Chrysler revs up super car plans

[coolcaddy]

Chrysler revs up super car plans
Firm seeks partner to make the world's fastest street auto
By Brett Clanton / The Detroit News



DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group appears to be hitting the gas on plans to build its Chrysler ME Four-Twelve super car.

“It’s more likely than not” that Chrysler will build the lightning-fast sports car, which was shown as a concept vehicle at the Detroit auto show in January, said Chrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche.

A final decision will come by the end of the year, Zetsche said, but his comments mark the most definitive word yet on the project.

A key question remains: How many should be built?

“The business case could be between seven vehicles at $1 million (a piece) or 1,000 a year,” Zetsche said in an interview. In the latter case, “we would have to be more down-to-earth with pricing.”

Chrysler created the ME Four-Twelve as a halo for the company’s eponymous brand, as the company has done with the Viper sports car for Dodge and the retro-cool Plymouth Prowler.

Unlike those vehicles, however, Chrysler will not dedicate factory space to the ME Four-Twelve, Zetsche said.

“We are in talks with partners who are interested in building it,” he said. “But it must make sense.”

The ME Four Twelve — named for its mid-engine design, four turbo chargers and 12-cylinder power plant — was the brainchild of Wolfgang Bernhard, Chrysler’s former chief operating officer.

Bernhard, who remains on DaimlerChrysler’s management board, drove the 850-horsepower ME Four-Twelve this month at Chrysler’s test track in Chelsea.

“Even though it’s not his responsibility anymore, I wanted to give him the chance to see where we were with it,” Zetsche said.

Engineers are still testing the ME Four-Twelve to back up claims that it can reach speeds of 240 mph and do 0-to-60 in under three seconds. Such performance would make the ME Four-Twelve the fastest street car in the world.

source

[T-Keith]

Doesn't really fit with their lineup, so I can't believe they would do it. But Daimler-Chrysler has done some weird things the last few years.

[Swahili]

Ford has the GT, Chevy has (will have) the C6 Z06. So c'mon Chrysler, come play with the fellow American boys and girls. Bring yers, run whatcha brung.

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

rock on. Bring it on.

:type:

[cincygoblue]

Would have been nice to be producing a Cadillac Cien by now. Around 750hp, but I'm sure they could have tweaked that a bit. I guess there wasn't a business case for it.

[Nocturn_Bird]

The only reason it would be the fastest street car is because they bought out the Mclaren and toned it down and made their own version of it that was pretty nasty looking IMO.

But the point of this car is beyong me, their going to make 7 of these and the buying public probably wont even see one in their life, same as those V10 bikes, another gimmick DCX is trying to use to appear ahead of the game when they are anything but.

[GM_Guy81]

Am I the only one who thinks its a little odd that a german owned american car company is bringing out a car that sounds almost identical to WW2 German fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe? *Edit* Im not anti-german in anyway. I can speak the language and studied abroad there, Im also part german. But, a little historical perspective is always fun. */edit*

Cars name: ME-412

German Fighters from WW2:
ME-109
ME-110
ME-262

Of course, the ME in these stands for Messerschmitt, not mid engine, but c'mon.
I'm not saying this is good, bad or anything else. Just interesting :P


ME-262: Worlds first operational jet fighter.

[cincygoblue]

Originally posted by GM_Guy81@Jul 29 2004, 02:14 PM
Am I the only one who thinks its a little odd that a german owned american car company is bringing out a car that sounds almost identical to WW2 German fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe?

Are you saying Mercedes might have tried to "take over" Chrysler rather than merge with them?

[MelvinJ]

Originally posted by cincygoblue+Jul 29 2004, 07:16 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (cincygoblue @ Jul 29 2004, 07:16 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-GM_Guy81@Jul 29 2004, 02:14 PM
Am I the only one who thinks its a little odd that a german owned american car company is bringing out a car that sounds almost identical to WW2 German fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe?

