and Dodge makes a mockery out of it

The Original ad

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UAW’s King takes north Michigan resort off market

Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

The United Auto Workers has put a hold on trying to sell its $33 million Black Lake retreat in northern Michigan.

The Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center was taken off the market at the request of UAW President Bob King and the union’s new executive board, said John Karver, a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis, the real estate firm handling the listing.

The request to take the property, on 1,000 heavily forested acres near Onaway, off the market came around the time of the mid-June election of King and the new board, Karver said.

“I understand it’s simply a matter of the new board reviewing previous policy decisions,” Karver said.

There has been interest by more than one potential buyer, he said. The property had no listing price, Karver said.

It’s not clear when or what the new UAW leaders may decide about the property, Karver said. UAW officials did not return calls and e-mails for this report.

Several UAW local presidents and other leaders say the national board has not made an official statement about the property’s fate.

“For a while there, we were hearing it was really going to go,” said Stan Marshall, a former UAW national vice president who now oversees retiree issues for Region 1A in Michigan. “But that seems to be downplayed. Now there continue to be scheduled events up there” for UAW members.

Marshall said he is aware of a UAW retiree meeting scheduled for late September.

In January, the UAW cited the recession and shrinking membership as reasons it was seeking a buyer. The resort has long been a symbol of the union’s success. But it lost an estimated $23 million in the past five years, and the UAW was forced to borrow to keep it afloat, according to filings with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The center, named for the union’s iconic leader, is a jewel in which many UAW members take pride.

The property, bought in 1967, includes the top-notch Black Lake Golf Club and the ashes of former union President Walter Reuther and his wife, who died along with four others when their small plane crashed en route to the property in 1970.

In addition to golf and leisure, the center offers weeklong conferences on political action, civil rights and leadership.

The center, renovated in the 1990s, has a gym with two full-size basketball courts, an Olympic-size indoor pool, exercise facilities, table tennis and pool tables, a sauna, beaches, hiking and biking trails, sports fields, a boat launch ramp and rooms and condominiums.

In 2000, a $6.7 million golf course was added — the vision of the late UAW President Stephen Yokich. Golf Digest that year ranked it as North America’s second-best “New Upscale Public Course.”

It now ranks 34th on Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses.

But the Reuther center has become a target of critics who grumble the UAW shouldn’t keep such a luxury while hundreds of thousands of its members have lost their jobs or taken buyouts or early retirement as the domestic auto industry has restructured.

UAW membership fell last year to a post-World War II low, amid heavy losses in the auto industry. The number of UAW members in 2009 dropped nearly 76,000, to 355,191, according to the union’s annual report.

The UAW’s assets fell slightly last year, to $1.13 billion from $1.2 billion in 2008. As a result, the union cut costs.

It spent $9.7 million on lobbying and political activities in 2009, compared with $10.6 million in 2008. And it reduced union administration costs from $32.4 million to $26.9 million.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100818/AUTO01/8180315/1148/auto01/UAW-s-King-takes-north-Michigan-resort-off-market#ixzz0x0jQZPpa

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Recently Lee Iacocca, Virgil Exner, Richard Petty, and Jay Leno were honored at the WP Chrysler Museum with their induction. The below is a video from that event.

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Chrysler’s Ram truck division is taking direct aim at hunters with a unique feature on its new line of Outdoorsman pickup trucks – a gun closet.

Called the The Mopar RamBox Holster, its a rack that can hold two rifles or shotguns inside one of the lockable, watertight compartments located on either side of the pickup bed.

A $205 option – on top of the $1895 price of the RamBox feature itself – the rack can be rotated to hold six fishing poles for those who prefer quieter trips into the great outdoors.

The Outdoorsman starts at $28,350 and includes standard features like scratch-resistant bumpers, puncture-resistant tires, and a towing package. Buyers can order the trimline on most Ram models, including heavy duty and long wheelbase versions.

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By Jonathan Welsh

http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/08/09/chrysler-group-posts-smaller-second-quarter-loss/

Chrysler Group LLC posted a smaller net loss for the second quarter and said its operating results are more encouraging. Still the company, which emerged from bankruptcy protection a year ago, is struggling with sluggish sales due in part to a lackluster vehicle lineup.

