Quote:
Originally Posted by macwest
With dodge also using in their charger sounds like cost will be shared across a number of their vehicles decreasing cost on just one type of car.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joelster
The Challenger is on model year number 7 for 2015. I'm sure the platform has paid for itself by now.
Dodge is obviously doing something right. You'll notice how the Challengers sales are still in 3rd, but man are they climbing.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rayhawk
As has been mentioned, Fiat felt they needed to make a statement with this car, much like Ford felt about a year ago with the GT500. Fiat is selling the car for what they think the market will bear. My guess is if they sell well, they will take the approach Nissan did with the GTR and push the price up significantly over a short period of time. As far as R&D money, I don't think this car required any more R&D than the ZL1 or the GT500. How hard is it to up the boost on the LSA or GT500 to achieve the same power level? Not very difficult, and there is even less engineering involved when you are working with a significantly stronger-and cheaper (but of course heavier) cast iron block as Fiat is. GM and Ford set the power levels where they did for a variety of reasons unrelated to R&D budget.
IMO the Challenger is already targeting a different market than the Mustang or Camaro, and it may well end up replacing the Viper and becoming even more expensive.
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The other aspect I've been thinking about are the parts and where they are made and what they are made of. Sure the cost of the car isn't much as say, a Viper or Z06 or Z28, but a car company does not build a car to just break even. They're trying to make money. And how do you make money? Use the cheapest parts available. I hope this isn't the case with the Hellcat. Maybe just because I assumed with all the hype and all the extra features this car comes with, I was expecting it to be AT LEAST 75k. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that it isn't that expensive, I just hope the car is built with quality parts and not knockoffs where Dodge and SRT tried to cut corners and bites them and the customers in the butt.
**Again,...I am not knocking the HC in any way shape or form. I "hopefully" will have one in 2016. A Hemi Orange with satin black hood, black wheels and black leather/alcantra interior.