmission, up to 145km/h to verify vehicle function.The Dodge Viper was introduced as a concept car at the 1989 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.Its V10 engine produces 450kW of power and 760 Nm of torque, propelling the car to 100km/h in less than four seconds.  

A plan is being discussed for Chrysler dealers to sell all the car maker's passenger vehicles under the Chrysler name.Dodge dealers would exclusively offer pickup and commercial trucks, while Jeep dealers would sell Jeep and sports utility vehicles, according to three dealers familiar with the discussions.Such a scenario would enable Chrysler to drop some of its overlapping products, which essentially compete with one another, such as the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring — both mid-size sedans but marketed under different names.Fewer products could mean a reduction in dealers, which would weed out poorly performing dealerships that have excess inventory and resort to incentives that hurt profitability.“This is one of the plans they are studying,” said a dealer who was informed of the idea. “At the end of this year, they expect to have a plan for the future.”Chrysler co-president Jim Press, speaking at a media briefing last month, suggested the car maker simplify its line-up.Mr Press, who until September was president of Toyota Motor's North American operations, questioned the need to divide Chrysler's resources to market both a Chrysler Town and Country minivan and a Dodge Caravan.Mr Press spent 37 years with Toyota, which in comparison has fewer, and more profitable, dealerships in the US.Chrysler spokesman Rick Deneau said: “I would not interpret Jim Press's comments about product overlap as an indication we will segregate vehicle types by brand.”The broad scope of the plan underscores how fast and deep Cerberus Capital Management is willing to go to turn around Chrysler after buying an 80.1 per cent stake in August.Chrysler, which is facing sluggish US sales because of housing market weakness and high fuel prices, this month announced an expansion of a restructuring plan unveiled in February, saying it would cut its North American hourly workforce almost in half by 2010.Chrysler has made several high-profile executive appointments since Cerberus took over.Its executives have decided to kill the entire PT Cruiser line after the 2009 model year, according to a dealer who was told of the decision in the past week. The move is part of the car maker's push to eliminate slow-selling models.

Chrysler will axe four models next year in a global cost-cutting plan.The vehicles to go include the Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible, Chrysler Crossfire sportscar, Chrysler Pacifica SUV and the Dodge Magnum (a wagon version of the 300C sedan).Australia only imports the PT Cruiser convertible and Crossfire.DaimlerChrysler Australia/Pacific PR manager Jerry Stamoulis emphasised that the PT Cruiser sedan would remain and that the cabrio was “only low volume; about 10 a month”.However, he admitted the loss of the Crossfire would be a blow.“Crossfire is the biggest blow for us because it's a very attractive car, drives well and had a positive response from media and public,” he said. “But as yet we have received no date as such for these to be cut.”While cutting its cloth to fit a suspected worsening in the US economic climate, Chrysler will next year add four models.There will be two new Dodges — the Journey minivan and Challenger large-medium sedan — plus two new hybrid SUV models — the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango.Stamoulis said the Challenger was in left-hand drive only.“So that is not a plan at all at this stage,” he said.“It is early days for discussing the hybrids. They are developing the hybrids for the US, but there are no specific dates for us as yet.“The Dodge Journey we are working on bringing to Australia in 2008, but they have not officially said whether it will be released here.“At this stage it is looking likely for later in 2008.”Stamoulis said Chrysler's Australian portfolio would not suffer from the loss of two models.“It's not as if we don't have a decent portfolio,” he said.“We've had five new models this year — the Sebring, Avenger, Compass, Patriot and Nitro — and the sixth will be Sebring Cabrio in December, so essentially we've brought in six new cars this year and are losing two in the next 18 months.”Chrysler Australia will also re-introduce the new Voyager and launch the Jeep Cherokee in February.Global Chrysler chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli said the impending model cuts reflected an expected reduction in sales next year.The new round of cutbacks follows an earlier announcement that Chrysler planned to chop 85,000 units from its fourth-quarter production plans.“These actions reflect our new customer-driven philosophy and allow us to focus our resources on new, more profitable and appealing products,” he said.The cuts will lead to a loss of 12,000 jobs in American factories.Nardelli said their plans were in addition to cutting 13,000 jobs by the three-year Recovery and Transformation Plan announced in February.

