Today is a great day for Gearheads! Especially Mopar gearheads! Since waaaay back in 2012 there have been rumors circling about a new supercharged HEMI coming out. Chrysler vehicles typically get big horsepower numbers using NA setups (NA stands for naturally aspirated, for the uninitiated). This means that no turbocharger or supercharger are used to force air into the combustion chamber.
The idea is that NA engines last longer than forced induction engines, causing less stress on the engine components and structure. The upside of forced induction is that you can achieve absolutely massive horsepower increases using turbos and supers. So it's only natural for any gearhead to wonder "What happens if I take a hugely powerful NA engine and slap a Supercharger on it?"
Well wonder no longer! Today it was officially announced that the Challenger Hellcat will be produced for the 2015 model year. Check out the reveal trailer below:
Ok, now pick your jaw up off the floor. And stop drooling. I'm not judging, but it's a little gross.
Anyway, Chrysler has not released any horsepower numbers, only progressively tighter ranges. They are "still completing final calibration on the HEMI" and say that hp numbers will be up soon. All we have now is bhp in excess of 600 and torque numbers over 575 lbs-ft. It will be the first EVER forced induction HEMI produced AND the single most powerful V8 Chrysler has ever built.
The Hellcat will feature a new front fascia and unique spoiler, developed from extensive wind tunnel testing. The hood is unique to the Hellcat as well, reminiscent of the Viper with its multi-duct design with center scoop. They even went so far as to replace one of the front headlamps with a ram-air intake, a feature that is seen most often in drag racers.
Exterior Video:
Check out this CGI video displaying the car as well:
You're drooling again.
On the interior, you can see that the Hellcat shares in the long-awaited interior makeover provided by the 2015 model year of the Challenger. I am personally very happy to see the Laguna leather with Sepia color option carry over from the Viper.
You can see that the award winning 8.4" UConnect display is present complete with an absolutely absurd amount of information in the performance pages.
You can see more on the interior here:
As far as the performance, we will really have to wait and see. Chris Cowland, the Advanced and SRT Powertrain director stated it simply: "Bloody fast."
The rest of us will have to wait and see. The 2015 Challenger Hellcat begins production in the third quarter of 2014.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
What does FIAT mean for Chrysler?
On the first day of this year, Fiat announced that it was purchasing the remaining shares from the VEBA Trust, a firm created to handle pension and health funds from United Auto Workers members, making it the sole owner of Chrysler Group LLC.
So what does it mean? There will be, of course, a share of people whose knee-jerk reaction will be negative towards a European company controlling one of the big three. Some may not consider Chrysler vehicles to be "true" American cars as a result. But let's consider a few points:
1. Chrysler needed this.
After years of mismanagement from a variety of partnerships such as Daimler, parent company of Mercedes followed by Cerebus, a capital management firm, Chrysler needed something. They were consistently the third of the big three and had little to compete with foreign manufacturers like Honda and Toyota. Take for instance the Dodge Ram truck from 2006-2008. Customer comments were most often using the three words: Cheap, Plastic, & Ugly.
Since Ram changed all of that in 2009 with it's complete turn-around of the half ton truck with the heavy duties to follow suit a year later. And again in 2011, radical refreshes of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Dodge Charger, Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 300 and the unveil of the 200 to replace the defunct Sebring wowed the markets.
And not just the interiors were redone. One of the largest improvements was the 3.6L Pentastar V6 which provided outstanding performance increases AND huge fuel economy increases. For example the Jeep went from a 3.8L to a 3.6LWrangler went from 202 bhp and 15/19 city highway fuel economy to 285 bhp and 17/21 fuel economy. Gains like this happened across the board from vehicles equipped with the Pentastar, an engine that ironically, was nearly killed by Daimler during the partnership.
2. Europeans can build quality cars.
Everyone loves muscle cars here in the states. They embody raw power and have a carnal appeal of being about performance and nothing else. Unrefined, aggressive, and powerful. Well that's all well and good, but lets name off a few European car companies and see if we think performance or not: Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, Lotus, Aston Martin, McClaren, Lamborgini, Maserati, and Ferrari.
Think any of those are gracing the walls of American teenagers? Only all of them. Yes they're all extremely expensive, but so what? The point is that these companies are at the forefront of automotive engineering, producing some of the best vehicles the planet has ever seen. Lessons learned producing supercars and even race cars can find their way onto the street. Case in point = the HEMI engine. Oh and by the way, those last two companies on that listare owned by FIAT.
3. It's already showing results.
Chrysler group is showing ridiculous success, including a 11% increase year over year in February (seen here ). Jeep is exploding with the 47th (!!!!) consecutive month of sales growth, including a whopping 47% year over year for February. Awards are stacking up. The Grand Cherokee is the most awarded SUV ever, Chrysler group vehicles have stacked up multiple Ward's 10 best engine awards (3.6L Pentastar & 3.0 Ecodiesel), Ward's 10 best interiors, not to mention the very first Back-to-back MOTORTREND Truck of the Year.
4. Competition is good, no GREAT
Chrysler is surging across the board, taking up gobs of market share in nearly every class of vehicle. Technology like the HEMI V8, Ecodiesel V6, 8 and 9 speed transmissions, adaptive cruise control, parallel and perpendicular parking systems among others are forcing other companies to truly innovate in order to stay competitive. I for one, can't wait to see what everyone come up with. For example, Ford has rolled the dice on a high risk high reward change to aluminum bodies. Whoever wins, the American consumer wins more.
So what does it mean? There will be, of course, a share of people whose knee-jerk reaction will be negative towards a European company controlling one of the big three. Some may not consider Chrysler vehicles to be "true" American cars as a result. But let's consider a few points:
1. Chrysler needed this.
After years of mismanagement from a variety of partnerships such as Daimler, parent company of Mercedes followed by Cerebus, a capital management firm, Chrysler needed something. They were consistently the third of the big three and had little to compete with foreign manufacturers like Honda and Toyota. Take for instance the Dodge Ram truck from 2006-2008. Customer comments were most often using the three words: Cheap, Plastic, & Ugly.
Since Ram changed all of that in 2009 with it's complete turn-around of the half ton truck with the heavy duties to follow suit a year later. And again in 2011, radical refreshes of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Dodge Charger, Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 300 and the unveil of the 200 to replace the defunct Sebring wowed the markets.
And not just the interiors were redone. One of the largest improvements was the 3.6L Pentastar V6 which provided outstanding performance increases AND huge fuel economy increases. For example the Jeep went from a 3.8L to a 3.6LWrangler went from 202 bhp and 15/19 city highway fuel economy to 285 bhp and 17/21 fuel economy. Gains like this happened across the board from vehicles equipped with the Pentastar, an engine that ironically, was nearly killed by Daimler during the partnership.
2. Europeans can build quality cars.
Everyone loves muscle cars here in the states. They embody raw power and have a carnal appeal of being about performance and nothing else. Unrefined, aggressive, and powerful. Well that's all well and good, but lets name off a few European car companies and see if we think performance or not: Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, Lotus, Aston Martin, McClaren, Lamborgini, Maserati, and Ferrari.
Think any of those are gracing the walls of American teenagers? Only all of them. Yes they're all extremely expensive, but so what? The point is that these companies are at the forefront of automotive engineering, producing some of the best vehicles the planet has ever seen. Lessons learned producing supercars and even race cars can find their way onto the street. Case in point = the HEMI engine. Oh and by the way, those last two companies on that listare owned by FIAT.
3. It's already showing results.
Chrysler group is showing ridiculous success, including a 11% increase year over year in February (seen here ). Jeep is exploding with the 47th (!!!!) consecutive month of sales growth, including a whopping 47% year over year for February. Awards are stacking up. The Grand Cherokee is the most awarded SUV ever, Chrysler group vehicles have stacked up multiple Ward's 10 best engine awards (3.6L Pentastar & 3.0 Ecodiesel), Ward's 10 best interiors, not to mention the very first Back-to-back MOTORTREND Truck of the Year.
