Dodge News

The bad news for Australia: we can't have it here. The Viper is unlikely to ever be produced in right-hand drive as the engine placement is offset to that side, making it difficult to convert.The introduction of the latest Viper also marks the beginning of a new brand, Street and Racing Technology (SRT), which evolves from its performance and tuning roots into a standalone brand complete with its own flagship.As for the new Viper, the basic recipe is much the same, although it’s been enhanced in almost every possible way. The Viper, now in its fifth generation, returns to the market with more power and performance, superior craftsmanship, new technologies and more creature comforts.There are also three models being introduced, two for road use and one for racing. The road cars are the Viper and Viper GTS, while racing fans will soon be lapping up the awesome Viper GTS-R in endurance racing. Power for both comes from an aluminum, front mid-engine 8.4-liter V-10 tuned to an estimated 477kW of power and 814Nm of torque --the most torque of any naturally aspirated sports car engine in the world.It is based on the previous model’s V-10 but improvements for 2013 include a new, ultra-high flow and lightweight composite intake manifold, high-strength forged pistons, sodium-filled exhaust valves, new catalysts to reduce back pressure and an aluminum flywheel that reduces reciprocating losses. The Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual transmission has been improved with a shorter throw shifter, closer gear ratios and a final drive ratio that has been shortened to 3.55 from 3.07. The 2013 Viper models should thus be more engaging to drive and top speed is now achieved through 6th gear with maximum engine speed (redline) at 6200 rpm.Starting with a stiffer structure that provides 50 per cent more torsional rigidity, the chassis of the 2013 SRT Viper also benefits from numerous enhancements -- many learned through racing efforts with Viper GTS-R and Competition Coupe models.Major updates include the addition of a new aluminum “X” brace under the hood that ties the suspension pickup points to the magnesium cowl super casting and contributes to improved torsional rigidity and stiffness. A new aluminum impact beam at the front of the car contributes to overall mass savings and improved weight distribution while providing improved crashworthiness.Structurally, many areas of the chassis were reworked to take advantage of new materials, reduce thickness in some areas and reshape components for more structural rigidity in others. The result is an overall weight saving of approximately 100 pounds, making this the lightest Viper yet.At the rear, the suspension has been re-engineered with the toe link moved forward of the axle for better tow control and dynamic stability. A new, driver selectable two-mode suspension system, featuring Bilstein DampTronic Select shock absorbers with both street and track settings, is standard on GTS models.For 2013, SRT Viper models ride on standard Pirelli P Zero, Z-rated tires. An optional SRT Track Package features Pirelli P Zero Corsa, “soft”-tuned, "racing-type" compound tires that improve handling and precision further on the road or the race track.For the first time, however, standard safety technologies such as electronic stability control and traction control are fitted. Additionally, all Vipers now come with a steering-wheel-mounted launch control switch, allowing for optimal acceleration from standing starts.Four-piston Brembo brakes with fixed-aluminum calipers, and vented rotors with a diameter of 355 mm by 32 mm, are used at all four corners as standard. An available SRT Track Package features lightweight and slotted two-piece rotors from StopTech, among other upgrades.The latest Viper also offers new interior and exterior designs incorporating premium materials and new exterior surfaces with aerodynamically functional details that are beautifully integrated into the high-tech carbon fiber and aluminum skin.Inside the plush, driver-oriented cabin are a number of premium features. On the Viper GTS model, all surfaces are fully leather skinned, and standard accent colors are applied to the seats, doors, center console and stitching. Standard high-performance racing seats from Sabelt feature a lightweight Kevlar/fiberglass shell created by resin transfer molding technology for mass reduction and long-term durability.Seating position in the 2013 SRT Viper models is 20 mm lower for more room and enhanced performance-driving ergonomics. Seat travel is extended by 90 mm overall, which enables expanded seating options from a more rearward positioned bulkhead. For the first time, seat height can be adjusted by up to 40 mm -- manually on the Viper model and power controlled on the Viper GTS. Some of the other goodies, either standard or available, include a 7-inch customizable instrument cluster display, connectivity and infotainment system and a Harman Kardon sound system with up to 18 speakers.The iconic supercar will be hand built at the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit starting later this year. They will be sold through specialist Dodge dealers in the US, just like the previous models, but unless each US buyer is a loyal and dedicated long-term member of the Viper Club of America, they won't be eligible for the first batch of cars produced.SRT is expecting first-year demand to far outstrip its ability to build a few thousand Vipers. Even 1994’s production quantity of 3,083 units (a record for the Viper) may not satisfy pent-up demand for the new 2013 model.http://www.motorauthority.com/ 

