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Thieves relieve Detroit-area Dodge dealer of $70,000 in SRT wheels

Okay Mopar fans, this won't be easy to read. A video, which has since been made private, popped up over on Reddit's Cars subreddit over the weekend and detailed the aftermath of a massive wheel heist at a metro Detroit dealership. Thieves broke into Sterling Heights Dodge and made off with at least $70,000 worth of wheels and tires. The thieves ignored the V6 models and instead targeted Hellcat, SRT392, Scat Pack, and R/T versions of the Charger and Challenger. The poor muscle cars were left sitting on blocks, with the voice behind the video saying the treatment led to underbody damage. We only counted 12 cars, but the person shooting the video said thieves targeted 14 vehicles. That works out to about $5,000 in wheels per vehicle. We've reached out to Sterling Heights Dodge general manager and the Sterling Heights Police Department for comments. We haven't heard back yet, but we'll be sure to update this post with any additional information. Oh, and if you're in metro Detroit and perusing Craigslist for a new set of alloys, we'd advise against buying Dodge wheels for the next few weeks. They might be hot. Related Video:

Chrysler banks $507 million in Q2, trims 2013 earnings forecast

Chrysler has some good news and some bad news. First, profits were up 16 percent over the second quarter of 2012, bringing the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based manufacturer $507 million on the back of strong demand for trucks and SUVs (a recurring theme this quarter, particularly in the US). Q2 revenue was up as well, from $16.8 billion in 2012 to $18 billion in 2013. The bad news is that the Pentastar's overall earnings forecast for net income in 2013 has been trimmed from $2.2 billion to between $1.7 and $2.2 billion, according to Automotive News.
In addition to the adjusted net income forecast, Chrysler tweaked its operating profit from $3.8 billion to between $3.3 and $3.8 billion. This has gone largely unexplained by Chrysler, perhaps hoping the news of a three-percent increase in its transaction prices for Q2 will allow it to sweep this adjustment under the rug.
The star of the show for Chrysler has been its US sales, which saw a 10-percent jump, both bettering the industry average of eight percent and improving over the same stretch of 2012. As with the increase in transaction prices, Chrysler has the new Ram pickup and Jeep Grand Cherokee to thank. Perhaps most worrying from this report, though, is that every brand in the automaker's stable saw an increase in sales... except for the Chrysler brand itself.

Aficionauto drives Vin Diesel's fast and furious 1970 Dodge Charger

The Aficionauto host Christopher Rutkowski has a real passion for original and replica cars from movies and television, whether they are from James Bond, Jurassic Park, or incredibly obscure Japanese shows. However, he might have outdone himself this time because he hopped into one of the biggest automotive stars of contemporary cinema. This 1970 Dodge Charger appeared in Fast & Furious and came back in Fast Five, where Paul Walker actually drove it. The menacing, black muscle car will make its return to the franchise in the seventh film, too.
The Fast and Furious Charger is a real beast no matter how you look at it. The interior is nothing more than two seats and a roll cage, and as the video shows, this thing vibrates constantly like a coiled mass of muscle ready to strike. The camera can barely stay in place most of the time. Also, Dom's Dodge is more than happy to do a smoky burnout and leave the driver partially deaf afterward from its wonderful, ear-splitting engine roar.
The Aficionauto also interviews the man who controls the keys to this beast. Bob Hartwig was once an F-15 pilot, but he also loved Hollywood vehicles. Now, he's a partner at Picture Car Warehouse, a company with about 850 cars that supplies vehicles to film studios. This Charger definitely seems to be Hartwig's favorite in the collection, as it should be.