Muscle car wars 2009

With the updated Challenger, Chrysler decided to stay truer to the original. Designers even brought a 1970 Dodge Challenger into the studio to work from. The result is, almost precisely, an updated version of the classic. The seams are tighter, the lines are cleaner, and the car is, overall, quite a bit larger, but it's still clearly recognizable as a Challenger.

Although it will eventually be available with a range of engine choices, the Challenger will enter the market with only a big 6.1-liter V8 which will power the Challenger SRT8.

With most Chrysler Corp. vehicles, the SRT version - for "Street and Racing Technology" - comes a year or more after the less-powerful mass-market versions of the car. This time Chrysler is appealing to performance enthusiasts first.

"Auto enthusiasts who are the kind of people that other people go to when they're looking for a car" said Mike Accavitti, director of Dodge and SRT marketing for Chrysler.

That's why it's still so important for car companies to appeal to that group, even if it means making extreme high-performance vehicles that sell in relatively low numbers. Impress those performance enthusiasts and you've impressed a much wider circle of potential customers.