As Dodge's parent brand Chrysler, and Italian partner Fiat further develop their arrangements, Fiats will replace Dodges here.  The Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands will move into an expanded Chrysler-Jeep operation that reflects the global alliance between the Italian and American brands.  Part of the change will include switching the Dodge Journey to a Fiat Fremont as the Italian products slide in at the bottom of a bigger new Fiat-Chrysler operation.  Although details are still secret, Carsguide believes the new collaboration will begin in May following a buyout of the Fiat-Alfa agency from Australia's biggest independent distributor, Ateco Automotive. Ateco will retain its luxury Ferrari and Maserati agencies, but is resigned to losing the mainstream brands just as it has been bought out of its Suzuki and Kia franchises in the past. "There is no deal. Nothing is signed," the head of Ateco, Neville Crichton, tells Carguide. But Crichton does not deny discussions, or a plan that will see Ateco - which already holds the Chery and Great Wall franchises for Australia - expanding its import connections to China.  "We're always looking for new opportunities," Crichton says. Chrysler-Jeep as been growing strongly in the past 18 months following the new alliance with Fiat Group that came after the American company - like General Motors - went into bankruptcy in the USA and needed a massive government bailout. The latest Grand Cherokee reflects a stronger commitment to quality and driving enjoyment, something that should also benefit the upcoming SRT performance versions of the Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 300C sedan.  But Chrysler in Australia has rejected approaches to become the fourth brand in V8 Supercars racing, based on the cost of the project and questionable short-term returns for a brand that is yet to receive supplies of its latest 300C.  Chrysler was approached by at least two V8 Supercars teams, with Garry Rogers leading a push to put the 300C onto local tracks alongside the Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore and upcoming Nissan Altima.  But Chrysler admits that it might look again at a V8 Supercars proposal for 2014, once it gets its new business plan bedded-down.

The 1969 Dodge Charger, known as General Lee in the 1980s Dukes of Hazzard TV show, sat for 23 years in a junkyard in Atlanta until it was discovered in 2001. The car had been wrecked in the opening credits of the show where it was seen jumping over a Hazzard Country police car. The V8 Charger was restored to its pre-jump condition and recently bought by PGA Tour golfer Bubba Watson at an auction in Arizona. It was one of several cars used in the TV show in chases and stunts. One of the features of the car was that it had the doors welded shut, so the Duke cousins Bo and Luke had to climb in and out through the windows. It also featured a large Confederate flag on the roof and the horn played the melody from the first line of the Southern "anthem" Dixie. Its name is a reference to Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the idea came from famous bootlegger Jerry Rushing's car, which was named after Lee's favorite horse, Traveller. The car appeared in all but one Dukes of Hazzard episode.

