Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupes, Dodge
Civilian Espionage! 2009 Challenger caught with cameraphone
by Alex Nunez on Jun 29th 2007 at 9:13AM 
Hot on the heels of Brenda Priddy & Co's new shot of the Challenger comes this great profile shot of a different mule taken by member "98Formula" at the LS1GTO.com forums. What's so encouraging here is just how faithful the overall shape of the car is to the concept. The retro profile is completely intact, and those sizeable wheels and tires look just right. According to the photographer, this car was snagged on 1-75 in Auburn Hills, MI. He said it sounded good, as its driver would give it throttle every so often, goosing the HEMI underhood. The cladding obscures everything aft of the doorline, so whether or not the production car keeps the show car's pillarless look remains a mystery. We sure hope it does, but the preproduction shells that made the web rounds back in April suggest that could possibly not be that case. That all said, this thing's looking pretty good so far. Expect plenty more sightings, as we now know there are at least two running around in the wild.
Great tip, Jim!
[Source: LS1GTO.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
MCS05 9:29AM (6/29/2007)
I saw this car last evening outside of a Roush facility in Auburn Hills. The front masking was so complete there was no sense in photographing it. The car seemed bigger than I remember from the auto show. I wonder if they can get it built under 4000 pounds.
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Guenther 11:06AM (6/29/2007)
Under 4000#? not by much. Then again, the last Firebirds and Camaro's were 3500# and those were big cars too. But they also never came with 425+ SRT8 horsepower.
Gregory Anderson 9:41AM (6/29/2007)
I like what I see so far.
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Mike 9:51AM (6/29/2007)
I think (hope) this car is gonna be great!
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Christopher Watts 9:52AM (6/29/2007)
20001960 will be a great year for the automobile world!
Can hardly wait for the 'Stang, 'Maro and Challenger wars. I sorta missed those having been born in the 70's.
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Alex Nunez 9:58AM (6/29/2007)
2001960 = lol
Richard 10:04AM (6/29/2007)
BIG! Too BIG!
I think they use the firewall and floorpan from the 300 which means it is going to be too BIG!
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TriShield 10:10AM (6/29/2007)
The Challenger and Camaro are going to be among the hottest rides in the next two years.
The car looks absolutely fantastic.
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Jeff Cuje 6:00PM (6/29/2007)
Cool as these cars look...they should have been introduced 10 years ago. The Camaro and Challenger will be colossal failures. The American public wont stand for the gas mileage. GM is so narrow sited and dense....can you say Hummer?
d_x 8:44PM (6/30/2007)
Jeff....do you honestly think that these cars will be purchased as a PRIMARY vehicle in most cases?
Cars like this will sell, because they're not meant to be anything other than fast and pretty, and they're not expected to be anything else.
AMGoff 2:01PM (7/01/2007)
Jeff... I just love blanket statements, not. Have you channeled Johnny Carson and absorbed his Carnac abilities?
Nonetheless, the Camaro will sell like hotcakes because they're offering it with a V6, it will be a true pony car and will give the Mustang a run for it's money.
The Challenger, on the other hand should not be thought of as competition to the Mustang and Camaro. As far as I've seen it's only going to be offered with a V8. Not only that but Dodge has no intent on making this a mass-market car. The production numbers for it are somewhere around 30,000 units, using excess capacity at the same plant that makes the other LX cars.
They're not practical nor are they meant to be practical and that's why a lot of people are going to buy them.
bmoredlj 10:15AM (6/29/2007)
Nice, classic lines...almost too directly copied from the original, but hey, if it ain't broke...I'll bet the b-pillar will be retained, even if it isn't visible on the outside...though who knows if it makes a difference in a flipover scenario...meanwhile, anyone hear anything about a convertible?
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Tim 10:20AM (6/29/2007)
It is pillarless, however, unlike the original, the rear quarter glass is fixed, as opposed to dropping, since there is no drop-top planned.
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FLR 10:24AM (6/29/2007)
I wish they started making coupes that have rear windows that go down like the Mercedes CLK. Even if the B pillar is retained make the windows work. Sheesh!
Agree with the sentiments...the Camaro vs. Mustang vs. Challenger will be fun!!!
Tim 12:21PM (6/29/2007)
It was a simple cost-benefit situation. Unlike the CLK, the quarter window is really small, and the mechanism to drop it was a lot more complex than you might imagine.
They really wanted to do it, but given the relatively low volume of the car, it didn't make sense.
Most people outside the industry would be surprised to find out how sensitive carmakers are today to even 1 or 2 dollars per car. Heck, I've redesigned things to save a nickle per part. Doesn't sound like much, but when you multiply that by 100k vehicles per year in some cases, it adds up fast.
A couple of bucks here or there can make or break the business case for a car, especially one on the lower volume side such as the Challenger.
srivendel 10:59AM (6/29/2007)
Lookin' good, Chrysler! Has there been any new information about whether this thing is going to be available with a manual tranny?
The idea of slushbox-only in a car that looks this cool sort of reminds me of The Crying Game.
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TriShield 11:18AM (6/29/2007)
Yes it will have a manual. The same Tremec six-speed they use in the Dodge Viper.
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Ron 11:24AM (6/29/2007)
I love the car; I just know they're going to over price the hell out of it.
I wish it came in under $30k is all, and not the stripper either. Take a page from the Mustang and bring this in at a reasonable price and it will sell like crazy.
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Steven T. 11:31AM (6/29/2007)
It seems odd to call an almost 4,000 lb car a "pony car." The new Challenger is more comparable to a 1970s Charger in size and weight. In today's terms, the new Challenger is more like a full-sized personal coupe, in a similar vein to the final five-seater T-Bird.
Semantics aside, whether this car is successful could depend heavily upon gas prices. If they go back down, the Challenger could do okay. But if prices continue to go up -- and stay up -- then the car will invariably need a V6 to generate sufficient sales to be profitable over its life cycle.
The irony of the original Challenger is that it was a good design that hit the market too late -- right when pony car sales starting going south. I hope history won't repeat itself for the new Challenger.
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Devin 12:19PM (7/01/2007)
This car will sell out. There is no question. When people consider how much the classic challengers selll for now, there is no doubt that collectors and car guys will scoop up these cars immediately. I don't believe there is even a V6 offered. Why? Because it's a challenger, and there should not be a V6 in it. Dodge's sales projections I think are less than 40k, which is waaaaay off what GM and Ford will sell. Not to mention that this car has such good looks, people who normally wouldn't buy a mustang will buy it.