A Unique Alternative to a Camry or Accord
The summer of 2005 is turning out to be the summer of the Dodge Charger. DaimlerChrysler's timing is nothing but perfect: not only are modern muscle and reincarnated retro design themes in full swing, but the original Charger is back on the silver screen in this year's blockbuster hit, the Dukes of Hazzard.
The third of the highly successful LX-chassis rear-wheel drive large cars, Charger is the latest legendary name to be brought back from the past, acting not as a range-topping coupe, as it originally was, but in four-door guise as a full step up from the midsize U.S.-only Stratus sedan. And as Dodge has so eagerly pointed out, the new Charger is family friendly American muscle; a car for the person whose heart wants a Mustang, but whose mind needs comfortable room for five and a decent sized trunk.
What initially attracts most people to the new Charger is its looks, but there's little heritage to be found here, seeing that Dodge tossed out the history book when it came to styling. Whether management had originally considered a two-door model, or whether a four-door was always the plan with its official name left to be decided upon later, is not known, but nevertheless a four-door is what management, backed with the usual market-research statistics that argue full-size two-doors won't sell as well, ended up signing off on.
And it doesn't take a million plus salary per year to figure this one out. Ford canned the previous-generation T-Bird, keeping it off the product
portfolio for the better half of three years (not that full-size blue oval roadsters sell all that much better), and when was the last time the Monte Carlo topped any sales charts? Yet, the latest Charger doesn't do disservice to the historical nameplate, at least in my books. Dodge's design team penned a design whose narrow windows and swooping roofline were so convincing that DCX officials call it a four-door coupe. But so long as it's got four full-sized doors, a car will never be a coupe in the eyes of the public. Brand-mate Mercedes-Benz tried with the CLS, but however beautiful, or in the Charger's case, however muscular it is, it will still be seen as a sedan.
 |
| What initially attracts most people to the new Charger is its looks. (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press) |
The third of the highly successful LX-chassis rear-wheel drive large cars, Charger is the latest legendary name to be brought back from the past, acting not as a range-topping coupe, as it originally was, but in four-door guise as a full step up from the midsize U.S.-only Stratus sedan. And as Dodge has so eagerly pointed out, the new Charger is family friendly American muscle; a car for the person whose heart wants a Mustang, but whose mind needs comfortable room for five and a decent sized trunk.
What initially attracts most people to the new Charger is its looks, but there's little heritage to be found here, seeing that Dodge tossed out the history book when it came to styling. Whether management had originally considered a two-door model, or whether a four-door was always the plan with its official name left to be decided upon later, is not known, but nevertheless a four-door is what management, backed with the usual market-research statistics that argue full-size two-doors won't sell as well, ended up signing off on.
And it doesn't take a million plus salary per year to figure this one out. Ford canned the previous-generation T-Bird, keeping it off the product
 |
| DCX officials call it a four-door coupe, but so long as it's got four full-sized doors, a car will never be a coupe in the eyes of the public. (Photo: Justin Couture, Canadian Auto Press) |