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FCA's large, LX-based RWD cars will stick around until 2020

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plans to stick with the Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, and Chrysler 300 until at least 2020, reports Automotive News. The information comes from two unnamed sources and was loosely confirmed by details in the automaker's new labor contract with Unifor, Canada's auto union. The plan, according to two anonymous sources, is to lightly refresh the Challenger, Charger, and 300 until the vehicles make the switch to FCA's new Giorgio platform. The refresh, as Automotive News points out, will happen in 2018. The Giorgio platform currently underpins the Alfa Romeo Giulia and is expected to find its way to two of the three large American vehicles for the 2021 model year. At that time, FCA will discontinue either the Charger or the 300, claim AN's unnamed sources. If one of the vehicles were to go, it would most likely be the 300. The 300's LX platform would be approximately 15 years old in 2020 and the vehicle doesn't draw in as many sales as the Challenger or the Charger. The Charger made the switch from the LX platform in 2010 with the current model utilizing the mildly updated LD platform, while the Challenger recently moved from the LC platform to the LA platform last year. All of those rear-wheel-drive platforms are closely related. Automotive News points out that FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne stated that the new platform could be utilized across various applications in a conference call with analysts last month. The plan, according to the report, is to stretch and widen the Giorgio platform for the next-gen Challenger and Charger. The new platform is also rigid enough to allow the automaker to add a convertible to its lineup, which could lend further credence to rumors of an upcoming Barracuda. Hopefully, the move to the new Giorgio platform doesn't delay the all-wheel-drive Challenger GT AWD or the wide-body, Hellcat-powered Challenger ADR. We'll just have to wait and see. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Chrysler Dodge Coupe Performance Sedan FCA fiat chrysler automobiles

Dodge celebrates big B-day with 100th Anniversary Editions muscle cars

Being in business for 100 years is a HUGE milestone, so we hope Dodge has more in mind to celebrate its centennial than just a special edition package for the 2014 Charger and Challenger. Called the 100th Anniversary Edition package, this collection of cosmetic enhancements will be available in limited quantities for both cars at a cost of $2,500.
Ordering a Charger or Challenger with the 100th Anniversary Edition package means starting with either a V6-powered SXT Plus or V8-powered R/T Plus model. They can each be ordered in many colors, but only the High-Octane Red Pearl Coat above is an anniversary exclusive. Each car also comes with an anniversary-exclusive set of 20-inch, five-spoke wheels with what Dodge calls "Granite Crystal pockets," a texture that's also mirrored on each car's grille.
Of course, there are commemorative badges galore affixed to the exterior of each car, including "Dodge Est. 1914" fender badges and "100" logos on the center caps of each wheel. The styling theme of each car's interior is a bit more interesting, with Dodge designers trying to evoke "the patina and machinist legacy of John and Horace Dodge," the company's founders. To that end, the leather interior can be had in Molten Red or Foundry Black Nappa, and each features a custom cloud overprint that makes the hide look like a working man's dirty dungarees. Designers also used brass-colored accent stitching on the interior's leather trim pieces, and affixed more "Dodge Est. 1914" badges to the front seat backs and floor mats. We do like the flat-bottomed steering wheel, and the Challenger 100th Anniversary Edition gets exclusive white gauges faces and the Charger black. The "100" on each car's speedometer is also highlighted in red.

Cruise Woodward Avenue with Autoblog's Dodge Challenger Hellcat

While Autoblog was consumed by coverage of the increasingly important Monterey Car Week last weekend, there was another big even going on. The Woodward Dream Cruise is significantly lighter in terms of news, but there's no denying that it's a far bigger, and far more egalitarian than what the wine-and-cheese crowd experience on the links at Pebble Beach. The Dream Cruise crams tens of thousands of cars and over a million spectators along a four-lane ribbon of asphalt between Ferndale and Pontiac, MI. What's remarkable aren't these numbers, though, so much as the distances they travel. Owners and admirers come from far and wide, across the United States and in some cases across the globe, to take in the spectacle. This year, local radio and television coverage featured fans that traveled from Japan, Australia, and Europe, just to take in the cruise. Of course, we realize that not everyone can make the pilgrimage to Woodward Avenue. With that fact in mind, we decided to bring a bit of the Dream Cruise to Autoblog with a time-lapse video of the cruise route. You can experience the good (a Lamborghini Gallardo, Chevrolet Chevelle, and Oldsmobile Cutlass 442), the bad (the traffic jams), and the ugly (no, your 2003 Ford Focus does not qualify as a classic, get the hell out of the cruiser lanes). So join us, as we turn off 8 Mile Road behind the wheel of our 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and run north, through Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Huntington Woods, Berkley, Bloomfield Township, and Bloomfield Hills, before ending up on Wide Track Drive in Pontiac.