It’s the
worst-kept secret of the Detroit Auto Show, but official word is finally out nonetheless. We’ve covered the heck out of
it, so here are just a few more details.
The design was penned by Chrysler Group’s West Coast Pacifica
Studio under the direction of Micheal Castiglione, and the crew came up with a list of attributes before they
put chalk to paper: distinctly American; mega horsepower; pure, minimal, signature lines; aggressive
air-grabbing grille; and bold colors and graphics. We think they hit the nail on the head, what with a 6.1L HEMI engine
putting out 425 hp and 420 lb/ft of torque, iconic front and back end, and chrome-accented interior, complete with
four-gauge instrument panel. Check out the full release and more official pictures after the jump.
Dodge 2006 Challenger Concept Flexes Some Muscle
Bold concept is a thoroughbred in 1970 “Pony
Car” Tradition
In creating the new Dodge Challenger concept car the designers at Chrysler Group’s West
Coast Pacifica Studio knew they had a rich heritage to draw upon.
They also knew they had an obligation to
“get it right.”
Tasked with the enviable assignment of developing a hot-looking performance coupe
using Chrysler Group’s advanced rear-wheel drive LX platform and its fabled HEMI(r) engine, the designers explored a
variety of options, eventually gravitating to “something” for the Dodge brand– appropriate given that
brand’s bold performance image. The idea of reinventing the highly-collectible Challenger quickly came to
mind.
Eager to begin, the designers drew up a “short list “of the essential attributes of a muscle
car: distinctly American; mega horsepower; pure, minimal, signature lines; aggressive air-grabbing grille; and bold
colors and graphics.
“Challenger draws upon the initial 1970 model as the icon of the series,” said
Tom Tremont, Vice President- Advanced Vehicle Design. “The 1970 model is the most sought after by collectors. But
instead of merely recreating that car, the designers endeavored to build a Challenger most people see in their mind’s
eye—a vehicle without the imperfections like the old car’s tucked-under wheels, long front overhang and imperfect
fits. As with all pleasurable memories, you remember the good and screen out the bad.
“We wanted the
concept car to evoke all those sweet memories…everything you thought the Challenger was, and
more.”
“During the development of the concept car,” says Micheal Castiglione, principal exterior
designer, “we brought an actual 1970 Challenger into the studio. For me, that car symbolizes the most passionate
era of automotive design.”
Being key to the image, getting the right proportions was critical. The
Challenger concept sits on a 116-inch wheelbase, 6-inches longer than the original. But its width is 2-inches greater,
giving the concept car a squat, tougher, more purposeful persona.
The signature side view accent line –
designers call it the “thrust” line—is higher up on the body, running horizontal through the fender and
door and kicking up just forward of the rear wheel.
In section the upper and lower body surfaces intersect and
fall away along this line, which has just a whisper of the original car’s coved surfacing.
“We wanted to
stay pure,” said Castiglione, “with simple, minimal line work, but with everything just right.”
The five-spoke chrome wheels– 20-inch, front; 21-inch, rear—are set flush with the bodyside, giving the
car the powerful muscular stance of a prizefighter eager to challenge the world. Wheel openings are drawn tightly
against the tires, with the rearward edges trailing off. To emphasize the iconic muscularity, the designers added plan
view “hip” to the rear quarters.
One of the key characteristics of the original car the designers
wanted to retain was the exceptionally wide look of both the front and back ends. To achieve this the designers
increased both the front and rear tracks to 64 and 65 inches respectively, wider than the LX, wider even than the 1970
model. To realize the long horizontal hood the designers deemed essential, the front overhang was also increased.
Both the hood and the deck lid of the Challenger concept vehicle are higher than the 1970 in order to lift and
“present” the front and rear themes. The front end features the signature Dodge crossbar grille and four
headlamps deeply recessed into the iconic car-wide horizontal cavity. Diagonally staggered in plan view, the outboard
lamps are set forward, the “six-shooter” inboard lamps slightly rearward. At the rear, the car-wide cavity
motif is repeated, encompassing a full-width neon-lit taillamp. Both the grille and the front and rear lamps are set
into carbon-fiber surrounds. Like the original, slim rectangular side marker lamps define the ends of the
car.