The Auburn Hills, Mich., car maker said its second-quarter net loss narrowed to $172 million from $197 million in the first quarter. The net loss for first half of 2010 was $369 million. The company did not report second-quarter results a year ago, but said it lost $3.8 billion from June 10 when it emerged from bankruptcy, to Dec. 31, 2009.

Operating profit totaled $183 million in the second quarter and $326 million in the first six months of the year. Revenue rose 8.2% to $10.48 billion for the quarter and $20.17 billion for the six months.

Car sales in the U.S have been on the rebound this year but Chrysler hasn’t recovered as vigorously as rivals Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. Chrysler has also relied significantly on sales rental-car fleets to bolster its overall numbers. But rental companies typically get cars at big discounts that hurt the car maker’s profit.

The biggest hurdle for Chrysler to overcome may be its own vehicles, many of which have been largely unchanged for several years and have a long-in-the-tooth look. Models like the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger that made a splash five or six years ago look dull and dated today, and have interiors that seem cheap compared with those in rivals’ vehicles. Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne touts the redesign, updates and freshening of several models, most of them won’t go on sale until later this year.

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New Dodge Challenger Commercial

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The MoparWiki

On Its Way To Become The One-Stop Information Reference For All Things Mopar

WIKI

A wiki ( /ˈwɪki/ WIK-ee) is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used to create collaborative wiki websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems.

Wikis may exist to serve a specific purpose, and in such cases, users use their editorial rights to remove material that is considered "off topic." Such is the case of the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia. In contrast, open purpose wikis accept content without firm rules as to how the content should be organized.

History

WikiWikiWeb was the first wiki. Ward Cunningham started developing WikiWikiWeb in 1994, and installed it on the Internet domain c2.com on March 25, 1995. It was named by Cunningham, who remembered a Honolulu International Airport counter employee telling him to take the "Wiki" shuttle bus that runs between the airport's terminals. According to Cunningham, "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for 'quick' and thereby avoided naming this stuff quick-web."

Cunningham was in part inspired by Apple's HyperCard. Apple had designed a system allowing users to create virtual "card stacks" supporting links among the various cards. Cunningham developed Vannevar Bush's ideas by allowing users to "comment on and change one another's text."

In the early 2000s, wikis were increasingly adopted in enterprise as collaborative software. Common uses included project communication, intranets, and documentation, initially for technical users. Today some companies use wikis as their only collaborative software and as a replacement for static intranets, and some schools and universities use wikis to enhance group learning. There may be greater use of wikis behind firewalls than on the public Internet.

On March 15, 2007, wiki entered the online Oxford English Dictionary. Some people claim "Wiki" also stands for "What I Know Is" but this is a false backronym.

MoparWiki

While WikiPedia is the most famous of on-line collaborative encyclopedias, MoparWiki wishes to focus on the single goal of ultimately becoming the best on-line reference with anything having to do with Mopar. Cars, people, racing, technical papers, parts, events, clubs, history, … even part manufacturers and sellers, or Mopar Magazines. Anything that has something to do with Mopar — should be included in the MoparWiki. That is the only goal and the only agenda.

Coincidentally, MoparWiki and WikiPedia use the same application to manage their wikis. MediaWiki is a software wiki package written in PHP, originally for use on Wikipedia. It is now used by several other projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation and by many other wikis.

Collaboration

Collaboration is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together in an intersection of common goals — for example, an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature — by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Most collaboration requires leadership, although the form of leadership can be social within a decentralized and egalitarian group. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.