The Koreans starred, the Japanese mounted a comeback, and One Ford hit the headlines with an extended family of Focus-based newcomers that it is certain to make a big hit in Australia. But it was one car and the commitment of its company chief that made the most impact as America fought back on the opening day of the 2011 North American International Motor Show. The first-born child of the new Fiat-Chrysler alliance, the new Dodge Dart is unveiled this week as Chrysler's headliner at the Detroit motor show and the jockeying has already begun to get the car confirmed for local showrooms. It will not arrive before the second half of 2013 but, because it is based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta already sold in Australia, there is a better-than-even chance of a go-ahead for local deliveries. "We find out the production plan this week. We believe there is no inhibitor. If the numbers support the engineering investment it should go ahead," the managing director of Chrysler Jeep Australia, Clyde Campbell, tells Carsguide. "We need help from the UK, South Africa and Singapore, as well as Australia and New Zealand, to band together to build the business case. If not, we've got to carry the cost ourselves." The Dart would take Chrysler back to the compact class for the first time since it sold the good looking but underwhelming Chrysler Neon in Australia in the late 1990s. "We're pretty keen. It's a good segment. We don't have an offering there so we'd be delighted if we could get it," says Campbell. Early information on the Dart shows a stylish four-door sedan with the sort of punchy looks that have made the Chrysler 300C a success in Australia, with three four-cylinder engines and three six-speed, front-wheel drive transmissions, as well as five different trim levels. Chrysler is claiming significant American input on the conversion of the Fiat Group engineering package for its local needs, and production at its factory at Belvidere in Illinois. “Dodge is back in the compact car segment in a big way. The Dart is well-crafted, agile, powered by world-class, fuel-efficient powertrains, loaded with high-tech features that are both clever and useful, and it’s fun to drive," says Matt Liddane, the vehicle line executive responsible for the car. The Dart is the real beginning of genuine product sharing spun from Fiat's effective takeover of Chrysler, which will see the American brand putting fresh 'top-hat' bodies on Italian platforms and Fiat tapping larger cars and Jeep vehicles for its needs in Europe. Chrysler is touting the Alfa Romeo DNA in the car but pushing its styling work on a car which looks massively different from the Italian original. “The Alfa Romeo-based architecture allowed us to design an exterior with great proportions that say ‘fun-to-drive’ when you look at it," says Joe Dehner, head of Dodge Design. But one thing could easily change before the Dart makes it to Australia - the badge. Dodges are not sold downunder and Campbell hints it might need a new name here. "It might as a re-badged product in another brand. Perhaps a Chrysler," he says. Campbell also says the Fiat-Chrysler alliance, which might eventually see his team take over local distribution of the Italian brands from the Ateco Group in Sydney, will definitely bring more models for Chrysler. "Obviously the platform sharing will bring further opportunities. If something is engineered in one brand, then it increases the likelihood of getting more product to our market." But he warns against any early optimism, even if the Dart is fired from Detroit. "We wouldn't get it until 2013. We certainly won't be getting it this year. It's a 2013 model launch late this year in the USA and we would be somewhere behind them, perhaps even in 2014."