Bumpers are clean (no guards), body-color and flush with the body. “This is something we would have
loved to do on the original Challenger,” said Jeff Godshall, who was a young designer in the Dodge Exterior studio
when the first Challenger was created, “but the technology just wasn’t there. With the Challenger concept, however,
the Pacifica Studio designers are able to realize what we wanted in our perfect world.”
The hood reprises
the original Challenger “performance hood” and its twin diagonal scoops, now with functional butterfly-valve
intakes. Designed to showcase the modern techniques used in fabricating the car, what look like painted racing stripes
are actually the exposed carbon fiber of the hood material.
The Challenger concept is a genuine four-passenger
car—”You can sit up in the back seat,” said Castiglione. Compared to the original, the greenhouse is
longer, the windshield and backlite faster, and the side glass narrower. All glass is set flush with the body without
moldings, another touch the original designers could only wish for. The car is a genuine two-door hardtop—no
B-pillar– with the belt line ramping up assertively at the quarter window just forward of the wide C-pillar.
Exterior details one might expect, like a racing-type gas cap, hood tie-down pins, louvered backlite and bold
bodyside striping, didn’t make the “cut,” the designers feeling such assorted bits would detract from the
purity of the monochromatic body form. But tucked reassuringly under the rear bumper are the “gotta have”
twin-rectangle pipes of the dual exhausts.
In contrast to the bright Orange Pearl exterior, the interior is a
no-nonsense, let’s-get-in-and-go black relieved by satin silver accents and narrow orange bands on the seat backs.
“Though the 1970 model was looked to for inspiration, we wanted to capture the memory of that car, but expressed
in more contemporary surfaces, materials and textures,” said Alan Barrington, principal interior designer. As with
the original car, the instrumental panel pad sits high, intersected on the driver’s side by a sculpted trapezoidal
cluster containing three circular in-line analog gauge openings.
“We designed the in-your-face gauge holes
to appear as if you are looking down into the engine cylinders with the head off,” relates Barrington. These are
flanked outboard by a larger circular “gauge” that is actually a computer, allowing the driver to determine
top overall speed, quarter-mile time and speed, and top speed for each of the gears.
With its thick, easy-grip
rim, circular hub and pierced silver spokes, the leather-wrapped steering wheel evokes the original car’s
“Tuff” wheel, as does the steering column “ribbing.” The floor console, its center surface tipped
toward the driver, is fitted with a proper “pistol grip” shifter shaped just right to master the quick, crisp
shifts possible with the six-speed manual “tranny.”
Inasmuch as the original Challenger was the first
car to have injection-molded door trim panels (now common practice), the doors received special attention.
“We imagined that the door panel was a billet of aluminum covered with a dark rubberized material,”
Barrington relates. “Then we cut into it to create a silver trapezoidal cove for the
armrest.”
Although the flat-section bucket seats of the original Challenger didn’t offer much support for
aggressive driving, the front seats in the Challenger concept car boast hefty bolsters much like those found on Dodge’s
famed SRT series cars. The trim covers’ horizontal pleats or “fales” provide just a hint of that
“70’s” look.
Rethought, reworked, reproportioned and redesigned, the Challenger concept car offers
iconic a HEMI-powered performance coupe derived from a classic American muscle car.
Specifications:
Length: 197.8″ (5025 mm)
Wheelbase: 116.0″ (2945mm)
Front Overhang: 38.9″ (989mm)
Width: 78.6″ (1997mm)
Height: 57.0″ (1449mm)
Track, Frt/Rr: 64.0″/65.1″
Couple: 31.5″ (800mm)
Color:
Exterior: Challenger Orange
Interior: Black
Key Performance Attributes
0-60 mph: 4.5 seconds
60-0
ft: 133 ft.
Standing ¼ mile: 13
seconds
Top Speed: 174mph
Range: 300 miles
Powertrain and Suspension:
Engine: 6.1L Hemi (425hp@600rpm/420ft.-lbs@480rpm)
Drivetrain: RWD/ 6-speed-manual
Suspension: Short/long-arm Independent
Front Tire Size:
P255/40R20
Wheel Size: 20″X 9″
Outer Diameter: 29.76″ (777mm)
Rear Tire
Size: P265/45R21
Wheel Size: 21″X 10″
Outer Diameter: 29.76″ (756mm)