How this collaboration works with the MoparWiki might start with someone who reads a great article on a particular Mopar racer like Richard Petty, executive like Walter P. Chrysler, a car make like Dodge, or even a car model like the Mirada in a book, magazine, or elsewhere on the Internet. He might then go to the MoparWiki to see what was already written on the topic. If the wiki had already been started, he might improve on it with any information he just read, and post a reference to where he found the information. If the topic hadn't already been created — he would hopefully create the wiki, put as much of the information he had time to add, and post a reference. He might later revisit the wiki as he had time — and add more information from the article he'd read on the subject. Others would then visit the article — and they too might add any missing information they might have, and cite a reference to it. Yet others might clean up the typographical or spelling errors they might find — or clean up the format to be consistent with other articles in the MoparWiki. Sysops have the task of visiting Recent changes to look for Spam, trolling, or any vandalism to an article — and either delete the small violations or roll the article back to a previous backup for any major vandalism. He then bans the Vandal from ever being able to again access any site on this server. It is also the task of the Sysop to make notations asking for citation to some fact — or to post that a fact has not yet been verified. In time, a single article might have had 25 people collaborate with its creation and improvements.

How You Can Help Adding Context

The MoparWiki is in need of a lot of help at all levels — from contributor, to the director of Sysops, to PHP Programmer — for it to achieve its goal. This goal is to purely educate people of all things Mopar in a one stop location. Mopar might no longer be with us in the next few years, and this is the time to start to preserve history.

Help with the topic context. When you read an article on a mopar topic that interests you — please go to the MoparWiki and see if the article already exists. If it doesn't — please create it, and at the very least list the reference so another with an interest in the topic will have a reference to refer to. Better yet, at least add an introduction too. If the article has already been created — then see if your reference has information that should be added to the article — add it and the reference. If you see any typo, then correct it. If you question a fact — post so in the Discussion (link in the topics NavBar) page so that a Sysop can check it out. It you see vandalism — report it.

If you want to help and just don't know what topic to start with, do a search for your favorite Mopar car, event, vendor, or person — and see if you can improve the article with hard facts and references to those hard facts. If you don't have a particular topic on your mind but want to help — just go to a Random page.

If you are a registered member of MoparStyle, then you have the access required to create or edit an article. There is an excellent on-line Help area, and it is very simple to learn how to format text. The best place to start is to look at quite a few of the existing topics and get an idea of the layout of articles. This is the format we want to follow for all of the articles. Every user has their own User page (go the MoparWiki while logged in at MoparStyle — and you will see a link to it) — and this is a perfect place to play around a little to practice text formatting. Use your User Page to make you own little personal home page. Do what you what with it to personalize — but just keep it clean and free of hate.

Mopar Vendors

If you are a promoter of a Mopar event, a manufacturer of a Mopar Part, an editor of a Mopar Magazine, or anything like that — you are welcome to create of edit the wiki on your business. We're looking for facts, information and history — not for a big spam page of advertising. Tell us about your product, service, and give a link to your site for the hard arm-twisting  — but don't try to sell in the wiki. Inform — don't sell. It will be up to the Sysops to use their discretion on any editing out any spam that comes across like ten tons of garlic.

Sysops

For those who feel that they have a higher calling on the project — the MoparWiki needs a small group of Management Volunteers to become Sysops. A Sysop must first have demonstrated a a great desire for the success of the MoparWiki with his very active participation of creating, improving, and editing the articles. After a few weeks or months of doing so, if the active contributor feels the calling and would like to help in the management of the MoparWiki — use the contact form and throw your hat into the ring to be considered. We would ultimately like to have a core of about 6 active Sysops, and two Sysop Directors.

Interesting MoparWiki Links

The below are just a few of the many links you might want to scope out.

• Categories

• All pages

• Long pages

• Wanted pages

• Oldest pages

• Drag Racing

• Models

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Chrysler Railroaded

This could be a scandal of epic proportions and one that makes Nixon's Watergate or Clinton 's Monica Lewinsky affair pale by comparison. Why was there neither rhyme nor reason as to which dealerships of the Chrysler Corporation were to be closed?

Roll the clock back to the weeks just before Chrysler declared bankruptcy. Chrysler, like GM, was in dire financial straits and federal government "graciously" offered to "buy the company" and keep them out of bankruptcy and "save jobs."Chrysler was, in the words of Obama and his administration, "Too big to fail," same story with GM.

