Muscle Cars Make a Comeback

[question everything]

Muscle Cars Make a Comeback

In Effort to Lure Back Buyers, Detroit Turns to Retro Models Of Mustangs, GTOs, Chargers

By NEAL E. BOUDETTE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 16, 2005; Page D1

The American auto industry is trying to muscle its way out of the doldrums.

Three decades after the heyday of muscle cars -- raw, powerful vehicles such as the Ford Mustang and Pontiac GTO that helped define freedom-of-the-road independence for a generation -- some newly redesigned versions are emerging as strong sellers. Ford Motor Co. is selling about 18,000 Mustangs a month, as many as its factory can produce, and says demand is greater than expected.

In coming weeks it will face a new challenger, the Dodge Charger, from DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, which is hitting showrooms this month and is a remake of a vehicle that last rolled off assembly lines more than 25 years ago. The Mustang and GTO have both been on the market since last year. The stakes are high for Detroit's Big Three auto makers, which are having trouble finding new designs that connect with buyers. At Ford, the Mustang is one of its few big hits among several new passenger cars that were supposed the help the company regain market share.

(snip)

Part of the Mustang's appeal to buyers is its aggressive, retro look. As part of the redesign for the 2005 model year, Ford reverted to styling that hews closely to the look of the Mustangs of the mid-1960s. The most noticeable change is the car's front end, which features a large grille slanted backward toward the engine, giving it sort of a "shark nose" profile. Entry-level Mustangs go for $19,890, but the most powerful GT version starts at $25,815. The remake of the GTO, which also started appearing in showrooms with the 2005 model year, followed a different strategy. Instead of evoking the car's 1970s heyday, it adopted a more modern, rounded look, which hasn't been a hit with buyers.

(snip)

Chrysler is launching the Charger while the company is on a roll, thanks to the success of the 300 sedan, which shares its underpinnings, as well as its powerful eight-cylinder engine, with the Charger. If the Charger turns into a hit along the lines of the 300, Chrysler could be on its way to its most profitable year in some time. A sedan with a big, bold front grille, the 300 is among the hottest cars right now. Chrysler sells about 12,000 a month.

The new Charger won't be an updated copy of the original, which is perhaps most widely known for its iconic role in "The Dukes of Hazzard" television show. In a nod to the baby-boomer sensibilities of its current target market, the new Charger is a four-door -- the original had only two. The car does retain its scowling, angled headlights as well as other styling cues to remind consumers of its heritage. Catering to consumers' concerns about fuel efficiency in an era of $2-a-gallon gas, the Charger also has a system that shuts off four of the engine's eight cylinders while cruising on the highway or sitting in traffic. In one day of heavy stop-and-go driving, the Charger managed 19 miles a gallon, which is roughly two or three miles a gallon better than the Mustang in similar driving. On the highway, the Charger got almost 24.

Write to Neal E. Boudette at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111888029762560994,00.html

[SteppingRazor]

1. Kind of old news, but...

Doesn't stop me from being excited. Those new Mustangs look SWEET!.

[malmapus]

3. Yeah they do, have been drooling over the notion of getting a GT

Just lack the $$$$ right now in a major way.

[ThomWV]

5. They Are Fat - Like Their Owners

The first Mustang I saw was on a ride back from Chesapeake Beach to Wheaton, Maryland, on the day they were released.

They were nothing but a Ford Falcon with another body, but they sold the hell out of the skinny little cars. They sold them to skinny kids, or more correctly the parents of skinny kids. In those days most kids were skinny and none of them could afford a new car ($2,400 at the time).

The Mustang of today looks just like the original, except that it has gained weight. Every body feature of the new one is just a little bigger (Ford would say more robust) than the old one - fatter you might say. Just like the owners. Only in this case it is the teenageers of yesteryear buying the toy car their parents would or could not buy them those 40 years ago.

Muscle cars as the price of oil doubles? Yeah, this will work. Dream on.

[SteppingRazor]

6. If you can afford a top-of-the-line GTO or Mustang,

do you really give a damn about the price of a gallon of gas?

As for this notion of people trying to buy back their youth, um, I was about a decade away from being born when the Mustang first hit the streets, and I still want one.

[ohio_liberal]

7. I agree

The new Mustang is a bad looking machine. I like the Ford GT too but who can possibly afford it?

[gratuitous]

2. Thank the good lord above!

We absolutely need a break from Detroit's relentless line of 20 mpg crapmobiles. So here's a bunch of 18 mpg crapmobiles that look sort of cool if you're not too picky about looks.

Another brilliant triumph for the addled minds of the American auto industry.

[Carla in Ca]

4. We have a 1957 Chevy 210 post.

When we do car shows and cruises, there are more participants than ever before. Younger people are restoring them and the prices have gone up dramatically. I think it is getting noticed.