#9. Dodge Charger – Sometimes Retro Concepts Actually Work
Source: Wikimedia
Dodge was often contemplating with the return of the Charger. It took until 2006 for it to actually happen. When it did people were excited. The Charger name has elicited a lot of excitement over the years and the Dodge brand was known for taking chances. What came out was okay. But boy, they missed their chance to be special.
What Dodge Was Thinking
Dodge has continually been gauging interest in bringing out a new Charger. Concept cars have come and gone. None received the interest that the 1999 Charger concept received, however. Dodge decided they wanted to put out a concept that was very similar to the original muscle car.
They wanted it to be a two door coupe only. It needed to be stylish and aggressive to grab attention. While companies try to combine retro and future styling all the time, this one actually did! Looking at it beside an original Charger, you could see a lot of the influences, including the size. But there was a modern excitement. There was some vague hints of the Chevy Corvette, but taken much further along!
Source: Wikimedia
What The Public Thought
Reaction to the concept car was exactly as expected. Everyone loved it! It was a large part of what pushed Dodge into bringing back the Charger 7 years later. People loved the aggressive sloped shape. The concept felt like a flock of Phoenixes had found an old Charger in a car graveyard, burned it down and rebuilt it anew, ready to shred tarmac.
However, memories don’t last forever. In the automotive world, keeping that excitement going for 7 years is hard, and then when they release the Charger, it’s not the same car at all… It was a huge disappointment. Gone was the slick 2 door coupe and what was left was a boxy conforming sedan. Admittedly it had plenty of power, but it just wasn’t right. It wasn’t the concept.
