http://www.allpar.com/noos/allpar.rss Allpar's Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth news, covering cars, trucks, minivans, corporate changes, and some rumors and Allpar site news. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1417 Chrysler has cut a clone from its future plans. According to vice chairman James Press, the company has dropped plans to build a Chrysler-badged version of the new Journey crossover and will use the money to develop a new small car to be produced by Nissan.The decision highlights the automaker’s commitment to offer more fuel-efficient vehicles and reduce brand overlap in its product line. The downside is the decision will leave Chrysler with fewer new products for the 2009 model year, which analysts say could lead to further losses in market share.Tom LaSorda, Press’ opposite number for engineering, manufacturing and product development, said, "The bottom line is to shift the portfolio into mid- and small cars as fast as we can and balance the portfolio and the technology."Chrysler’s own efforts will continue to be focused on Project D, launched late last year to develop a new global mid-sized platform. According to LaSorda, Chrysler decided against working with Nissan on a mid-sized car because the Project D platform is seen as the core of Chrysler’s future product portfolio. According to the company, it will be flexible enough to support vehicles both larger and smaller than possible with the current platform used by the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger mid-size cars and the Dodge Journey crossover.."You need to have it where it can grow a little bit or shrink a little bit: similar to what others are doing," LaSorda noted. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1416 Steve Saleen and his new company SMS introduced today the first product in his line of Signature Series ultra-high performance vehicles, the SMS 570TM Challenger and SMS 570XTM Challenger.As a professional racecar driver and innovative businessman, Mr. Saleen is well known as the founder of a number of Steve Saleen brands including Saleen Autosport, Saleen Productions, Saleen Speedlab, Saleen Performance, Saleen, Inc. and now SMS. Mr. Saleen‘s latest endeavor will focus on the expansion into the high-end of the diverse American Muscle Car markets.The fully certified and street legal SMS 570TM Challenger and SMS 570XTM Challenger will be based on the 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T and will feature a SMS Supercharged 5.7L Hemi with respective power ratings from 500 to over 700 horsepower. Both models are equipped with SMS high performance components including drivetrain, suspension, aerodynamics, tires, wheels and interior.“The horsepower and torque that we are developing from the SMS Supercharged Hemi is phenomenal” said Billy Tally, SMS Chief Technical Officer, “combined with suspension and braking improvements our SMS Challenger will be an incredibly capable, refined and tractable vehicle”. Each of these limited edition vehicles will be personally signed by Steve Saleen as part of the SMS Signature Series product line complete with unique badges and graphics. Production numbers will be limited per year depending on the model and the opportunity to be one of the few owners is limited to a first-come, first-served basis. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1415 Chrysler’s newest muscle car created its first traffic jam as it drew lots of attention from U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials this week.Reid Bigland, CEO of Chrysler Canada, was driving one of the new Dodge Challenger SRT8s through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and stopped at the border checkpoint where the car was surrounded by three customs officers. Turns out they weren’t worried about terrorists or contraband; they wanted to get a good look at the new Hemi-powered coupe. In the process, traffic was backed up for an hour."They checked out everything but my ID," Bigland said later. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1414 Late night on Mother’s Day, Team Mopar drivers Kasey Kahne, Brady Bacon, Gary Scelzi, Allen Johnson, Jack Beckman, Samuel Hübinette, Shaun Carlson and Brian Collins will be featured on SpeedFreaks, America’s top motorsports radio show. On Sunday, May 11, from 10 p.m. to midnight EDT (7 to 9 p.m. PDT), the drivers will make in-studio appearances as well as call in with the SpeedFreaks trio of Kenny Sargent, Crash Gladys and Statt Mann Caruthers.In the first hour, the SpeedFreaks will feature NHRA Funny Car driver Jack Beckman as their in-studio guest. Beckman, who drives for Don Schumacher Racing, has one win this year and is currently eighth in the points battle. NASCAR standout Kasey Kahne, a Team Mopar USAC owner, will make a call-in appearance in the first hour. Kahne will be joined by 18-year-old Brady Bacon, a driver for Kasey’s USAC team. Bacon is currently second in the USAC Sprint Series points standings. The second hour will feature two-time Formula Drift champion Samuel Hübinette and his team owner, Shaun Carlson, in the studio. On the phone will be four-time NHRA champion Gary Scelzi and NHRA Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson. Johnson is currently fifth in the Pro Stock points as he goes into next weekend’s O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, which is Johnson’s home track. Look for another call-in, this time from Team Mopar newcomer Brian Collins, who racked up back-to-back wins at the SCORE San Felipe 250 and the SNORE Mint 400. Collins and his No. 12 Dodge Ram 1500 are preparing for the upcoming Tecate SCORE Baja 500 which gets underway on May 31. SpeedFreaks radio show is heard on over 70 stations nationwide, SIRIUS Satellite channel 122, the Armed Forces Network and live on the Internet at www.sportsbyline.com. Listeners can call in to 1-86-69-FREAKS. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1413 (from James Hale)Every year, Huixquilucan (prononce "whisky LOOK on") hosts what has become an important car show. This town is now a suburb of Mexico City, to the west, up in the mountains.The car show displays many vintage cars, the most of which are in top shape, and some of which were inherited and have never left the family of the original owner. You won't see any special, rare or too exotic cars over there, compared to what you have in the US, but the event has earned a very good reputation.So good in fact, that Chrysler saw it fit to introduce their new Challenger, of which Mexico will get 100 units of the SRT version. The first Challenger to be sold in Mexico was put up for bids, and it fetched no less than $660,000 pesos, that is, US$62,857.14 (exhange rate: US$1.00 = Mex10.5).The car wasn't in Mexico at the time, and Chrysler Mexico president gave the winner of the bid a scale model of the car, while he waits for the real thing, which incidentally, is a production model, not a prototypePart of the proceeds will go to charity through the Chrysler Foundation. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1412 The first 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8s rolled off the Brampton line on Thursday as workers cheered. The new muscle cars will hit dealer showrooms next week but won’t stay there long; almost all of them are already sold."We haven't seen this kind of hype for a vehicle since we launched the first Viper," said Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler executive vice president for manufacturing, who addressed a crowd of employees, Canadian government officials and reporters. Company executives boasted the Challenger was launched with the least expensive manufacturing startup in Chrysler history. The car went from drawing board to showroom in 21 months and it cost just $151 million to set up the factory to build it. According to Ewasyshyn, that’s the least the automaker has ever spent to launch a single vehicle. He went on to say flexible manufacturing helped control the costs. The Challenger is built with the same machinery as the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 and many of the pilot cars were assembled without shutting down the production line. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1411 The Dodge Challenger was officially launched today. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1410 Chrysler has announced more details of its new “Let’s Refuel America” incentive program. The program provides a cap of $2.99 per gallon of fuel for up to 12,000 miles per year for three years. “Let’s Refuel America” runs from May 7, 2008 to June 2, 2008 and is available on all new 2008 and 2009 model year Chrysler vehicles except the following: All SRT models, Sprinter, Viper, Crossfire, Wrangler, Ram Chassis Cab, and Challenger models. Please see the Full Story for an overview of the program. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1409 Fitch Ratings cut Chrysler issuer default ratings deeper into junk territory on Wednesday. Fitch gave Chrysler a “B” rating, five levels below investment grade, and said the company has a negative ratings outlook which means another downgrade is possible. Fitch had previously rated Chrysler as “B-plus.”"The downgrade reflects the decline in unit volumes and revenues resulting from weak economic conditions, modest share losses, certain strategic initiatives, and the effect of these factors on the company's operating performance," said Fitch in a statement.Fitch said it expects capital investments and restructuring costs will keep Chrysler's cash flow negative in 2008. On the plus side, the agency noted Chrysler’s restructuring efforts remain on track and the automaker has adequate liquidity to fund sustain it during the current weak economy. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1408 Although Chrysler's Mexican sales fell by 11% in March 2008 (compared with March 2007), it still managed to rise above Ford in market share as Ford plummeted by 35%. The leader in Mexican sales is Nissan, with 17,800 vehicles sold in March; that's down by 3% from last year. GM fell 20%, Volkswagen 26%. Mazda sales increased but were only 1.512 units; the mighty Toyota's sales fell 11% and remain roughly half of Chrysler and Ford sales. In March 2007, Ford sold around 3,700 more vehicles than Chrysler in Mexico; in March 2008, Chrysler beat Ford by around 300 vehicles. As a whole, Mexico's car sales fell by 17%. http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1407 The Verona PBA is having a Cops and Rodders Show on Sunday June 22, 2008. There will be several Mopar sqaud cars attending. For more information, see http://copsandrodders.copcircle.com/ http://www.allpar.com/news/?action=fullnews&id=1406 Chrysler is introducing a new incentive program. “Let’s Refuel America” guarantees that customers who buy or lease a qualified new Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicle won’t pay more than $2.99 per gallon for gasoline during the first three years of ownership."Today, we are proud to introduce an unprecedented program to help put customers' minds at ease and do something to help working people who are worried about the volatility of fuel prices and vehicle cost of ownership," Jim Press, Chrysler vice chairman, said in a statement. The program "puts money in your pocket today, and allows our customers to better manage their fuel expenses."Other automakers have had various programs to take the sting out of high fuel prices, but the Chrysler program stands alone in covering the entire nation and most of the company’s current products.“Let’s Refuel America” will be available starting Wednesday at all U.S. Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealerships and will run through June 2. It provides an annual allowance based on the vehicle's estimated mileage and 12,000 miles' driving for each of the three years. It does not cover high-performance SRT models, the Crossfire, Jeep Wrangler, new Dodge Challenger and Viper. The Dodge Ram Chassis Cab and Sprinter van are also excluded. Participation in the program is optional and retail customers can still choose from other incentives.