The feds organized their "Automotive Task Force" to fix Chrysler and GM. Obama, in an act that is 100% unconstitutional, appointed a guy named Steve Rattner to be the White House's official Car Czar – literally, that's what his title is. Rattner is the liaison among Obama, Chrysler, and GM.

Initially, the national media reported that Chrysler 'had made this list of dealerships.' Not true!

The Washington Examiner, Newsmax, Fox News and a host of other news agencies discovered that the list of dealerships was put together by the "Automotive Task Force" headed by no one other than Mr. Steve Rattner.

Now the plot thickens.

Remember earlier we said that there was neither rhyme nor reason why certain dealerships were closed?

Actually there's a very interesting pattern as to who was closed down. Again, on May 27, 2009, The Washington Examiner and Newsmax exposed the connection. Amazingly, of the 789 dealerships closed by the federal government, 788 had donated money, exclusively to Republican political causes, while contributing nothing to Democratic political causes. The only "Democratic" dealership on the list was found to have donated $7,700 to Hillary's campaign, and a bit over $2,000 to John Edwards. This same dealership, reportedly, also gave $200.00 to Obama's campaign.

Does that seem a little odd to you?

Steve Rattner is the guy who put the list together. Well, he happens to be married to a Maureen White.

Maureen happens to be the former national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee. As such, she has access to campaign donation records from everyone in the nation-Republican or Democrat. But of course, this is just a wacky "coincidence," we're certain.

Then comes another really wacky "coincidence."

On that list of dealerships being closed down, a weird thing happened in Arkansas, North Louisiana and Southern Missouri. It seems that Bill Clinton's former White House Chief of Staff, Mack McClarty, owns a chain of dealerships in that region, partnered with a fellow by the name of Robert Johnson. Johnson happens to be founder of Black Entertainment Television and was a huge Obama supporter and financier.

These guys own a half dozen Chrysler stores under the company title of RLJ-McClarty-Landers. Interestingly, none of their dealerships were ordered closed – not one!

While all of their competing Chrysler/Dodge and Jeep dealership were!

Eight dealerships located near the dealerships owned by McClarty and Johnson were ordered shut down.

Thus by pure luck, these two major Obama supporters now have virtual monopoly on Chrysler sales in their zone. Isn't that amazing?

Go look in The Washington Examiner, the story's there, and it's in a dozen or so other web-based news organizations; this isn't being made up.

Now if you thought Chrysler was owned by Fiat, you are mistaken. Under the federal court ruling, 65% of Chrysler is now owned by the Federal government and the United Auto Workers union! Fiat owns 20%.

The other 15% is still privately owned and presumably will be traded on the stock market. Obama smiles and says he doesn't want to run the auto industry.

As horrifying as this is to comprehend, and being as how this used to be the United States of America , it would appear that the president has the power to destroy private businesses and eliminate upwards of 100,000 jobs just because they don't agree with his political agenda.

This is Nazi Germany stuff, and it's happening right here, right now, in our back yard. There are voices in Washington demanding an explanation, but the "Automotive Task Force" has released no information to the public or to any of the senators demanding answers for what has been done.

Keep your ear to the ground for more on this story. If you've ever wanted to make a difference about anything in your life, get on the phone to your national senator or representative in the House and demand an investigation into this.

Car Czar No More

An amazing thing happened as this story was going to press. Obama's Car Czar, Steve Rattner, resigned on July 13 and was promptly replaced by former steel workers union boss Ron Bloom. According to CBS News, Rattner left "to return to private life and spend time with his family."

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said, "I hope that he takes another opportunity to bring his unique skills to government service in the future."

By the way, Rattner is under investigation for a multi-million dollar pay-to-play investment bank scandal in New York .

Uh-oh! But, we're certain that had nothing to do with his resignation.

And, according to several news sources out there, there are rumors he's being investigated for what could be pay-to-play scandal involving the closing of Chrysler and GM dealerships. Really? Again, that couldn't have anything to with his resignation — that's ridiculous! Like CBS said, this guy just wants to "spend more quality time with his family."