One Australian car cut through the 1970s cultural cringe of Farrah Fawcett hairstyles, tan-coloured flared trousers and looking cool with a cigarette. Chrysler's Valiant Charger was hip, possibly even hop, and the colourful dancing graphics of magazine advertising and the monochrome TV ads of smiling kids and a hairy Graeme Blundell flashing the "V" sign with their fingers, shouting "Hey Charger", was addictive. In retrospect, the corny - and blatantly sexist - TV ads were extremely successful in relaying the fun aspect of the car that singularly lifted Chrysler's Australian image onto a higher plane. Despite the intervening decades, that addiction lingers. Charger owners' clubs are firmly entrenched in our capital cities, the cars are loved and paraded and the market prices are as strong as a Hemi six. John Urquhart caught the Charger bug at age 33, buying a new R/T in early 1972 - the build date was September 1971 - for about $3600. After 39 years, he still has it. "I bought it because I intended it for motor racing," says the retired lawyer now living the quiet life in country south-west WA. "But it became the family car right up to the 1980s and I never entered it in an event until 1991. It really lives up to its name - R/T for road and track - because it was comfortable and roomy for my two children as they grew up." The beige coupe with its blacked-out bonnet panels, pressed steel wheels finished in graphite to look like alloys, the golf-club head gear knob and serious "265 R/T" badges is as aesthetic today as it was when Chrysler Australia penned the body shape atop a chopped sedan platform. Urquhart pressed it into service in 1991, entering hill climbs, sprints and regularity trials and campaigning it around the country venues and even using it to trailer his other car - an open wheeler - to eastern states events. These include a Mopars on the Murray show and Shannons' 2001 National Motoring Tour. "I remember I drove it to Adelaide for a supporting race for open wheelers that preceded the main event at the 1985 Adelaide Grand Prix, the first one," he says. "On the way home (to Perth), the Charger turned over 100,000 miles. It's now done 145,500 miles since new." The Charger is original down to its number plate, but hasn't been free of incidents. A bushfire in 2006 that devastated forests around Urquhart's home destroyed the sheds - but left the house intact - in which the Charger was stored, damaging the car. Later, a following motorist in the city failed to stop in time and wrote off her small car on the back of the Charger. You can still see the scratch in the Charger's rear chrome bumper but the minor sheetmetal damage has been repaired and the tail light replaced. The 265 (for cubic inches which is 4.3 litres) "Hemi" six has a new block - though Urquhart still has the original - and there are extractors with 2-inch pipes, a meatier cam profile and the Carter carburettor has been replaced with a Holley 500. The original three-speed manual gearbox has given way to a four-speed box. Dyno testing shows it has 163kW at the flywheel and 123kW at the wheels at 4950rpm, just shy of the engine's 5000rpm redline. "I had power brakes fitted. It doesn't stop any better, but the pedal pressure is a lot less," Urquhart says. "It has also had the steel members replaced around the steering box. It is a common problem that this area is weak and prone to rust, so it's now reinforced." Like most Chrysler enthusiasts, Urquhart remains a member - he was one of its originals - of the Charger Club of WA. So he knows its value and now indicates the car could be for sale. "I retired from events in June," he says. "So the car won't be used much now. I estimate it's worth $47,500 and I was analytical in arriving at that because when new it was about half the price of a Bathurst-specced Charger that are now going for $80,000-$90,000. "I'm not desperate to sell it - it's been a part of my and my family's life for 40 years - but I may let it go." HISTORY Chrysler Australia built the emotive Valiant Charger from 1971 to 1978, creating a coupe body from the A-pillar back on top of a VH sedan platform and chopping 152mm out of the wheelbase. It was also 333mm shorter than the sedan and 54kg lighter at 1352kg. The first VH series of the Charger was the most popular. It was a sell-out in Australia and also in New Zealand where it was assembled from imported kit components. The VH Valiant Charger won the 1971 Australian "Wheels Car of the Year" Award. The Charger R/T and Charger 770 shared the 265 "HP" (high performance) two-barrel carburettor six-cylinder Hemi engine. The optional E37 had a tuned "Six Pack" version of the engine with triple sidedraught Weber carburettors. There was a further tuned version, option E38, which was the basis of Chrysler's touring car racer for 1971. The E38 had 209kW and added $580 to the 1971 purchase price.

Let's see if they could survive the thrust for a drag race.

