1969 Dodge Coronet Rt on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Dodge CEO and Gas Monkey Garage dissect the 10-second Challenger Hellcat

So far, whenever we've seen the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT with its 707-horsepower, supercharged Hellcat V8, the muscle car has been smoking its tires. Dodge is finally proving that the SRT can do more than ruin perfectly good sets of rubber, though. In it's latest video, company CEO Tim Kuniskis hands the Hellcat off to the guys from Gas Monkey Garage to show how quickly the automaker's most powerful model can make it down the drag strip.
Of course, the only fitting contender to race against Dodge's latest top muscle car is its grandpa - a Hemi-powered 1971 Challenger, in this case. Before getting to the main event, the hosts also show off some of the SRT's unique features like the blanks in the grille that feed the intercoolers. We'll go ahead and spoil that the Hellcat makes its pass in the 10-second range, and the video admits the tires on the production version would take just a touch longer to cover the quarter-mile. However, you have to watch film to see just how quick it actually goes. Scroll down to see a classic example of American muscle drag racing against its modern legacy.

2013 Dodge Durango R/T

Not too long ago, Chevrolet got itself into some trouble by throwing the SS badge on just about everything it produced, so I've always been a little hesitant about the seemingly excessive use of the R/T nameplate on Dodge vehicles. For the 2013 model year, every model in Dodge's lineup has an R/T trim level from Dart all the way up to the Durango. Although the R/T name used to signified models made for road and track, I doubt anyone would be delusional enough to assume the Durango - and some of the other models wearing this badge - are suited for any sort of track duty.
Still, when this 2013 Dodge Durango R/T rolled up for me to drive for the week, I couldn't help but take in its big, mean and imposing stance. Sure, if I had my choice of buying any of the Dodge R/T products, the Charger and Challenger would be my top picks for sure, but it's easy to say that the Durango would be a close third - far above the R/T versions of the Avenger, Journey and Grand Caravan.
Driving Notes

China-FCA merger could be a win-win for everyone but politicians

NEW YORK — Fiat Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne has said the car industry needs to come together, cut costs and stop incinerating capital. So far, his words have mostly fallen on deaf ears among competitors in Europe and North America. But it appears Marchionne has finally found a receptive audience — in China. FCA shares soared Monday after trade publication Automotive News reported the $18 billion Italian-American conglomerate controlled by the Agnelli family rebuffed a takeover from an unidentified carmaker from the Chinese mainland. As ugly as the politics of such a combination may appear at first blush, a transaction could stack up industrially, and perhaps even financially. A Sino-U.S.-European merger would create the first truly global auto group. That could push consolidation to the next level elsewhere. Moreover, China is the world's top market for the SUVs that Jeep effectively invented, so it might benefit FCA financially. A combo would certainly help upgrade the domestic manufacturer; Chinese carmakers have gotten better at making cars, but struggle to build global brands, and they need to develop export markets. Though frivolous overseas shopping excursions by Chinese enterprises are being reined in by Beijing, acquisitions that support the modernization and transformation of strategic industries still receive support, and the government considers the automotive industry to be strategic. A purchase of FCA by Guangzhou Automobile, Great Wall or Dongfeng Motors would probably get the same stamp of approval ChemChina was given for its $43 billion takeover of Syngenta. What's standing in the way? Apart from price (Automotive News said FCA's board deemed the offer insufficient) there's the not-insignificant matter of politics. Even as FCA shares soared, President Donald Trump interrupted his vacation to instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to look into whether to investigate China's trade policies on intellectual property. Seeing storied Detroit brands like Jeep, Chrysler, Ram and Dodge handed off to a Chinese company would provoke howls among Trump's economic-nationalist supporters. It might not play well in Italy, either, to see Alfa Romeo and Maserati answering to Wuhan instead of Turin — though Automotive News said they might be spun off separately. Yet, as Morgan Stanley observes, "cars don't ship across oceans easily," and political considerations increasingly demand local manufacture of valuable products.