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The April edition of Hot Rod magazine has a pretty interesting interview with Ralph Gilles which for once seems to provide some insight as to the future of our Mopar Muscle cars.
Here's a couple excerpts from the article:
Here's a couple excerpts from the article:
HRM] So horsepower is really important to sales, and you know Ford and Chevy are way ahead of you there.
RG] Horsepower wars have always been part of the battle. It used to be a Big Three thing, now I think it’s a Big Five, Big Six thing with these other OEs…Nissan, even Ferrari, which is already on its own planet, in a way. But usable horsepower is the next big discussion. I like to talk power-to-weight. We have Viper that’s in the top three on horsepower-to-weight ratio, in the TA currently, and that’s what you feel every day. We have a situation where, you know--we may have a situation--where the flagship car is not the most powerful car in our arsenal; how do we explain that to ourselves? So we have an internal horsepower race as well as an external one.
RG] Horsepower wars have always been part of the battle. It used to be a Big Three thing, now I think it’s a Big Five, Big Six thing with these other OEs…Nissan, even Ferrari, which is already on its own planet, in a way. But usable horsepower is the next big discussion. I like to talk power-to-weight. We have Viper that’s in the top three on horsepower-to-weight ratio, in the TA currently, and that’s what you feel every day. We have a situation where, you know--we may have a situation--where the flagship car is not the most powerful car in our arsenal; how do we explain that to ourselves? So we have an internal horsepower race as well as an external one.
HRM] That’s the closest you’ve been to an admission [that the new Challenger SRT will be supercharged]. A few minutes ago, I told you we did a three-way shootout, and in a mile and a half, the Challenger was slower than the Camaro and the Mustang. You told me, “come back next year.”
RG] Ha…yeah.
HRM] Is that the end of that statement?
RG] Yup.
HRM] What happens in 2018 when CAFE hits [and potentially kills horsepower due to government mpg requirements]?
RG] It’s hitting now. The way CAFE works, we’re banking credits now; even from three years ago. That’s why at SRT we’ve changed our business model to work on less volume. We could make three times more Grand Cherokee SRTs and still sell them, but we’re truncating the volume on purpose to manage CAFE, but also to be sure we can command a premium. Thank God we have the mother ship to balance us out. Viper is small enough to be insignificant to CAFE but still be iconic and give us bragging rights.
HRM] In new-car design, when is retro going to wear off?
RG] Sigh…it’s kinda now. If you look, it’s retro-modern now. I think the last few years it was truly retro, directly capturing the past. Look at, like, the new Jaguar F-series; it’s retro proportioned, but it’s very new. I think the Viper’s the same way. It’s respecting our heritage but not relying on it.
HRM] So is the next Challenger still going to look like a ’70 Challenger?
RG] Mmmmmaybe…[laughs]. But that’s a special car. I think the Challenger is our place to enjoy heritage. That’s why I like working at Chrysler: We have 23 or more nameplates, and there’s times when we’re futuristic because we know customers like that, and other time’s we’re heritage. The next Charger’s going to be much more futuristic than a throwback. And the Dart clearly has nothing to do with the old car.
You can read the rest of the interview here http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/1404_take_five_with_ralph_gilles/viewall.html