Obama has 32 personally appointed "czars" who answer to no one but him, all of whom are acting without any Constitutional authority.

But hey, we're sure they all have "unique skills,"……as Tim Geithner likes to say!

Check it out at the following websites for more on the topic…..
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/05/hope-change-car-czar-behind-chrysler-closings-married-to-former-dem-party-leader/

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/IG-report-says-Obama-GM-Chrysler-moves-needlessly-accelerated-job-losses-98709459.html

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/05/27/a-look-at-the-protected-chrysler-dealerships/

http://libertypundits.net/article/gm-chrysler-dealer-closings-was-politically-motivated-retribution-obama-does-not-care-about-jobs/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/23dealers.html?_r=1

link <– This story hit the Internet last Monday, and while we try to avoid politics — this is Mopar related and rampant cronyism we've seen from Washington to Chicago can't be totally ignored. I invite people to not just believe what you read here or another site — but to do their own research with an open mind. Benjamin Franklin had it right when he said, "All that's necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

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IG report says Obama GM, Chrysler moves needlessly accelerated job losses

By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
07/20/10 6:51 AM EDT

A report by the Treasury Department’s Special Inspector General for the Toxic Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) contends that President Obama’s push for General Motors and Chrysler to close thousands of dealerships across the country as part of their government bailouts “may have substantially contributed to the shuttering of thousands of small businesses and thereby potentially adding tens of thousands of workers to the already lengthy unemployment rolls, all based on a theory and without sufficient consideration of the decisions’ broader economic impacts.”

The SIGTARP report further contends, according to Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking minority member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, that it is questionable whether the closings were “either necessary for the sake of the companies’ economic survival or prudent for the nation’s economic recovery.”

Issa, who has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration’s handling of the GM and Chrysler government takeovers, said the SIGTARP report should “serve as a wake-up call as to the implications of politically-orchestrated bailouts and how putting decisions about private enterprise in the hands of political appointees and bureaucrats can lead to costly and unintended consequences.”

The California Republican also said the report will say “GM did not consistently follow its stated criteria and that there was little or no documentation of the decision-making process to terminate or retain dealerships with similar profiles, or of the appeals process” and that “making termination decisions with little or no transparency and making a review of many of these decisions impossible…”

You can read the full text of the report here (It’s a big pdf, so it may take a bit for it to load). And The New York Times’ Nick Bunley has an excellent summary of the report and the background that led to it.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/IG-report-says-Obama-GM-Chrysler-moves-needlessly-accelerated-job-losses-98709459.html#ixzz0uJxr4oKx

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[Source: Chrysler]

Press Release

Dodge Celebrates Four Decades Of Challenger’s Muscle-car Heritage With Limited-edition Furious Fuchsia Models

• 2010 Dodge Challenger Furious Fuchsia editions commemorate 40 years of Dodge muscle-car performance
• Limited-edition Furious Fuchsia exterior answers customers’ desire for the return of more Dodge brand high-impact heritage paint hues
• 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Classic edition is available in all-new Pearl White performance seats and Bright White A-line body-side R/T stripes
• Dodge Challenger SRT8® Furious Fuchsia edition features unique 20-inch SRT forged aluminum wheels with Satin Black painted pockets, serialized dash plaque, Pearl White leather SRT performance seats with Furious Fuchsia accent stripe and retro-inspired chromed quad exhaust tips
• Limited-production run of Dodge Challenger R/T Classic editions and only 400 Dodge Challenger SRT8 editions in Furious Fuchsia available

Two of the wildest and rarest 2010 Dodge Challenger models will soon be available to Dodge fans and collectors to commemorate 40 years of Dodge Challenger performance; the 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Classic and Challenger SRT8® Furious Fuchsia editions. With its Furious Fuchsia Pearl Coat exterior paint and all-new Pearl White leather performance seats, these limited-edition Dodge Challenger models deliver the best of modern American muscle-car characteristics-unmistakable design, world-class handling, powerful HEMI® V-8 engines and technology-now in one of the most significant hues.

