Reid Bigland, Dodge CEO, was recently interviewed by Modern MOPAR Magazine at the Chicago Auto Show. Here are his comments about the Challenger: MMM: What’s the outlook for Challenger? Does it have a bright future? Or has it reached its twilight? RB: The Challenger continues to do extremely well for us. Thank god there’s still people out there, like me, who still love the American muscle machine! Now, if you think about it, this Challenger has had a longer run that the original car did from 1970. The key with bringing retro-styled cars back, is to keep them fresh. And when you have a retro look and you bring it into a modern day version, which the Challenger is, how do you continue to keep that fresh and cutting-edge going forward? For right now, it’s livin.’ And it’s livin’ large. MMM: In the meantime, will the Challenger ever get the 8-speed automatic? And will we ever see a manual transmission with the Pentastar V6? RB: No comment on the 8-speed. I don’t think you’ll see a manual linked to the 3.6. Unlikely. MMM: How about an 8-speed in V8 vehicles? RB: Can’t comment on that right now.
I still think that 2013 will be the last year for the Challenger. The key words in Bigland's remarks were, "how do you continue to keep that fresh and cutting-edge going forward? For right now, it’s livin.’ And it’s livin’ large." There is nothing more Dodge can do to the exterior of the Challenger to keep it "fresh" without adversely affecting its retro design. Look for the Barracuda to replace the Challenger in one more year.
