Snoop Dogg and Iacocca Pitch Chrysler

Via Edmunds.com Inside Line:

In the latest installment of Chrysler's $75-million advertising campaign to promote its employee-pricing program, former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca and hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg link up in a new TV spot that debuts on Saturday.

The two get together on a golf course to pitch the automaker's Employee Pricing Plus program, which gives customers the same prices available to Chrysler Group employees along with up to $3,500 cash back on nearly all remaining 2005 vehicles."

The Iacocca ads have not had a lot of positive response from what I've seen, at least within the advertising community.

Tags: Snoop Dogg, Lee Iacocca, Chrysler

2006 Chrysler 300C SRT8 Road & Track Test

Macleans did a test drive and review of the 2006 SRT8 recently.

Here's a cool comment from that article: "The 300C SRT8 is the halo car of halo cars, the top dog among Dobermans."

Here's some SRT8 Photos from the road and track test.

Tags: 300C, Chrysler, SRT8

300C SRT8 Video

Here are a few interesting Chrysler 300C SRT8 links. 6.1-liter V-8 with 425 horsepower. Damn that thing is fast!

Test drive video of the 300c SRT8 from Edmunds.

Chrysler official 300C SRT8 Gallery

Tags: SRT8, 300C, Chrysler

2006 300C Test Drive

Here's an article on a test drive with a loaded 2006 300C. Apparently they had the opportunity to unintentionally test out the 300C's braking and acceleration to avoid an accident. The tested model has two things mine doesn't - rear seat video system and Sirius Satellite Radio.

The article's final analysis? "After driving 300C for a week, we want to stipulate up front that the $38,840 final price is a bargain."

Tags: 300c, Chrysler, test drive

Muscle cars making a comeback

Excellent article, "Muscle cars make a comeback" by Neal E. Boudette / The Wall Street Journal

The American auto industry is trying to muscle its way out of the doldrums.

Three decades after the heyday of muscle cars _ raw, powerful vehicles such as the Ford Mustang and Pontiac GTO that helped define freedom-of-the-road independence for a generation _ some newly redesigned versions are emerging as strong sellers. Ford Motor Co. is selling about 18,000 Mustangs a month, as many as its factory can produce, and says demand is greater than expected.

In coming weeks it will face a new challenger, the Dodge Charger, from DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, which is hitting showrooms this month and is a remake of a vehicle that last rolled off assembly lines more than 25 years ago. The Mustang and GTO have both been on the market since last year.

The stakes are high for Detroit's Big Three auto makers, which are having trouble finding new designs that connect with buyers. At Ford, the Mustang is one of its few big hits among several new passenger cars that were supposed the help the company regain market share.

Despite a few successes like the Mustang and the top-selling new Chrysler 300 sedan, Detroit's auto makers have mostly had trouble getting buyers interested in their new designs. Ford already has started reworking the look of its Ford Five Hundred, a rival to the Chrysler 300, less than a year after its launch in hopes of boosting sales. GM's Buick division has piled up a big inventory of LaCrosse sedans, an all-new model that was supposed to turn around the brand's dowdy image.

Full Article >

300C Production Begins in Europe

Now Europeans can get a taste of the sweetness of a 300C

"Production of the Chrysler 300C has begun at the Magna Steyr factory at Graz in Austria. This plant also builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chrysler Voyager and Chrysler Grand Voyager, and will be churning out both the Sedan (saloon) and Touring (estate) versions of the 300C. The first cars came off the line yesterday."

Via itv Motoring

2006 Dodge Charger SRT8

Automobile Magazine has a nice review of the 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8.

"Yes, it has four doors, and no, it's still no beauty. But if the SRT8 version of the Charger goes the way its Chrysler 300C SRT8 twin goes-and there's no reason it shouldn't-it will have gone quite a distance in restoring some performance credibility to a great name that once ruled America's streets."

Dodge Charger SRT8 Specs

Price: $39,000 (est.)
Engine: 6.1L OHV V-8, 425 hp, 420 lb-ft
Drive: Rear-wheel
0-60 mph: 5.0 sec
Top speed: 165 mph