4. Competition is good, no GREAT
Chrysler is surging across the board, taking up gobs of market share in nearly every class of vehicle. Technology like the HEMI V8, Ecodiesel V6, 8 and 9 speed transmissions, adaptive cruise control, parallel and perpendicular parking systems among others are forcing other companies to truly innovate in order to stay competitive. I for one, can't wait to see what everyone come up with. For example, Ford has rolled the dice on a high risk high reward change to aluminum bodies. Whoever wins, the American consumer wins more.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Well, there goes the day....
So there I was, minding my own business, coming into work. I was in a good mood, and despite being a few minutes late, I was feeling like it was going to be a productive day. Often at the beginning of the month, this happens, as the Sales Manager erases all the numbers from the month prior and chides us for being lazy and having 0 cars out. You're just motivated to get going and do better than you did last month.
And then this happens. You're looking around for automotive news and stumble upon 30 minutes of Rallye Car bliss from Porsche 911 GT3
So, OF COURSE, you watch it. I mean, it's practically an obligation. Then you find this an inside the car view that's another 15 minutes long. So again, it's basically required...
And by then your day just spirals from there. I mean you're drifting on demo rides, doing 0-60 times and the like. *sigh*
As a side note, I didn't actually do 0-60 drags or drift in any cars while at work, please don't fire me, boss.
Enjoy folks.
-Shawn
And then this happens. You're looking around for automotive news and stumble upon 30 minutes of Rallye Car bliss from Porsche 911 GT3
So, OF COURSE, you watch it. I mean, it's practically an obligation. Then you find this an inside the car view that's another 15 minutes long. So again, it's basically required...
And by then your day just spirals from there. I mean you're drifting on demo rides, doing 0-60 times and the like. *sigh*
As a side note, I didn't actually do 0-60 drags or drift in any cars while at work, please don't fire me, boss.
Enjoy folks.
-Shawn
Thursday, February 6, 2014
I'm back!
Hello everyone! It's great to be back on here after such a long time away. Starting back in May/June of 2012 I mobilized with the 36th Infantry Division and was deployed to Afghanistan.
My vehicle there was a little different from what I was used to here at Wyatt Arp Chrysler Dodge Jeep Inc. I was in what is known as a M-ATV which is a type of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle. It can be seen here at Oshkosh Defense
While not quite as comfortable as a Ram truck, it certainly got the job done! I was thankful for the opportunity to serve with my brothers in arms in Afghanistan, but am very excited to be back home, selling at Wyatt Arp.
I have returned to an exciting time for Chrysler group. Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat S.p.a. and Chairman and CEO of Chrysler Group has purchased the rest of Chrysler from the United Auto Workers pension, adding Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and SRT to the Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Lancia, and Maserati brands already under the FIAT umbrella.
This is an great time to be selling Chryslers! I came back to see that the Ram 1500 won the first ever back to back MOTORTrend Truck of the year. We have 8-Speed Transmissions in our trucks, 3.6L Pentastar V6's, 3.0 EcoDiesel Half tons with 28MPG, 5 link Coil Spring suspensions under 2500's, new 6.4L HEMIs in heavy duty trucks, even a completely new vehicle in the Cherokee with NINE speed transmissions! All in all it's great to be back. Looking forward to many awesome things!
My vehicle there was a little different from what I was used to here at Wyatt Arp Chrysler Dodge Jeep Inc. I was in what is known as a M-ATV which is a type of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle. It can be seen here at Oshkosh Defense
While not quite as comfortable as a Ram truck, it certainly got the job done! I was thankful for the opportunity to serve with my brothers in arms in Afghanistan, but am very excited to be back home, selling at Wyatt Arp.
I have returned to an exciting time for Chrysler group. Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat S.p.a. and Chairman and CEO of Chrysler Group has purchased the rest of Chrysler from the United Auto Workers pension, adding Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and SRT to the Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Lancia, and Maserati brands already under the FIAT umbrella.
This is an great time to be selling Chryslers! I came back to see that the Ram 1500 won the first ever back to back MOTORTrend Truck of the year. We have 8-Speed Transmissions in our trucks, 3.6L Pentastar V6's, 3.0 EcoDiesel Half tons with 28MPG, 5 link Coil Spring suspensions under 2500's, new 6.4L HEMIs in heavy duty trucks, even a completely new vehicle in the Cherokee with NINE speed transmissions! All in all it's great to be back. Looking forward to many awesome things!
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