Are you saying Mercedes might have tried to "take over" Chrysler rather than merge with them? [/b][/quote]
:lol:

[Maetrix66]

I just have two words for GM after reading this,


Pontiac Banshee

Come on GM,do you really expect the C6 to cut it against this thing??

The Ford GT is a nice car, but the power to dollar ratio would need to be upped to compete.

[Hudson]

Originally posted by T-Keith@Jul 29 2004, 12:28 PM
Doesn't really fit with their lineup, so I can't believe they would do it. But Daimler-Chrysler has done some weird things the last few years.

How does the racy Corvette fit into the otherwise mundane Chevrolet lineup? How about the GT in Ford's lineup? Viper to Dodge? Prowler to Plymouth? Jaguar XJ220? Acura/Honda NSX? Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren?

[JDogg]

Funny that the guy pushing the car, and that just drove it, is not with the company now.

July 29, 2004

EMAIL ALERT

Bernhard leaves DaimlerChrysler

Cordes to head Mercedes; Renschler takes over commercial vehicles

DaimlerChrysler AG named commercial vehicles head Eckhard Cordes on
Thursday to succeed Juergen Hubbert as head of its flagship Mercedes
Car Group division, effective Oct. 1. Wolfgang Bernhard, who was
abruptly halted from taking over Mercedes earlier this year, has
left the German carmaker.

[Hudson]

DaimlerChrysler has two headquarters (one is in Auburn Hills, Michigan) and is on both the NYSE and the DAX. No matter what you believe about the takeover, er, merger...the Chrysler part of DaimlerChrysler is still American to me.

[vanshmack]

Originally posted by GM_Guy81@Jul 29 2004, 02:14 PM
Am I the only one who thinks its a little odd that a german owned american car company is bringing out a car that sounds almost identical to WW2 German fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe? *Edit* Im not anti-german in anyway. I can speak the language and studied abroad there, Im also part german. But, a little historical perspective is always fun. */edit*

Cars name: ME-412

German Fighters from WW2:
ME-109
ME-110
ME-262

Of course, the ME in these stands for Messerschmitt, not mid engine, but c'mon.
I'm not saying this is good, bad or anything else. Just interesting :P


ME-262: Worlds first operational jet fighter.

Ahh...And dont' forget about the ME-163...The worlds first rocket-powered plane.

The lesson to be learned in all this is, having the most advanced and exotic weapons in your arsenal (Germany in WWII) doesn't guarantee victory. The allies defeated Nazi Germany because they had an advantage in manpower and bread-and-butter weapons like B-17's, P-51's and the like. Using this analogy, DCX will gain no more market share and be no more profitable if they build this car. Even the "halo effect" is questionable because these cars won't even bring people into the showroom for a look because there will be so few of them built, with maybe a few hundred cars for a couple thousand dealers. Besides, is a buyer walking into a Chrysler showroom to see an ME-412 really going to be talked into a Neon?

Now, as an enthusiast, I hope they build it because it would be nice to see an American exotic supercar that DOES NOT looke like a kit car, a la the Ford GT.

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Originally posted by GM_Guy81@Jul 29 2004, 07:14 PM
Am I the only one who thinks its a little odd that a german owned american car company is bringing out a car that sounds almost identical to WW2 German fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe? *Edit* Im not anti-german in anyway. I can speak the language and studied abroad there, Im also part german. But, a little historical perspective is always fun. */edit*

Cars name: ME-412

German Fighters from WW2:
ME-109
ME-110
ME-262

Of course, the ME in these stands for Messerschmitt, not mid engine, but c'mon.
I'm not saying this is good, bad or anything else. Just interesting :P


ME-262: Worlds first operational jet fighter.

It's supposed to go over 240mph, and it's styling is more fighter-jet than car...

Anyway the Messerschmitts were usually better than the Allied planes by a long shot (the P-51 came close), but they didn't have enough manpower to build them quickly.

Kinda like the Panzer Tigers vs. Russian T-34 tanks, the Russian T-34 was a total POS especially compared to the Tiger, the average Tiger would usually take out ten T-34's in it's life, but there were 15 times as many T-34's as Tigers