Dodge designers weren't promising us any percentages at the event they held recently to introduce the Dodge Caliber and Nitro to the Canadian press, but they were adamant that these are very similar to the cars we will see on our roads in the future. The event took place in Toronto's
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| Senior Designer Greg Howell was extremely optimistic about Chrysler group retaining the effect that the concept's have on the viewer. (Photo: Éric Descarries) |
distillery district, in one of the refurbished Gooderham & Wort's Brewery buildings. Under the industrial lights and exposed brick and cement, the Caliber and Nitro looked positively glowing, the Nitro in anodized red and the Caliber in its spectacular sunset orange paint scheme.
With little tweaks, such as possibly downgrading the Nitro's flared fenders and scaling back the Caliber's 19-inch alloy wheels, the two concepts are not going to go through the homogenization process unscathed, but Senior Designer Greg Howell was extremely optimistic about Chrysler group retaining the effect that the concept's have on the viewer. Dodge's recent spate of
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| Dodge just recently confirmed that the Nitro is bound for production. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
introductions and consequent sales success were, as he termed it, "the light at the end of the tunnel" after many years of diluted designs and middling market presence. You show me a wagon that can stand grille to grille with a Magnum and I'll show you my apologetic side.
We've known for a long time that the Caliber was in the chamber, and everybody else was positive that the Nitro was first in the clip, and Dodge just recently confirmed that the Nitro is bound for production. The Caliber will make it to showrooms early in 2006 as a 2007 model, and the Nitro sometime thereafter, likely later in the year. How close they'll be to the images you see here is anybody's guess, but they are both being targeted at a young, mostly male audience, with the Nitro geared more towards the possibility of a child or two in the mix.
