Dodge Charger, Challenger case building for Australia Car Advice
by Mike Stevens and Curt Dupriez
07-25-2015
If you’ve been dreading an end to Australia’s affordable rear-wheel-drive muscle-car scene, take heart: Dodge is coming.
That’s the message from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia president and CEO, Pat Dougherty, who told CarAdvice this week that the Charger sedan and Challenger coupe are top priorities for a Dodge performance assault, with more to follow.
“[Challenger and Charger] for now are the first we would do, certainly. On a ‘going forward’ basis, I think there’s some other products that Dodge will be contemplating, that we’d like to be part of as well,” Dougherty said, speaking at this week’s launch of the 2016 Chrysler 300 range.
“In markets where it makes sense, we’ll absolutely do that, and Australia is one of those markets. We want the brand to be ‘the brand’ all over the world.”
And, as 2016 and 2017 bring an end to the Australian-built performance sedans in the Ford and Holden ranges, a local launch for Dodge’s Charger will make even more sense. Add the Mustang-rivalling Challenger coupe into the mix, and FCA has good reason to be excited.
Also following the Aussie group planning to build a smaller leaner factory to create a new Aussie brand. The website is up and they've been posting a bit on FB in the last week as well as Linked in
GMI thread circa 2022-ish: "GM Considers Exporting FWD Impala to Australia!"
In a four-hour press conference today in Detroit, GM Executive Vice President For Other-Sided Diversity Outreach Kwame Kilpatrick Bonichelli Snafu III said "We have been discussing this for years at the silos! We have had deep thoughts about this, and since GM is transitioning to focusing more on brand than on vehicles as such, we think that branding an Impala for the AUNZ market makes sense. Don't they have impalas in Australia? You know, those things that box and hop on their back feet, they have a pouch for inter-office memos, and stuff like that?"
After the laughter among the press corpssss subsided, Mr. Fubar, who has a PhD from Dartmouth in Major League Bullpen Management as well as an Oxford PhD in RHD Other-Side-Favoring Diversity Outreach explained, "Many cars use animal references! The Impala, Malibu, numerous Cadillacs such as ELR, XTS, WXYZ, and others, are coded references understood by a few of us with insider knowledge!
After further jocular comments from the media, Fubar continued...
Seems like the Charger would make a lot of sense, the Challenger, not really. The Monaro was actually a rarity for Aus, and in fact aus was really the first country that combined the sedan with the supercar so you had four door Fords and Holdens with the whole panoply of stripes and mag wheels.
Holden and Ford Australia also created by accident, the "muscle-car sedan" with the Monaro GTS and Falcon GTHO who came here more later with the short lived 1984-85 Ford LTD LTX and the 1994-96 Impala SS. Imagine what if Pontiac had offered a GTO sedan right from the factory?
You're all idiots if you think the Charger is in anyway a replacement for the Commodore. Need I remind you the the 415hp Chevy SS (Commodore) is faster around a racetrack then the 707hp Hellcat?
That's really not the point here. The point is GM looks to be abandoning the catagory so FCA is jumping in. I'm sure they'll find plenty of buyers who would love to buy a new generation Commodore, but...
IMO, the Charger with 6.4 SRT would be an excellent replacement for the Aussie sports sedan.
The 300C doesn't have the right style for Australia where as the Charger has nicer curves and face.
The problem is twofold, ignoring the fact the Charger like the 300 is a porker. Firstly, Dodge is the budget brand - it's why the cops use Chargers not 300s, because the cheap trims come on the Charger. I don't think Australians would accept the cheapness of this car with 6.4 considering it's likely price. Even the 300 SRT isn't a big seller, and it's a lot nicer inside. Plus, the Charger's not much better than a coupe for rear seat access - worse than an AU.
I actually think the Challenger could be a better seller than the Mustang if they price the V8 right, because it's pretty big in the back seat and a huge trunk.
All of them will be niche, pretty expensive especially now the $Au dropped and even the V6 300C nudges $10K more than a Commodore SS is pretty much a killer. Ford must be rueing releasing the pricing of the Mustang so early - early adopters are getting a bargain compared to what it'll cost in a year I reckon.
The fact is a lot of people who bought things like SS and Calais are leasers and I think brands like BMW and Merc have the sport RWD market tied up. I think FCA will do good business for them with these, but it isn't going to be tens of thousands of cars. Maybe a thou or two.
Today?
No but once Ford and Holden call it a day, there will be a lot of people shopping around for a new brand.
Sure some will remain in the low KN used market in the hope of picking up a low cost piece of history
but I'm betting that FCA is positioning itself for an forced exodus of local performance buyers who
will be ready for the picking......
There are rumors that the next gen cars, in 2018 or so, will share platforms with Alfa and Maserati, with some cost reduction differences. That may result in a lighter, more nimble car better suited to global sales.
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