“Commemorating four decades of Challenger performance, the new R/T Classic and SRT8 Furious Fuchsia editions modernize one of the most memorable hues from 1970 to create a modern muscle-car that exudes more performance, passion and even more nostalgia,” said Ralph Gilles, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dodge Car Brand and Senior Vice President-Product Design, Chrysler Group LLC. “As an ode to our Dodge fans, these highly collectible models feature all-new Pearl White leather performance seats with Furious Fuchsia accents to deliver a customized, yet contemporary look to the heritage-inspired interior. Sum it all up, and Dodge is delivering a muscle-car tribute that no other manufacturer can even match.”

The U.S. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the new 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Classic in Furious Fuchsia Pearl Coat is $35,140, while the high-performance SRT8 model is $45,150 (both prices include $725 destination). Both Furious Fuchsia editions will be available for order at Dodge dealerships nationwide in March.

2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Classic Furious Fuchsia
Based on the powerful 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T, the Dodge Challenger R/T Classic Furious Fuchsia edition features dual throwback A-line body-side R/T stripes in Matte Black or Bright White. Completing the look are “Challenger” fender badges in classic script, large 20-inch polished-aluminum heritage wheels with all-season performance tires, classic egg-crate grille with heritage “R/T” badge, body-color rear spoiler, functional hood scoop and bright racing style fuel-filler door.

On the interior, the trapezoidal theme of the door-panel and gauge cluster, dark headliner and slanted shifter console are inspired by the original Dodge Challenger. Inspiration from the past continues with exclusive Pearl White performance seats accented with Dark Slate Gray and Furious Fuchsia French-seamed stitching as a factory-installed option. Monotone Dark Slate Gray leather performance seats and center console armrest with Furious Fuchsia accent stitching are standard.

When paired with the Tremec six-speed manual transmission, the 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Classic Furious Fuchsia edition includes the performance-minded Track Pak with precision-shift “pistol-grip” shifter, anti-spin 3.92 differential and a performance-tuned dual exhaust with two low-restriction bottle resonators for maximum “throatiness.” And when it’s time to deliver, the Furious Fuchsia R/T Classic can accelerate from 0–60 mph in less than six seconds with its powerful 376 horsepower (280 kW) and 410 lb.-ft. of torque (556 N•m) 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine.

2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8 Furious Fuchsia
If the tire-smoking Furious Fuchsia R/T Classic is not exciting enough, the 400 ultra-exclusive 2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8 versions delivers even more punch with a 6.1-liter HEMI V-8 engine-with engine block lacquered in original HEMI Orange paint-producing 425 horsepower (317 kW) and 420 lb.-ft. (569 N•m) of torque, performance-tuned ride and handling, benchmark braking and race-inspired interior with unique SRT-designed appointments.

The limited-production Dodge Challenger SRT8 in Furious Fuchsia is based on the 2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8 and features several standard equipment upgrades, including all-new Pearl White leather SRT performance seats with Furious Fuchsia accented stripe, unique 20-inch SRT forged-aluminum wheels with Satin Black accents, serialized dash plaque indicating the limited production series of 400 and retro-inspired chromed quad-exhaust tips.

Production of the 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Classic and SRT8 Furious Fuchsia Editions
Production of the all-new 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Classic and SRT8 in limited-production Furious Fuchsia Pearl Coat will start in May 2010 at the Brampton Assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. These special-edition coupes will be built on the same assembly line as the award-winning and quality-proven Dodge Charger and Dodge Charger SRT8 sedans.

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By Jeff Bennett

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/07/07/chrysler-to-sell-special-edition-mopar-dodge-challengers/

The Mopar ‘10 Challenger.

DETROIT–Chrysler Group LLC will sell 500 special-edition Mopar Dodge Challengers tricked out with everything from customized leather-wrapped steering wheels to 20-inch black wheels in the auto maker’s biggest step yet to promote its part and accessories unit.

The Mopar Challenger, due to arrive in showrooms next month, will retail for $38,000 for an automatic transmission and $39,000 for a manual transmission, the company said Wednesday. This is the first time Chrysler has ever introduced a Mopar version of one of its vehicles. It will be available in the U.S. and Canada.

