Challenger or Champion?
First of all, let's get one thing straight. The Challenger Concept is hardly a concept, but rather a fully-fledged prototype of what
we all know is Dodge's answer to Ford's Mustang. Whether DaimlerChrysler has been planning a two-door muscle car all along, even before the all-new Mustang hit the streets just over a year ago, is anyone's guess outside of Auburn Hills' hallowed halls, but one thing's for sure, Dearborn's ability to sell over 165,000 coupes annually, and in so doing garner 44 percent of a small specialty segment that previously seemed to be all but dying with lackluster sales of Pontiac's GTO, Toyota's Celica (now canceled), Hyundai's Tiburon and others, made bringing the Challenger to market a certainty.
Not surprisingly, the new Challenger is as aptly named now as it was in its past when it debuted in 1969 as a 1970 model (alongside the enlarged E-body Plymouth Barracuda which shared platforms and its general shape) to "challenge" the pony cars of the era, namely the fastback Mustang, first and foremost, as well as Chevy's Camaro, Pontiac's Firebird, and to a lesser extent AMC's Javelin, not to mention that last manufacturer's 12-inch shorter two-seat AMX built off the Javelin's platform.
Unlike the original Challenger, which came to market with no less than nine available engines, from a slant-six to the all-powerful
426 Hemi, the new prototype only comes with a single 6.1-litre HEMI. Of course, when the production model is offered in the metal, at the very least a 5.7-litre HEMI will be made available featuring somewhere in the neighbourhood of 340-horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque, just as in other LX cars, while a high-output 3.5-litre V6, or something similar, may also make the grade in base cars, needed to go up against the Mustang's extremely popular 4.0-litre V6. The possibility of a base V6-powered Challenger is purely hypothetical, of course, as Dodge may only be considering a smaller, more specialized run of Challengers and not out-and-out assault against Ford's pony car, in which case all would be fitted with its most powerful engine. It's difficult to say what the automaker has planned, but I'm really getting ahead of myself anyway, aren't I?
First of all, let's get one thing straight. The Challenger Concept is hardly a concept, but rather a fully-fledged prototype of what
 |
| The Challenger Concept is hardly a concept, but rather a fully-fledged prototype of what we all know is Dodge's answer to Ford's Mustang. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler Canada) |
Not surprisingly, the new Challenger is as aptly named now as it was in its past when it debuted in 1969 as a 1970 model (alongside the enlarged E-body Plymouth Barracuda which shared platforms and its general shape) to "challenge" the pony cars of the era, namely the fastback Mustang, first and foremost, as well as Chevy's Camaro, Pontiac's Firebird, and to a lesser extent AMC's Javelin, not to mention that last manufacturer's 12-inch shorter two-seat AMX built off the Javelin's platform.
Unlike the original Challenger, which came to market with no less than nine available engines, from a slant-six to the all-powerful
 |
| Unlike the original Challenger, which came to market with no less than nine available engines, the new prototype only arrives with a single 6.1-litre HEMI. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler Canada) |