Chrysler to revive Dodge Charger model
June 3 2004 2:38
Chrysler is to revive one of the best-known "muscle car" marques of the 1960s and 1970s in the US with a new version of its Dodge Charger.
The vehicle is one of three the US unit of German carmaker DaimlerChrysler plans to launch next year in addition to nine new models being introduced this year.
Plans for the Charger, as well as for a new Jeep vehicle called the Commander and a new version of the Chrysler Sebring, were presented on Wednesday to Wall Street analysts.
The Charger was first produced in 1966 as Chrysler's response to the growing trend towards high-powered cars like the Ford Mustang, introduced in 1964.
The 1969 version of the rear-wheel drive Charger, billed by Chrysler at the time as a "fastback", featured in the 1970s TV series The Dukes of Hazzard. It was phased out in 1977 amid slumping demand for performance vehicles in the wake of the decade's oil crisis. The Charger was replaced by a front-wheel drive version, the Dodge Shelby Charger, which disappeared in 1984.
The revival of the Charger is the latest example of Chrysler's resurrection of marques from its past.
The high-powered "hemi" engine, a feature of Chrysler's performance vehicles in the 1960s, reappeared this year with the launch of a new version of the Chrysler 300C car and on some Dodge pick-ups.
Chrysler said on Wednesday that sales of Chrysler brand vehicles had risen 27 per cent in May compared with the same period a year ago, which it attributed to strong sales of some of the new products launched so far.
More than 13,000 of the 300C were sold in May. The last time any Chrysler brand vehicle sold more than 10,000 units in a month was in 1986.
source:
http://news.ft.com