2006 Chrysler 300C SRT8 Preview

Get in Line!

If you read my columns on a regular basis, you know I'm a fan of Chrysler's new 300C. Of course, I'm hardly alone. The only

Barely keeping up with the overwhelming success of the 300C, Chrysler has announced the upcoming 300C SRT8. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler Canada)

problem dealers are having with this car is getting enough examples to sell to an insatiable public. Interest in the top-tier 300 has been much greater than initially expected, overwhelming Chrysler's supply, with close to fifty percent of all sold being HEMI V8-powered 300C versions.

What to do? Chrysler has added another shift to the Brampton, Ontario plant to up production for starters, which should ease the bottleneck over the next few months. But news about its upcoming 300C SRT8 variant, won't help matters at all. Now even more new car buyers will want one, with the trickle down effect of the new sport-oriented model affecting the sales of all 300s.

Of course, this is exactly the type of problem Chrysler, or any other automaker wants. The 300 has done exactly what was needed.

The 300 is precisely what Chrysler needed, a popular car that doesn't require profit-eroding discounts or zero percent financing to move off the showroom floor. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler Canada)

It's an aspirational car that is priced so well it doesn't require deep profit-eroding discounts or zero percent financing to push out the showroom door. Quite the opposite is occurring among its domestic rivals, mind you, with Pontiac's Grand Prix and new Northstar V8-powered Bonneville comparatively stagnant, other than rental car and corporate fleets. Only time will tell if Ford's all-new Five Hundred sedan (and the Mercury Montego clone sold only in the U.S.) will wager much of a contest, but the odds are in Chrysler's favor, especially considering the 300 is just one of many LX cars, the second to show up being Dodge's new Magnum sport wagon and the next to be a Dodge Charger sedan.