#4. Dodge Super 8 Hemi – Reboots Are All the Rage
Source: Dodge
The reality, in this case, is definitely the concept car. The vehicle that was created missed the mark so hard that the executives quickly realized that they didn’t want to put this one into production.
What Dodge Was Thinking
Dodge executives have this thing where they love to try to harness the power of nostalgia. If they can get their buyers dreaming of the old days when they were cruising around in Chargers, they can get them to buy their newer items. Dodge has always been the aggressive Chrysler brand as well. So when they go for it with a concept car, they really lay it on. Dodge was hoping to make a concept car that could have modern styling while also playing on those nostalgia feelings. The Charger concept had come through 2 years earlier and momentum had been gained to making that vehicle. This could have been a luxury version based on the Charger chassis.
Dodge also thought that bragging about their Hemi engine was going to get them attention. The original Hemis were fantastic engines. However just because it says “Hemi” doesn’t equate to “great”. Dodge execs have been using it as a marketing tool instead of just making great engines that speak for themselves.
Source: Wikimedia
What People Thought About the Concept Car
People took one look at the Super 8 Hemi and realized that most of them would rather spend 6 hours in a Super 8 Motel with a black light than spending 6 hours in the Super 8 Hemi concept car. Now admittedly concepts can be a bit out there, but they tend towards having a theme and some sort of consistent style. The concept car was released looking like they took pictures of a half dozen 60’s Dodge vehicles and just sort of chucked them all together. The reaction wasn’t angry, but it was just disappointing. It had the potential to be a very sexy looking vehicle but instead ended up being yet another confused concept that never really figure out what it was. The swooped windshield did its best to save the car but just looked out of place with the curves of the other windows and the edge shapes elsewhere.
