Dodge to revise its marketing strategy, no longer wants to be power brand
click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Dodge Challenger SE and R/T
Dodge and its Ram badge has long been associated with power, and the marque is considered to be Chrysler's performance brand. In these days of record high fuel prices, though, being associated with horsepower could also mean an association with the guzzling of gasoline. Believe it or not, Dodge does not want this image, so it may be tweaking its marketing strategy a bit in a bid to change with the times.
"We can't be all about the monster Hemi and smoking tires, and we realize that," says Dodge brand director Mike Accavitti. "Nobody wants to be the gas guzzler brand. There's not a real secure future in that type of marketing strategy." This new, kinder, gentler image could even be adopted by the new Dodge Challenger, which was just recently released with a large and very powerful 6.1 liter Hemi V8 as its lone engine option. Soon, though, Dodge will release lower power models of the iconic pony car, equipped with both a smaller Hemi engine with cylinder deactivation technology and a 3.5 liter V6, though the six cylinder will be paired only with a four speed automatic transmission.
Dodge has managed to eke more mileage from its full-size Ram pickup truck, which is a good first step. The move from a "power" brand to a brand associated with "strength," though, will take much more than one product cycle refresh before consumers forget the line, "That thing got a Hemi?"
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Drewboy 9:57PM (6/11/2008)
If the Challenger wasn't already so fat, maybe a Hemi Hybrid with cylinder deactivation could make sense. The added weight wouldn't add to the fun though.
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Victor 1:08AM (6/12/2008)
Chrysler is currently my least car manufacture but why not make a hemi-4 cylinder (
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SPG 6:14AM (6/12/2008)
Chrysler made some V8 slaying turbo 4's in the 80's and early 90's. And I for one, would not be against seeing the SRT division grow.
The SRT Neon/SX and Caliber are only the beginning of what could be somthing great.
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dave 7:19AM (6/12/2008)
Victor - The Chrysler 2.2 and 2.4 4 cyl. engines were Hemi's. It even said that on the badges attached to every Reliant and Aries that had this engine. In later form w/turbos and intercoolers they made some great horsepower.
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Rick 7:05PM (6/12/2008)
So the next time someone asks "that thing thar got a Hemi in it?" The answer will be "no"?
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rev0lver 12:19PM (6/12/2008)
Dave:
I don't believe those were hemis
The first K-car engine was normally-aspirated 2.2 L. It was introduced in the 1981 Dodge Aries, Plymouth Horizon and Plymouth Reliant, and was produced until 1994. The 2.2 was a homegrown replacement for the 1.7 L Volkswagen engine Chrysler had initially used in its Omni and Horizon models. Many of the features of the 2.2 are based on the company's experience with the Volkswagen engine[citation needed], including the aluminum head/iron block design, the SOHC design with in-line valves, the offset water pump, and the location of both the intake and exhaust manifolds on the rear of the engine.
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MikeW 1:12PM (6/12/2008)
You'd imagine that making Hemi V6s would be a fun summer project.
350hp 4.6 liter V6 (from the 6.1)
300hp 4.3 liter V6 (off the 5.7)
Now if they only had a nice 6 speed automatic too.
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dave 3:22PM (6/12/2008)
Check the factory shop manuals. The 2.2 and later 2.4's were all hemis.
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66coronet 1:50AM (6/13/2008)
So bring on the dodge caliber 1.8L 2mode hybrid & VW 2.0Lcrd, Dodge Journey VW 2.0Lcrd & (2.4L or 3.3LMDS) 2mode hybrid & MB2.2lCRD, Dodge caravan 3.3L MDS & 4.0L MDS 2mode hybrid & MB2.2L crd, dodge charger MB3.0L crd, Dodge dakota 4.0L MDS 2mode hybrid + MB3.0L crd 4x2 & cummins V-6 4x4, Ram 1500 V-6 cummins 4x2 & V-8 cummins 4x4, 4.0L MDS 2 mode hybrid.
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rev0lver 10:33AM (6/13/2008)
dave:
Please provide a link to prove they were hemis. I can find no information confirming they were hemis.
From Wikipedia "Hemi engine"
Chrysler
Perhaps the most widely known proponent of the hemispherical chamber design is the Chrysler Corporation. Chrysler became identified primarily by trademarking the "Hemi" name and then using it extensively in their advertising campaigns beginning in the 1960's. Chrysler has produced three generations of such engines: the first (the Chrysler FirePower engine) in the 1950s, the second (the 426 Hemi), developed for NASCAR in 1964 and produced through the early 1970s, and finally the "new Hemi" in the early 2000's. The "Hemi" engine introduced in 2002 by DaimlerChrysler had a combustion chamber featuring valve and spark plug locations markedly different from the 426ci Hemi engine of muscle car fame. The current-production "Hemi" V8 with its pinched chamber, does not have true hemispherical combustion chambers despite the name. Rather, it bears a closer resemblance to the mid-1950's Polyspherical chamber, which Chrysler engineers developed as a lower cost alternative head for their V8 engines. The Polyspherical head needed less metal and was narrower due to using only one rocker shaft. This saved costs in material, space and warranty claims and allowed it to be used in smaller vehicles. Chrysler's Australian-market Hemi-6 of 1970-80 had partial-spherical hemi chambers, though they were only 35% of a sphere.
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Whopper 1:35PM (6/13/2008)
@revOlver, Your Wikipedia article had no reference to the small 4 cyl Chryslers...your point was???
Neither of the 2.2 or 2.4L engines were hemis in the truest sense. The "fast burn" cylinder head came closest. The real advantage of the old hemi was related to the size of the valves due to the combustion chamber shape and canted valve angles. Chevy accomplished something similar when they introduced the "porcupine" heads on the 396/427/454.
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Mbank 9:30AM (11/12/2008)
Actually, there were 2.2L HEMIs in the early 1990s. Those rare (limited production) 2.2L DOHC Turbo-Intercooled engines have Chrysler designed, Lotus engineered multi-valve aluminum-alloy heads. Unfortunately, the 2.5L variant ( GEN II featuring VCF) never saw the light of day. The later was used to develope (benchmark) the soon to follow new 2.0L & 2.4L NEON engines.
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racingdave 10:20AM (6/14/2008)
rev0ler,
i believe that dave was referring to the 2.6 engine.
from wikipedia
"The Aries was powered by a then-new 2.2 L I4 SOHC engine, with a Mitsubishi "Silent Shaft" 2.6 L as an option (curiously this engine also featured hemispherical combustion chambers, and all 1981 Aries equipped with it featured "HEMI" badges on the front fenders). Initial sales were brisk, with over 150,000 units sold in 1981."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Aries
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