Car Moon

In a very…tongue-in-cheek move, Chrysler’s newly formed Street and Racing Technology (SRT) brand responded to fans asking them on various social media sites what future products are in development by posting this…revealing sketch on its dedicated Facebook page. Here is what Chrysler’s SRT team wrote:

“Like many of you, Twitter user @DaveOrrSales asked for a taste of what's to come at SRT. We dodged death to sneak you this top-secret photo. That's all you get, crew.”

You are looking at the first Dodge ever to use the Charger nameplate, the 1964 Dodge Hemi Charger Concept Car. Developed in late 1963 on Polara underpinnings, it was used by Chrysler to showcase its newest engine at the time, the now iconic 426-cubic inch (7.0-liter) Hemi V8.

Owned by several collectors over its 47-year existence, this rare piece of automotive heritage is going to be auctioned off at this year’s Automobiles of Arizona event held at Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, on January 20. RM Auctions hasn’t released an official estimate yet, but last time it changed hands in 2007, it fetched US $1.1 million.

Not to be outdone by Ford and General Motors, the Chrysler Group is readying a parade of specially tuned vehicles for this year's edition of the SEMA Show, which takes place in Las Vegas from November 2 to 5. One of the firm's star attractions will be the RedLine Dodge Charger based on the redesigned 2011 model year version of the saloon.

To the surprise of no one, cash-strapped Chrysler LLC won't be performing any global premieres at next week's Geneva Motor Show. Instead, the American automaker will showcase its electric vehicle future (that is, if it makes it through the economic crisis) with the European premieres of the Chrysler 200C EV concept vehicle and Dodge Circuit EV prototype, both of which made their debut at January's Detroit Auto Show.

The stylishly-penned Chrysler 200C EV mid-size sedan concept comes equipped the firm's ENVI electric-drive system that combines a small gasoline engine and integrated electric generator. According to Chrysler, the rear-wheel drive 200C has 64 kilometers (40 miles) of all-electric range, and a total-driving range of 644-kilometer (400-mile).

The Lotus Elise-based Dodge Circuit EV is a sport proposition that boasts a range of 241 to 322 kilometers (150 to 200 miles) with zero gasoline consumption and zero tailpipe emissions.

Cash-strapped Chrysler LLC didn't have a lot of money to spend on concept cars at this year's Detroit Show so Dodge was left with the re-introduction of the Lotus Elise based, all-electric Circuit EV sports coupe. As many of may remember, Chrysler had presented the Dodge EV along with two other all-electric prototypes last September. Aside from a few subtle cosmetic changes that concern the front-grille and bumper, the new alloy wheels and the quirky orange paint job, there aren't any substantial differences between the Circuit EV and the EV.

If there's one thing that we're fully convinced after seeing this five-and-half minute-long video is that the Dodge Challenger SRT10 SEMA Show Concept can smoke those rear-end Pirelli P-Zero 275/40R20 tires like there's no tomorrow... Hit the jump and turn up the volume to get an addictive dose of the Challenger SRT10's Viper-derived, 8.4-liter V10 engine that produces a more than adequate 600 horsepower and 560 lb. ft. of torque.

While the Challenger is sure to get most of the attention at SEMA, nevertheless Dodge also brought along four tricked-out Ram pickup trucks. Starting off with the Ram R/T pictured above, the concept is based on the 2009 Ram Sport with a 380HP 5.7-liter HEMI V8 and it's supposedly inspired from the re-born Challenger. Mopar Underground painted the R/T truck in a classic B5 Blue and added a bodykit which consists of sill and box pieces, finished up with a chin spoiler, dual-snorkel aluminum hood and carbon-fiber accent stripes.

The concept rides on Mopar 22-inch Alcoas alloys wrapped in 285/45R22s in front and 305/40R22s in the rear. Finally, the interior features Katzkin leather seats with body-color stitching to match the instrument panel and steering wheel.