The year was 1999 and Dennis Ballard was begrudgingly looking through bridal magazines with his soon-to-be married daughter, doing the 'good dad thing.'Suddenly it jumped out at him; as his daughter asked his opinion on two dresses, Ballard's eyes wondered to a one-line advertisement sitting between the ladies in white; 1917 Dodge Coupe, for sale.Some would think 'what an oddly placed ad' and move on, but not Ballard, who describes himself as 'old-car mad.'Perhaps the 158 cars he has owned over the years explains his self-diagnosis. With what looked like an American phone number in the advertisement, Ballard didn't waste time, calling a friend who lived in the US to find out more.“He rang the number for me and said it was genuine, that it had been in storage from 1933 to 1998,” he says. “It turned out the publishers had the ad in the wrong book, it was meant to go in some sort of motor catalogue in the States, but that didn't happen.”Which worked out nicely for Ballard, who knew it was a special model and snapped it up on the advice of his friend, who took it for a test drive.Ballard handed over the $US4800 asking price for the car and then spent a further $2000 getting it to Australia, which took about two years, finally arriving here in 2001.Ballard's Dodge was the earliest American model on display at the 21st annual All Chrysler Day at Fairfield Showground.Even today, the 62-year-old is still thanking his lucky stars he helped out with the wedding plans.“If she hadn't been at me to look at them I wouldn't have seen it, it's just incredible luck, it's a very rare car and was in absolute top condition,” he says. Ballard has since discovered the car is the oldest known surviving Dodge Coupe, making it a very valuable piece of history.Adding to that, he is only the second owner of this very unique model. He even found the original registration slip from 1918 in the door pocket.It may look stunning from the outside, but Ballard says it's not the most pleasant vehicle to drive; “Two words, bloody hard,” he says.“It's heavy steering, very direct, there's a tendency to oversteer savagely. It's okay when you're used to it, but it's definitely a man's car.”Its driving manner wasn't something the original owner mastered either.“The original owner was a doctor and apparently had a lot of trouble handling the Dodge,” Ballard says, which he discovered from speaking to the doctor's grandson who told him he often “clobbered every pair of gate posts” and rarely used the car, preferring to get around in his horse and buggy instead.“It appears he died in 1933 and the family had no need for it so they put it in the barn and covered it up,” he says, adding that it has done less than 9000 miles (14,500km).After 68 years off the road, Ballard was surprised to discover the “wooden” coupe, with its A and B pillar made from timber, was still in reasonably good condition.The only things it needed were mudguards and a paint job. But since coming into his possession, Ballard says he's spent $15,000 getting it to its present state, with one job left; replacing the moth-eaten trim. While Ballard has a passion for old cars, he admits he has a particular soft spot for American DNA.“They do tend to stand up better to Australian conditions and they're powerful, they hold their own with today's traffic, not quite as fast but they'll stay out there,” he says. “Old Dodges in particular, they're very rugged.”Ballard's car obsession really began when his first car, a 1925 Dodge, was stolen before he was even old enough to drive it.From then on, he set out rescuing as many old cars as he could.“People were practically giving these old cars away back then, so I'd drag them home, patch them up and sell them on, it used to drive my parents mad,” the 62-year-old says.“I went mad and wanted to save them all.”While Ballard's car may be the oldest and most special car at the show, there will be variety of vehicles displaying the history of the Chrysler brand, which has included other makes over the years such as Dodge, Jeep, Hillman and Centura.A 1939 Chrysler and a 1977 Dodge Charger Imperial will be among the display of about 300 cars, with a particular focus on 50 years of 'fins.'One car fitting this theme is Frank D'agostino's 1953 Chrysler New Yorker sedan.D'agostino, who has also caught the American car bug, says he particularly loves the exaggerated shape and the size of the vehicles.“They're unique, their size, their character, the days of flamboyant looks,” he says. “But they weren't designed for economy.” 

Trevor Creed admits the cabins, in particular, are nowhere near as good as they need to be to challenge the Japanese.He is happy with the way the latest arrivals look; from the compact Dodge Nitro to the brutal Chrysler 300C and the all-new Journey family crossover just displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show but admits they are lacklustre inside.Creed made quality design a priority for Chrysler last year, but is still forced to defend the cars in showrooms today because of a system that was too slow and too outdated to deliver what shoppers expect in their cars.“Previously, everything sort of fell backwards. We're trying to recover from that,” he says.Creed has even formed a special design team to make the changes, though the group has been operating since the end of last year and even the Journey is not up to Japanese standards.“They have done their first interior for a next-generation product and been very, very successful,” Creed says.But he is still asking for patience on the improvements.“It will be two years before you see the full fruits, in terms of major products,” Creed says.So expect improvements, but not in a rush. And why?“The cost pressure in the US is just enormous (and) we don't charge the prices (there) that we charge in the rest of the world,” he says.That means cars built to a price point in America must face up to tougher rivals when they head overseas.That is tough to overcome, but Creed says it is happening.