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The Dodge Challenger in its present type will probably be retired quickly. Provide chain issues are delaying the discharge of the ultimate version mannequin that was purported to debut at SEMA this yr. As soon as the swan music of the present era sports activities automotive is sung, a successor will take its place with a totally electrical powertrain. Issues may have been vastly totally different for the Challenger, although, someplace round 2013-2015 when the sports activities automotive was completely refreshed however stored its unique platform.
The present Challenger rides on the outdated Chrysler LC structure from 2008 and when across the center of the earlier decade executives on the model determined it’s time for a refresh, Alfa Romeo’s Giorgio platform got here to the desk as an choice. Dodge was below the possession of Fiat Chrysler Vehicle on the time and the corporate had entry to applied sciences from its Italian colleagues.
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In a current episode of the Autoline Community Podcast, Dodge’s boss Tim Kuniskis informed the story of how the rear-wheel-drive Giorgio platform was supplied to underpin a brand new Dodge Challenger. Sadly – maybe resulting from monetary causes and never solely – the automaker determined to refresh the Challenger and hold it on the Chrysler platform for an additional a number of years as a substitute. The Challenger continues to be among the many best-selling sports activities vehicles in the USA regardless of its outdated bones, although simply think about how superior a brand new RWD platform would have been.
“On the Giorgio platform, we might have had a automotive that, fairly frankly, would have been lighter, would have dealt with higher,” Kuniskis stated through the podcast. He additionally clarified that giving the Challenger a brand new platform would have put the muscle automotive nearer to the territory of the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. “These are nice vehicles, these are incredible vehicles, why would we need to go combat with them, of their sandbox? Let’s keep in our sandbox, and be completely totally different from them, go left after they’re goin’ proper, and attempt to personal this area.”
The times of the present Challenger are numbered, that’s for positive. A model new mannequin is about to switch it within the subsequent few years and the automotive lovers will most definitely lastly have what they’ve at all times requested for – a extra nimble and higher dealing with Challenger. Despite the fact that it received’t have a screaming V8 below the hood, we all know the swap to a brand new platform is for good.
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