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We're pretty sure the Challenger SRT Demon won't have 1,121 horsepower, but what if?

Dodge's slow rollout of the upcoming Demon continues, and with it comes endless speculation about what it all means. Every video, every image, and every press release contains some clue that points towards the Demon's final specs. We don't think any of it is random or arbitrary. This week cryptic image, a small plate with a name and two numbers, shows us a little more than last week's license plate. Unfortunately, Dodge will neither confirm or deny anything, meaning we have no way of knowing which rabbit hole to go down. Don't expect to see official horsepower, a quarter-mile time, or an MSRP until the New York Auto Show. The plate is attached to the crate of goodies that comes along with every Dodge Demon. This particular one is labeled with three things: Tom Coddington, serial number 0757, and VIN 001121. The name is simple enough. According to Hot Rod, Coddington was one of the original Ramchargers, a group of engineers in the early 1960s that helped Dodge get involved in drag racing. He was a fuel system specialist, motor consultant, and a rotating garage manager. All of that could be clues. While a name is easy enough to Google, the two numbers can't be broken down so easily. The crazier theory is that the car makes 1,121 horsepower and will do the quarter-mile in 7.57 seconds. Frankly, those numbers are about as likely as the Demon actually being powered by a Rolls-Royce turbofan engine from a Boeing 757 or packing a carburetor with 1,121 CFM. The Demon is going to be street legal, and the costs associated with making a 1,121-hp car meet emissions standards alone are assuredly astronomical. As our friends from Road & Track pointed out, the more likely theory is that 757 is actually the horsepower rating. This seems totally plausible, but it means we still don't know what 1,121 means. Surely it's not a drag strip time, as the standard Hellcat will do 1/4 mile in 11.2 seconds. Like before, if you have any ideas, post them in the comments. Until April, we'll keep trying to solve Dodge's demonic puzzle. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: Road & Track, Hot RodImage Credit: FCA New York Auto Show Dodge Coupe Performance dodge demon dodge hellcat

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.

Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat vs. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in latest Head 2 Head

"Olympian" is one of the terms we use to signify the greatest height, the seat of the gods. Yet Mt. Olympus is the second-highest peak in the Balkans ranges, overshadowed by the crest at Musala in Bulgaria's Rila mountains. Both great heights, but one is a little higher. That's how we get the Olympian Chevy Camaro ZL1 pitched at the Musalic Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat in Motor Trend's latest episode of Head 2 Head. The side-by-side spec sheet is filled with farcical numbers. For the ZL1, that's a 6.2-liter V8 with 580 horsepower, 556 pound-feet of torque, a 4,051-pound curb weight, 0-to-60 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds, a quarter-mile time of 12.2 seconds and a base price of just $57,800. Opposing that, the Hellcat wrings out its 6.2-liter V8 for 707 hp, 650 lb-ft of torque, weighs 4,449 pounds, does the quarter in 11.7 seconds and has a base price of just $60,990. Except in the case of the Hellcat, when Motor Trend put it on the dyno the machine spit out a reading of 672 hp and 606 lb-ft at the wheels. If there's a 10-percent driveline loss through those beefed-up internals and heavy-duty eight-speed transmission, that means the Hellcat is actually rated at about 750 horsepower and 700 lb-ft. But once they get put on a closed-off strip of coast road in Northern California, there are only a few strands of hair between their respective performances. That's not the case for they sensations provide; host Jonny Lieberman calls one of them, "One of the most incredible cars ever made," and says, "It changes everything." Watch the video above to see who got the verdict and how. Related Video: