Dodge (Page 55)

he numbers from around the industry are trickling in on this April Fool’s Day and GM has won the battle for March 2011, as the Chevrolet Camaro lead the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger in monthly sales – marking the third straight month that the Bowtie bruiser has lead the segment in sales.

It's called product placement, and when Dodge can have 2010 and 2011 Dodge Chargers in Fast Five, the latest installment of the Fast and Furious movies, it's a match made in Hollywood, exported from Detroit with prizes you can win.

Motor Village LA is one of Chrysler’s newest projects, combining all five of their American-sold brands in one (immaculate) LA-based dealership but according to the California New Car Dealers Association, Motor Village LA is in violation of California law that prevents automotive manufacturers from owning dealerships within 10 miles of any other related dealership.

A while back, Detroit’s Cobo Hall hosted the 2011 Detroit Autorama, offering Motor City show-goers a chance to check out some of the best looking cars from around the area and around the country but amidst the crowd of garage-kept trailer queens, Team Detroit Racing brought out a spread of great looking high performance cars.

There is that sinking feeling when the latest and greatest version of the car you already own comes out, as owners of 2008 through 2010 Dodge Challengers know all too well. Fortunately, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering has a cure for that and then some. It's the Dodge Challenger Supercharger Package, and installed on the 6.1-liter Hemi, it's good for 500 rear wheel horsepower. Or using the usual estimates, about 590 horsepower at the flywheel, according to Lingenfelter.

Since the earthquake and ensuing tsunami hit Japan last week followed by a series of aftershocks and repeated nuclear power plant explosions, automakers around the world have been forced to take a good long look at their component inventory and the Chrysler Group has offered their first statement since the natural disaster hit.

Last night, the Chrysler Group’s 2011 Premier Event began with special incentives on new models, including $25 gift cards and a chance at a free 2011 vehicle just for stopping in and taking a test drive.

During Richard Petty’s incredible racing career, he competed in a great many different makes and models of race cars but few stand out more than his legendary Plymouth Superbird and thanks to help from the folks at Heide Performance Products, Petty’s Garage is offering a modern, high performance Superbird based on the new Dodge Challenger.

The folks at Universal Studios have unleashed the second trailer for the next chapter in the Fast and the Furious series, featuring a star-studded cast that could make Fast Five the best movie in the series thus far.

Sunday, during Sprint Cup prerace activities at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Dodge awarded 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski with what’s being called The Biggest Trophy In NASCAR – Imported From Detroit in celebration of his triumphant 2010 season.

The Chrysler Group has offered up pricing of the mildly refreshed 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan and thanks to a reduction in price, the minivan that started the whole segment is now the least expensive minivan in the industry with a starting price of $23,995 for a comfortably equipped model.

The numbers from around the US automotive industry are in and the Chrysler Group is the weakest of the American automakers in terms of year over year growth (comparing February 2010 to February 2011) and even with consumers seemingly waiting for the impressive new 2011 models to reach dealerships in higher numbers, Chrysler showed a jump of 13% in sales.

Sales numbers are in from February 2011 and for the second month in a row, the Chevrolet Camaro has outsold the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger, each by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1.

The Chrysler Group and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that almost a quarter million 2010 model year vehicles from Dodge and Chrysler are being recalled to address an issue with the ignition cylinder that can cause the engine to stall – vastly increasing the risks of a crash.

Three major events have been on the agendas of Detroiters all winter: The North American International Auto Show, the Super Bowl and the Autorama with the Ridler Award. This year’s Autorama will be February 25, 26 and 27.

The New England Motor Press Association has overwhelmingly selected the Jeep Grand Cherokee as its Official Winter Vehicle of New England.

Hard as it may be to believe, but Chrysler is on a major push to get its dealerships to have weekend hours, with a special emphasis on Sunday service openings coming in 2012.

This morning, NASCAR announced that their flagship racing circuit – the Sprint Cup Series – will join the age of electronic technology as all cars will be required to run a fuel injection system in the 2012 season.

Chrysler announced yesterday at the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association in Daytona Beach Florida that they were increasing their reimbursement program value to $1,000 for those consumers who require the assistance of items like wheelchair lifts or hand-controlled throttle and brake mechanisms.

The Chrysler Group has been tossing around the idea of a performance oriented version of their popular minivans for some time and with the introduction of the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan R/T, company CEO Ralph Gilles’ vision of the “man van” materialized into a production vehicle.

Chrysler’s official blog RedLetterDodge announced yesterday that Robbie Gordon Racing have partnered with Dodge Motorsports to run 2011 Dodge Charger stock cars for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

In what is becoming a regular occurrence, the Chevrolet Volt has been named Drivers’ Choice “Best of the Year” by the editorial staff of MotorWeek, a PBS institution.

The 2011 Dodge Durango is already heading to dealerships (and consumers) around the country and to help support the sporting side of this new SUV, Dodge unveiled the new Durango Heat trimline at the 2011 Chicago Auto Show.

The big news from Dodge at the 2011 Chicago Auto Show is the introduction of the 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 but the performance oriented brand is also using the Windy City show to introduce the newest special edition color for the Dodge Challenger – Green With Envy.