[Chrysler300] Chrysler 300C

[RONVE@xxxxxxx]

 Hi Listers,
Someone asked the other day about the sales performance of the new 300.
This was in the Chicago Tribune yesterday!
Ron ...


--------------------
Hemi engine puts some kick in Chrysler 300C, sales 
--------------------

By Jim Mateja
Tribune auto columnist

August 12, 2004, 5:00 PM CDT

Chrysler plans to add a little extra spice to a successful recipe.

It brought out the rear-wheel-drive 300 sedan a few months ago as the 2005 
successor to the front-wheel-drive Chrysler Concorde. It hoped the new car could 
attract 100,000 buyers annually.

The 300 is doing better than expected, attracting more than 12,000 buyers a 
month. That puts it on target to sell about 150,000 units annually.

The key to the 300's success isn't necessarily that it's rear-drive and will 
add all-wheel-drive this fall or that it sports appealing styling and lots of 
amenities.

Fact is, 47 percent of the 300's buyers are purchasing the top-of-the-line C 
version because it comes with a 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 and the low-end models come 
with V-6s.

To take advantage of the popularity of the high-performance Hemi, which 
achieves 340 horsepower, Chrysler will add an even more potent version next spring. 
The 6.1-liter Hemi in the SRT-8 will generate 425 horsepower.

SRT refers to Chrysler's Street and Racing Technology team, which develops 
limited-edition performance renditions of existing vehicles to draw more folks 
into showrooms.

The team has created SRT versions of the Dodge Viper, Neon and Ram truck and 
Chrysler Crossfire.

Chrysler tweaked the engine in the 300C to come up with one that promises a 
zero-to-60 m.p.h. acceleration time of less than 5 seconds, or 1.3 seconds 
faster than now.

The SRT-8 will be set off from the 300C with different front and rear 
fasciae; body-color bumpers, grille inserts, mirrors and door handles; a deck lid 
spoiler; and SRT-8 badging.

And it will be offered only in silver or black.

The 300C SRT-8 will differ from the regular 300C Hemi in other ways. The 
SRT-8 will be offered only in rear-drive version.

And the SRT-8 Hemi won't have the multiple displacement system that boosts 
fuel economy by shutting off 4 cylinders when not needed.

Without the system, the SRT-8 will be rated at 14 miles per gallon city/19 
m.p.g. highway, unlike the 17/25 rating for the 300C. By not reaching 22 m.p.g. 
in combined city/highway driving, the SRT-8 will carry a gas-guzzler tax, 
expected to be $1,000, though it hasn't been set.

The 300C SRT-8 also will offer 5-speed automatic transmission with Autostick 
for clutchless manual shifting, anti-lock brakes, stability control and 
20-inch "three season" tires. Snow tires will be available through dealers for the 
fourth season.

Chrysler says the new 6.1-liter Hemi V-8 will be used only in limited-edition 
SRT versions, and it's looking at other vehicles to use it in as well.

The 300C Hemi starts at $32,370. The SRT-8 will carry a premium, but no price 
has been set.

Speaking of power: Dave Hill, vehicle line executive for the Chevrolet 
Corvette, said that while the next generation of the sports car that comes out this 
fall will be powered by a 6-liter V-8 that produces 400 horsepower, "It won't 
carry a gas-guzzler tax, and how many 400-h.p. engines do you know of that 
don't carry a guzzler tax?"

He couldn't have been thinking of the 300C SRT-8, could he?

The Chevy SSR roadster truck will upgrade engines to a 6-liter V-8 for 2005 
from the current 5.3-liter V-8. And the '05 SSR will offer a choice of a 
4-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual transmission starting in November. It has only 
the automatic now.

Hear Jim Mateja on WBBM Newsradio 780 at 6:22 p.m. Wednesdays and 11:22 a.m. 
Sundays.


Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune



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