The Ram TRXtreme pictured on the right plays up the off-road capabilities of the 2009 Ram TRX package. The Mopar Underground design team added 4.5-inches of extra ground clearance using a Mopar lift kit which allowed the use of Mopar polished and forged 20-inch wheels wrapped in chunky BFG 37X12.50's tires. The paint is a bright yellow and mineral grey two-tone incorporating a mud splash theme. Interior features include a Mopar navigation system, DVD headrests and Mopar leather seats by Katzkin.

Last but not least is the Ram Mopar Street Package which is based on the Ram Sport. The exterior features a Blackberry paint and a Mopar body kit consisting of sill extensions and a chin spoiler while a slight body-drop/leveling kit, 22-inch polished Alcoa forged wheels and an all aluminum dual-snorkel hood add to the appearance. The classy theme is continued in the interior with ambient lighting and suede / leather seats trimmed with premium piping and stitching.

Mopar Underground's design team deserves plenty of kudos for creating one of the nicest modded Challengers we've seen. The concept began life as a factory 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T equipped with a 5.7-liter HEMI V8 and 6-speed manual transmission. The crew at Mopar Underground gave the Challenger R/T a black-on-black racing stripe paint scheme and added custom-made spoilers along with altering the front clip to create added "brow" over the grill. To finish off the look, the Challenger R/T rides on massive 22-inch Dodge Viper wheels from Factory Reproductions wrapped in Dunlop tires measuring 265/35 R22 front and 305/30 R22 rear.

We told you that this year's SEMA motorshow will be packed with Challengers -and apparently with Camaros also, but that's another story. Joining the two SEMA show 2009 Dodge Challenger Convertibles from Coach Builders Limited and Newport Convertible Engineering is a third topless version, from Group Five Limited. But unlike the two other proposals, Group Five's Challenger concept is a roadster or better yet, a speedster. And as such, it features a chopped windscreen and seats only for two with the rear passenger area being hidden by a tonneau cover. -Continued

The artists renderings reveal that the customized Dodge benefits from a front spoiler, a hood shaker, a redesigned rear bumper that houses new exhaust pipes as well as what appears to be, a set of restyled rear LED lights. For the time being, we're not aware if the Challenger SRT8 Roadster is simply a design study or if Group Five intends to produce it in a limited number of units, but we'll have all the details along with real-life pictures of the car from the SEMA show floor in less than a week's time.

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At its World Headquarters in Auburn Hills today, Chrysler LLC revealed three all-electric prototype vehicles, the Dodge EV, Jeep EV and Chrysler EV, promising to have one of them available in the North American markets as soon as 2010 followed shortly after by Europe. Speaking at the presentation, Chrysler LLC’s CEO Bob Nardelli said: “The introduction of the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge electric vehicles provide a glimpse of the very near future, and demonstrates that we are serious and well along in the development of bringing EVs to market.” -Continued

We’ll start off our presentation of Chrysler’s all-electric-drive prototypes with the Tesla-like Dodge EV which is evidently based on the Lotus Europa. First of all we never liked the British coupe’s kit-car appearance and there’s no reason why that should change just because Chrysler threw in a set of Dodge logos and twin black racing stripes.

Styling aside, the two-passenger, rear-wheel-drive Dodge EV gets an electric-drive system that consists of the three main components: an electric motor, the lithium-ion battery stack and an integrated power controller.

The electric motor generates an output of 200 kW or 268 HP along with a massive 650 Nm (480 lb.-ft.) of torque, accelerating the Dodge EV from standstill to 60 mph (96 km/h) in less than five seconds, with quarter-mile times of 13 seconds. According to Chrysler, the Dodge EV has a top speed of over than 120 mph or 196 km/h.

The lithium-ion batteries, which can be charged from any standard 110-volt household outlet in eight hours (4 hours by using a typical 220-volt household appliance power outlet), offer the Dodge EV an adequate driving range of 150 to 200 miles (240 – 320 km).

Remember the Dodge Hornet Concept car that was unveiled at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show? Despite the Chrysler Group’s so-and-so financial position, in a report published on the Financial Times Deutschland, Thomas Hausch, the company's vice president for international purchasing, stated that Chrysler is working intensely on the Hornet study and that we should hear an official announcement in the near future. According to FTD, the frugal subcompact mini will most likely be launched in 2010 in Europe, the United States and other markets.