...Dodge has rolled out a concept ute that could pull a trailer from Darwin to Adelaide without refuelling. It's called the Ram Long Hauler and is, at this stage at least, a one-off. Dodge started off with a regular 5500 Ram crew-cab ute, which is the big daddy of the range and used for the toughest jobs. They then stretched it to a monstrous 7.3 metres long. It weighs in at a hefty 4220kg. Engineers developed a secondary fuel tank that fits between the chassis rails. And just in case that wasn't enough, they added another tank to the ute bed. All up, the long-distance Ram has a huge combined fuel capacity of 643 litres. The exact range would depend on what you wanted to tow and Dodge doesn't provide any figures. But the Pickuptruck.com website reckons it would have to manage somewhere between 2600km and 3218km lugging something pretty heavy. To cart around all that fuel, and whatever you want to tow, you'd be wanting a fairly powerful engine under the bonnet. The Ram has a grunty 6.7-litre Cummins in-line, six-cylinder turbo diesel with 1085Nm of torque. It works with the proven Aisin four-speed automatic gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels but can also power a four-wheel drive set-up. There is also a Dana 110 rear axle with dual wheels that helps bolster the ultimate ute's lugging ability. The adjustable air- suspension, meanwhile, makes for a super-smooth ride. Dodge took the regular model's Crew Cab passenger area and turned it into the much larger Mega Cab, which aims to provide optimum comfort for the chosen quartet on those long hauls. That's right _ it has only four seats. The rear seats, with footrests, are fully adjustable. There are a fridge and tray tables, as well as some US-spec super-sized cup holders in the rear, and WiFi to ensure full connectivity. It would appear Dodge has thought of everything to ensure the big Ram doesn't have to stop until its massive tank runs dry. Well, everything except the toilet breaks, that is.

Building on the muscle-flavoured sedan launched this year in the US, the 2012 Dodge Avenger R/T has a stiffer suspension to improve driving dynamics, and is expected to show fuel economy improvements from the 211kW 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 engine.The car to be unveiled at the show will be given unique styling touches, a body-color grille, black headlight backgrounds and 18-in painted aluminium wheels.The interior gets touches of red accents and leather, with the R/T graphic scattered liberally around. 

The Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicle was put up against Ford's ageing Crown Victoria and the new Dodge Charger in a series of on-road tests earlier this year and oupointed its US-built rivals in every aspect from acceleration to braking and outright lap times. That's given the Commodore-based long-wheelbase car the early lead in the sales battle for a market that takes around 70,000 vehicles a year.  Holden will build the Caprice PPV in Australia, with department-specific equipment requested by each police force fitted in the US. Holden spokesman Jonathan Rose says the company has had an encouraging reaction to it's purpose-designed police vehicle, but is still looking to translate that into firm export orders. "We have received initial orders for the Caprice PPV which is very exciting, but we're not in a position to provide full details just yet. The orders we have received so far are from the smaller law enforcement agencies in the US," he says. "We don't expect to receive the larger fleet orders from departments such as Los Angeles and Michigan until the first quarter of next year.  We have already started building pilot vehicles for testing and fleet marketing activities in North America and we will begin building cars for customer orders early in the new year." The Caprice PPV is powered by V8 and V6 engines, though the V8s _ rated at 265kW and 521Nm _ were the ones tested in the Michigan Police Vehicle Evaluation trials and it was the ethanol-boosted E85 version that performed best. It is competing with the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor _ which had been the backbone of the various police department's vehicles - and the Charger Pursuit.  The Crown Victoria is being replaced next year by the Taurus Police Interceptor sedan, which will have a two V6 engines - a 196kW/338Nm 3.5-litre V6 engine and an all-wheel drive model using a 3.5-litre EcoBoost twin-turbo V6 with 272kW/475Nm. Holden and it's parent company GM have invested considerable time and money to customise the Caprice PPV - and an unmarked police equivalent - for the US law-enforcement market. The front seats have been specially designed to sculpt around police equipment belts, inculding the gun, Taser and handcuffs. Trial units were fitted to vehicles for police to evaluate and the resulting shape, foam densities and hard-wearing fabric covers is a result of feedback from police on patrol. The electronics - from stability control to ABS - have also been adapted for police use and the side curtain airbags don't prevent a full-width rear security screen from being fitted. Chevrolet Caprice PPVPrice: $30,995Engine: 6-0-litre V8Power: 265kW at 5300 revsTorque: 521Nm at 4300 revsTransmission: Six-speed automatic, rear-wheel driveSeats: FiveSuspensions: MacPherson strut front, independent spring-over-shocks rearBrakes: 345x30mm ventilated fronts; 342x22mm solid rears.

Just a brief look into any junior sports club shows fewer people now do more to keep such clubs and teams afloat.