The vehicle will come with a 5.7-liter V8 Hemi engine and be available only in black with a choice of three accent colors: Mopar blue, red or silver. There will be stitching on the steering wheel and seats. A special Mopar 2010 cover will also come with the vehicle.

“We wanted the vehicle to come in one color only,” Dodge brand Chief Executive Ralph Gilles said in a Web chat. “The vehicle looks absolutely sinister in black. The triple black look is really cool right now and pops the Mopar stripe the best.”

Gilles believes auto makers can generate new sales by tweaking current vehicles. This is also the first time Chrysler has made such a dramatic step in advertising Mopar as it moves to stir both consumer and enthusiast interest in ordering more accessories to customize their Chrysler vehicles. Mopar sells a variety of parts and accessories for Chrysler cars and pickup trucks.

Every customer who purchases the Mopar Challenger will receive an owners kit that includes a certificate with the vehicle identification number, date of build completion, and build number. The also includes a limited-edition sketch of the vehicle signed by Chrysler Group design chief Mark Trostle, a book that highlights the special vehicle build, and Mopar merchandise.

Mopar distributes approximately 280,000 parts and accessories in more than 90 countries for Ram, Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles.

The vehicle will be built at the auto maker’s Brampton, Ontario plant. Production will be limited to 500. Chrysler expects 80% of customers to buy automatic and 20% manual. The auto maker may also offer Mopar versions of its other vehicles.

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Link: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Fiat+will+step+Chrysler+quality/3245044/story.html#ixzz0szuQbwli

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A few years ago Chrysler Group LLC racked up profits selling a powerful V8 engine that it famously promoted in commercials asking, “That thing got a Hemi?”

Now, with Chrysler trying to build a new identity, the answer is almost always going to be “No.”

As part of an effort to create a greener and more refined image, Chrysler and its new managers from Fiat SpA are demoting the Hemi, according to dealers who have been briefed by the company.

The auto maker plans to promote the big engine only in certain Dodge cars and Ram pickup trucks, the dealers said. The company will continue to offer the engine as an option in certain Jeeps and the Chrysler 300 sedan, but won’t call it a Hemi in those vehicles. Instead, it will simply be called a 5.7-liter V8, they said.

In addition, the Detroit car maker will play up a feature that saves gasoline by shutting off some of the Hemi’s cylinders in highway driving, and won’t refer to the hemispherical shape of its cylinder heads, they said. A Chrysler spokesman declined to comment.

The shift represents a change for Chrysler. Under the ownership of Daimler AG, it made money in 2004 and 2005 in large part because the Hemi engine became a hit and generated thousands of dollars of profit for each Hemi-equipped vehicle. Chrysler’s commercials made the Hemi a minor pop-culture sensation, with the tagline turning up on T-shirts and in late-night talk-show jokes.

The Hemi helped the 300 sedan become one of the biggest hits Detroit had produced in years, and other car makers grumbled they wished they had come up with a similar way to market their own V8s. At Ford Motor Co., engineers referred to the Hemi as the “Hemorrhoid” because of the pain it was inflicting upon them.

But the Hemi’s appeal declined as gas prices rose and consumer interest in fuel-saving technologies climbed. Chrysler’s new management under Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who also heads Italy’s Fiat, want to give more refined image to the company, dealers said.

To that end, Chrysler will put more emphasis on its new V6 “Pentastar” engine and play up a four-cylinder engine and small cars that Fiat will sell through Chrysler, dealers said.

The first of the small cars, the Fiat 500 subcompact, is due in U.S. showrooms late this year. Unlike Hemi-equipped Chrysler 300s, which get about 20 miles a gallon, the Fiat 500 should yield more than 40 mpg.

The Pentastar engine, meantime, has updated technologies such as fuel injectors that yield better mileage than the Hemi.

“It’s really just the Ram and Dodge owners who still wear the Hemi badge with pride,” said one dealer who asked not to be identified since he doesn’t officially speak for the company.

Source:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704178004575351333940667038.html

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